Relational Pedagogy and Democratic Education

Abstract

Approaches to learning and teaching cast under the designation of 'relational pedagogy' provide the focus of this chapter. We argue that democratic education is most apparent in the moment of encounter between students and teachers. When deliberative negotiation of learning occurs and recognition is given to the mutuality of the pedagogical encounter, moves towards a democratic education are established. For this pedagogic deliberation to occur, the formation of meaningful relationships between students and teachers is fundamental. By meaningfully coming into relation and setting about the task of negotiating how learning should proceed, teachers and students give credence to the immediacy of the moment-to the immediacy of the pedagogical encounter-and the effects exerted by the context within which this relationship is activated. This chapter asserts that it is in these terms that relational pedagogies actively resist the normalising effects of dominant expressions of schooling typical of this present moment-approaches to schooling that preface reductive, decontextualized, 'one size fits all' logics-to instead provoke recognition of the idiosyncratic, in-the-moment character of learning. It is in these moments that deliberation and negotiation become crucial to learning and expose formations of a democratic education that positions the relational at its core.

Shame and Adult Learners

“…Walker (2017) asserts that “we need to stop shying away from emotions in adult learning” (p. 357) and instead embrace liberatory pedagogies, including relational pedagogical theories and practices that directly engage emotions in the learning process (Nesbit et al, 2004, p. 74). If we truly want an inclusive academy for all (Hickey et al, 2021), we as educators must reframe our ideas about emotions in the classroom (ours and our students’) (Dirkx, 2008). And if we truly follow a relational pedagogy, then I wholeheartedly agree with Quinlan’s “assumption that emotion matters in higher education because education is relational, and emotions are central to relationships” (2016, p. 102).…”

“…I employ what Brantmeier (2013) defined as a pedagogy of vulnerability, which "is an approach to education that invites vulnerability and deepened learning through a process of self and mutual disclosure on the part of co-learners in the classroom" (p. 3). Through relationship building (Hickey et al, 2021), shared vulnerability, co-learning, and an attention to emotions, particularly shame, educators in higher ed and beyond can offer adult learners the opportunity to reframe their perceptions of education, their relationships to formal education, and how they understand themselves as learners.…”

Reclaiming relationality in education policy: towards a more authentic relational pedagogy

“…Our recent empirical work (e.g., Hickey et al, , 2022 has sought to develop nuanced accounts of relational pedagogy, which move from decontextualised and globalised statements of supportive classroom relationships to more specific modalities of teaching and learning, in which relationality is a key affective element. The moment of the pedagogical encounter between teacher, learner and curriculum is vital in this formulation.…”

“…Finally, although teachers in South Australia have been encouraged to 'develop democratic relationships' with their students as a 'fundamental condition for learning' (South Australian Department for Education, 2021), suggested activities included class agreements, changing seating arrangements and having students 'share responsibility for notice boards, diaries, storyboards and timetables ' (p. 29). This reductive notion of democratic relationships is largely at odds with the agentic ethos of democratic modes of relationality (Hickey et al, 2022); not least, because students roleplaying democratic encounters rather than having the opportunity to engage meaningfully in democratic practices does not equate to an authentically relational pedagogy.…”

“…We have previously considered the importance of relationality to education policymaking and practice , its democratic ethos (Hickey et al, 2022) and the use of informality in the pedagogical encounter . Here, we attempt to better understand the discursive formation of relationality in education policy texts, within the broader policy logics of neoliberalism and 'quality' that have permeated through educational discourses over the past decade or more.…”