The critical educator

Orienting to the East, we locate the critical educator-leader, whose mission is to shake up entrenched assumptions and cultivate critical self-awareness and reflection at the individual, group, and systemic levels. Critical educators and leaders may assume different roles, depending on their own positionality and the needs and possibilities of the situation where their work unfolds. One role is that of activist, critiquing existing relationships and norms and mobilizing resistance to injustice and oppression. Another role is as an ally, walking humbly alongside the historically marginalized and disempowered and helping to open and hold space for their voices and practices. A third role is that of advocate, articulating and advancing alternatives to the status quo for a range of potential audiences, including those not yet convinced of the need for change.

As critical educators, educational leaders can educate themselves and others in the land-based teachings offered by Indigenous knowledge holders, both locally and on a wider scale. They can also learn to attend better, both to the more-than-human and to children. If imagination is a gift, then leaders need to be listening for the world not only within their own thoughts but also within the words, ideas, imaginations of others. Eco-imaginative leadership must recognize that humans are not the centre of the universe, that modern adult humans are not the centre of the human world, and that white, educated, straight Western men are not the prototype for human development. Working against these tropes implies educating oneself in the literature, language, and experience of anti-colonial and anti-racist, feminist, and queer movements and bringing that more expansive (self-) understanding to the work of becoming autochthonous to place.

Examples of some pedagogical competencies, capacities, and capabilities of critical educators:

  • Activist/advocacy/allyship. Anti-oppressive approach to team, community, and more-than-human relationships (seeking collective/mutual flourishing).
  • Decolonizing guidance. Engage in reflective practices about power and privilege, challenge behavior that excludes others, learn how to take responsibility/ accountability for leveraging strengths. Purposefully construct empowering narratives.
  • Anti-oppressive communication/relational skills. Practice respectful communication while engaging in courageous or challenging conversations. Personal dedication to increasing skills such as self-regulation, active/attentive/responsive listening, empathy, and emotional attunement. Collective commitment to find common ground, viable solutions, or meaningful ways to move forward.
  • Mindful inclusion. Deliberate in the generating, holding and shaping of community culture. Co-create safe-enough spaces that encourage everyone to meaningfully contribute (recognizing that “safe” does not mean the absence of discomfort nor that, given the politics of Canada today, fully “safe” exists but, instead, means increasing our ability to manage our discomfort, our problematic assumptions, and be courageous/brave with each other). In a timely manner, enforce anti-violence policies, resolve conflicts, and foster relationship repairs.
  • Support ongoing learning. Provide training, for example, that increases critical awareness regarding the sociohistorical-political issues impacting members and the natural world; anti-/non-violent communication skills; or how to implement critically informed action and transformative change.
  • Embrace feedback. Evaluate/celebrate success, welcome experimentation/innovation, and increase, invite, and facilitate ability to fail forward.