Critical Community Practice module (CO20014)

Community Education practitioners are often working alongside individuals and Communities who are experiencing social injustice.

This module will help you develop your skills to critique and understand why and how injustice occurs.

You will critically analyse political theories and how they influence Community Education practise. You will explore how the theory compares to the policies and practises that are in place. You will also look at how they are influenced from politics.

You will discuss topics such as neo-liberalism, socialism, feminism and multiculturalism. From these, you will gain insight how these influence the modern political landscape.

You will then develop your skills to better understand how these ideologies influence everyday life and thinking. You will also better understand how it contributes to social injustice.

What you will learn

In this module, you will:

• discuss the key socio-political theories that make up Community Education policy and practice
• explore power and empowerment and their relationship to Community Education practice
• understand the theory of critical consciousness

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• show understanding of the socio-political ideologies that make up Community Education policy and practice
• engage in the discussion of power and empowerment and how this relates to Community Education policy and practice
• show how critical consciousness can create transformation in Community education

Assignments / assessment

• Essay (2,000 words) 100%

This module does not have a final exam.

Teaching methods / timetable

• Lectures (one 2 hour session weekly in semester 2)

Lectures are student-led to allow you to have deeper discussion on the topics covered. Typically, the list of topic looks like this:

1. Introduction
2. Liberalism, and Neo-liberalism
3. Socialism
4. Multiculturalism
5. Ecologism
6. Feminism
7. Critical Theory and Community Education
8. Critical Consciousness and Transformative Practice
9. Power and Empowerment
10. Ideology, Social Justice and Community Education Review