- UCAS course code
- X300
- UCAS institution code
- M20
Bachelor of Science (BSc)
BSc Education
Become a leading educational researcher in any education related career you choose; innovating and evolving the field globally.
- Typical A-level offer: ABB
- Typical contextual A-level offer: BBC
- Refugee/care-experienced offer: BBC
- Typical International Baccalaureate offer: 34 points overall with 6,5,5 at HL
Fees and funding
Fees
Tuition fees for home students commencing their studies in September 2025 will be £9,535 per annum (subject to Parliamentary approval). Tuition fees for international students will be £29,000 per annum. For general information please see the undergraduate finance pages.
Policy on additional costs
All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).
Scholarships/sponsorships
We are committed to attracting and supporting the very best students from all backgrounds to study this course.
You could be eligible for cash bursaries of up to £2,500 to support your studies.
Find out about our funding opportunities
Course unit details:
Critical pedagogies and Higher Education in Global Majority Contexts
Unit code | EDUC34052 |
---|---|
Credit rating | 20 |
Unit level | Level 3 |
Teaching period(s) | Semester 2 |
Available as a free choice unit? | Yes |
Overview
'Global Majority is a collective term that first and foremost speaks to and encourages those so-called to think of themselves as belonging to the global majority. It refers to people who are Black, Asian, Brown, dual-heritage, indigenous to the global south, and or have been racialised as 'ethnic minorities' (Campbell-Stevens, 2020).
This course interrogates some of the approaches to education in the so called Global South, which are often generated in the so called Global North. It examines the potential challenges and transformative change when applying alternative, critical and radical pedagogies to higher educational systems in parts of Latin America, Asia and Africa.
The course is built around communication and collaborative learning, and is guided by the principles of decolonial, participatory and critical pedagogies to embrace diverse knowledges. It will do this by exploring theoretical work by seminal thinkers and critical theorists, including in and from the hemispheric south, through written academic texts, films/documentaries, podcasts, news articles and blogs, and pop culture references.
Several themes will emerge for discussion including:
Problem posing education
The political process of education and the role of the university in political education
Authentic and relevant curriculum and assessment as transformative practice
The role of the student-teacher interaction on teaching and learning experience
Critical consciousness, praxis, and dialogic education
Culturally responsive and sustainable pedagogy
Students will use these to anchor discussions in whole class or small groups, and develop rich questions to take the conversation further. Through dialogic methods and critical reflection, we will examine the dialectical, dynamic, and evolving nature of teaching and learning, and the assumptions, actions, and outcomes of critical pedagogy within higher education settings.
Aims
Examine the emergence and development of critical pedagogy, through concepts offered by alternative, critical and radical thinking in/from parts of Latin America, Asia, and Africa
Discuss pedagogical implications of higher education practices rooted in colonialism and Empire
Encourage reflection about higher education and how it works in multi-cultural communities of learning where education is a mutual endeavour
Establish theoretical foundations for own process of critical/engaged pedagogy
Teaching and learning methods
Learning and teaching is delivered through a combination of traditional and participatory learning, presented through tutor-led and student-led input in lectures, group discussions and independent learning, in face-to-face and online modes.
Knowledge and understanding
- analyse non-hegemonic perspectives on education and question the legitimacy and limitations of dominant discourses on education in the global majority contexts.
- demonstrate nuanced knowledge and understanding of the potentialities and complexities of a critical pedagogy for higher education
- identify how the concepts and principles of critical pedagogy can address issues in a range of higher education settings
- identify and effectively navigate methodological and ethical complexities of researching higher education in the global south
Intellectual skills
- critically engage with transdisciplinary thinking and research through a range of decolonial frameworks
- identify, reflect upon, and discuss own and others' thinking to the role of critical pedagogies in higher education
- review higher education processes and practices in the light of emerging understandings of scholarship in/from the hemispheric south
Practical skills
- independently source a wide range of conceptual and empirical material related to education processes
- synthesise these materials in a coherent and structured way for a variety of oral and written purposes
- construct and sustain argument in a reasoned and analytical manner
Transferable skills and personal qualities
- integrate digital technology tools in written, oral, non-verbal, formal or informal processes to present and appraise own and peer work
- use the discussion and debate with peers and tutors during the unit and in previous and parallel units to develop own scholarship
- interact and communicate with peers and tutors in large and small groups, with a sense of consideration and support for others
- centre social justice and transformational change in the study of higher education
Assessment methods
Assessment task | Weighting | Word length |
Annotated bibliography: Develop a key theme into a title and compile an annotated bibliography for the podcast | 30% | 750 |
Non-assessed Real World Case Study proposal | formative | 250 |
A narrative podcast about a Real World Case Study: A specific pedagogy for higher education in/from one Global Majority context | 70% | 15 minutes |
Feedback methods
Via Blackboard/Turnitin
Recommended reading
Detailed lists of reading on specific topics will be provided for students. The following is a list of some key publications:
Bhambra, G.K., Gebrial, D. and Nişancıoğlu, K. (2018). Decolonising the university . London: Pluto Press.
Canute S. Thompson, Sheron Fraser-Burgess and Thenjiwe Major. (2019). Towards a Philosophy of Education for the Caribbean: Exploring African Models of Integrating Theory and Praxis. Journal of thought, 53(3/4), pp.53–72.
Cowden, S. et al. (2013). Acts of knowing : critical pedagogy in, against and beyond the university . New York: Bloomsbury Academic
Cupples, J. and Grosfoguel, R. (2018). Unsettling Eurocentrism in the westernized university. 1st ed. London: Routledge.
Darder, A. (2018). The student guide to Freire’s “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” (Illustrated
edition). Bloomsbury Academic.
Darder, A., Baltodano, P., & Torres, R.D. (Eds.). (2009). The critical pedagogy reader. Critical pedagogy: An introduction (pp. 1-20). New York, NY: Routledge.
Escobar, M. (1994). Paulo Freire on higher education : a dialogue at the National University of Mexico . In Albany: State University of New York Press
Freire, P. and Freire, P. (1973). Education for critical consciousness . 1st American ed. London: Sheed and Ward
Freire, P., Ramos, M.B. and Freire, P. (1976). Education, the practice of freedom. London: Writers and Readers Publishing Cooperative.
Giroux, H.A. (2010). Rethinking Education as the Practice of Freedom: Paulo Freire and the Promise of Critical Pedagogy. Policy futures in education, 8(6), pp.715–721.
Hayes, K., Steinberg, S.R. and Tobin, K. (2011). Key Works in Critical Pedagogy . Rotterdam: SensePublishers.
hooks, b. (1994). Teaching to transgress : education as the practice of freedom . New York: Routledge.
Kumar, R. (2015). Neoliberalism, Critical Pedagogy and Education. London: Taylor & Francis Group.
Macrine, S.L. (2020). Critical pedagogy in uncertain times : hope and possibilities . 2nd ed. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan
Maringe, F. and Ojo, E. (2017). Sustainable Transformation in African Higher Education: Research, Governance, Gender, Funding, Teaching and Learning in the African University. Dordrecht: BRILL.
Mayaba, N.N., Ralarala, M.K. and Angu, P. (2018). Student voice: Perspectives on language and critical pedagogy in South African higher education. Educational Research for Social Change, 7(1), pp.1–12
Nyoni, J. (2019). Decolonising the higher education curriculum : an analysis of African intellectual readiness to break the chains of a colonial caged mentality. Transformation in Higher Education, 4(1), pp.1–10.
Schendel, R. et al. (2020). Pedagogies for critical thinking at universities in Kenya, Ghana and Botswana: the importance of a collective ‘teaching culture. Teaching in higher education, pp.1–22
Teaching staff
Staff member | Role |
---|---|
Loretta Anthony-Okeke | Unit coordinator |
Additional notes
Activity | Hours alocated |
Teaching contact | 30 hours of class contact plus 10 hours of additional contact through consultation hours, feedback sessions, and so on = 40 |
Directed study: preparatory reading before/after taught sessions | 60 |
Guided independent study: Preparation and actual reading/writing for assessment | 60 |
Independent study: Completion of reflective exercises in Blackboard | 40 |
Total | 200 |