Where Does Critical Pedagogy Happen? Young People, ‘Relational Pedagogy’ and the Interstitial Spaces of School

Where Does Critical Pedagogy Happen? Young People, ‘Relational Pedagogy’ and the Interstitial Spaces of School

This chapter extends a consideration of the ‘place’ of critical pedagogical practice by contemplating, specifically, the ways that dialogue provides a foundational context for critical pedagogical engagements. The argument outlined in this chapter will suggest that it is at the moment of the pedagogical encounter – that is, at the point of dialogic interaction – that a sense of the Other finds meaning. I suggest that it is through the act of engaging the Other that a space in-between educator and educand opens as a site of critical interrogation and interactivity. This is a space traversed by dialogue, and via the shared interaction that dialogue enables, the figuration of an inter-relationality borne of- the-moment materialises. Dialogue provides the terrain upon which this shared moment of encounter finds activation and purpose.