The Appropriate Issue

Before teachers brings a specific issue to the classroom for discussion, they have to consider, whether the students really have a reason to talk and the suggested subject does not fail to initiate genuine discourse. The learners‘ motivation to speak increases considerably, if there is a purpose behind the discourse. If this is not the case it might happen that the students fall silent. (Ur 1981: 5-6) In a GCE context, I advocate controversial issues discussions on social, political and ethical subjects as they were described in detail above. In the previous chapter (6.3.) I have also outlined the popularity of global issues among students and therefore I have already provided the reader with an idea, on the basis of which criteria the issue has to be selected by the teacher or the students.

It is recommendable to start with easier tasks that do not ask too much of the learners. Although discussions should definitely be challenging, the students need some time to get used to deal with controversial issues. Critical pedagogy has been criticized for the overwhelming tasks it often confronts learners with. Problem-posing tends to overtax adolescents with questions they do not have an answer for. (Birch 2009: 67) It has to be made clear that an immediate response is not expected from them but that the learning aim consists in gaining new insights with regard to certain aspects of a broader issue. They have to be told that complex problems need to be approached cautiously and require a lot of dialogue until they can actually be fully understood, let alone solved.

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7.3.2. Understanding the Learner Group

Before teachers plan a discussion, they need to analyze the learning group they are working with. The discussion issues ought to be selected in accordance with the age, language competence, social and cultural background, cognitive ability and background knowledge of the students. Understanding the class is especially important when dealing with delicate controversial issues. The North-South Centre has compiled a useful list of sample questions that facilitates the analysis of the learner group.

 Who are the people in this group (educators and learners)?

 Where do they come from? (cultural background, etc.)?

 How are their cultural identity/identities perceived in the group and the society they live in?

 Why are they here?

 How do they feel in this group?

 How do they behave towards each other?

 How does each one react to the educator‘s behaviour?

 How does the educator feel and react to the learners‘ behaviour, as individuals and as a group? (North-South Centre 2010: 29)

The teachers‘ research of their students is a fundamental aspect of critical pedagogy. Freire suggested that educators have to seek dialogue with the girls and boys on a regular basis. In these research dialogues teachers ought to listen carefully to what learners tell about their communities and the problems they have to face there. It is the critical teacher‘s task to put these problems into a wider social, cultural, and political context in order to be able to find a solution. During these conversations educators discover issues that are relevant to the young people‘s everyday life and that are based on their emerging knowledge and socio-cultural background. They get a deeper understanding of the learner‘s perception of themselves, the humans they are surrounded by and their social reality. These insights help critical teachers to find out how students actually make meaning of the world. ―This enables teachers to construct pedagogies that engage the impassioned spirit of students in ways that moves them to learn what they don‘t know and to identify what they want to know.‖ (Kincheloe 2008: 20) Apart from dialogues, teachers can also use student diaries and interviews as a means to get to know their students better. These so called action research projects show students that their opinion and perception is appreciated, which makes it possible to understand and address their feelings. (20-21)

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Especially in GCE action research has an important role to play. In a school, where waste is not separated, paper is wasted by teachers and advertisements inside the school building promote beverages in plastic bottles, the intentional curriculum will surely not be credible. If sustainability and social justice are only preached but not lived, students perceive GCE lessons as hypocritical and as a consequence they lose their motivation to discuss local as well as global issues. Anger, hopelessness and passivity in the face of local and global problems are the result of this inconsistency. Action research can be used to uncover these perceptions and has the potential to improve everyday classroom practice and thereby also the quality of discussions. If the students, for instance, criticize the sustainability management at school, the teacher can use this criticism as a starting point for a discussion. The students could be asked to discuss what could be done to improve the situation. The fact that their criticism is accepted and analyzed to make improvements gives the boys and girls the feeling that their voice is heard and that they have the power to change something. Through action research it is possible to relate GCE closely to the ―life-world‖ of the pupils, which significantly increases the motivation to participate in a discussion.