Like a Phoenix Rising - The Pedagogy of Critically Reclaiming Education - An Autoethnographic Study

Oct 15, 2026

The paper examines higher-education reform through an autoethnographic lens as educators respond to a reform agenda that restricts critical pedagogical interactions. Confronted by outcome-based, measurement-driven and neoliberal corporate influences, the authors trace how mandates complicated doctoral support and suppressed well-constructed projects. Using narrative inquiry and writings on spirituality in education, they identify possibilities for rebuilding integrative critical pedagogy. The account is shaped by moral struggles, scarring, and hope for renewing critical, justice-centered educational practices.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages15

Reading Time38 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Demonization, Demoralization and Redemption

Voices rising like a phoenix—glorious out of the ashes

Critical Questions in Education (Special Issue) 8:2 Spring 2017

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| Like a Phoenix Rising: The Pedagogy of Critically Reclaiming Education—an Autoethnographic Study | | --- | --- | Sally McMillan, Reese H. Todd, & Margaret A. Price, Texas Tech University Abstract In many institutions of higher education across the land, a resounding cry for reform echoes loudly, disrupting thriving projects and well-constructed programs. When our college’s reform agenda left us little space for critical pedagogical interactions with our students and colleagues, we intuitively stepped away from the ashes of what we had known to engage in discussions that brought to light the critical processes of justice in education, not only for our students, but also for ourselves. We constructed guiding questions for our exploration to critically reclaim our professional lives: 1.) What insights can be gleaned from our experiences with reform in higher education for teacher educators who are confined by “reform” oriented, outcome-based educational cultures? 2.) What might our own interior narratives—woven with the writing of others—tell us about which characteristics and practices can potentially inform a more holistic critical pedagogy? We drew from writings on spirituality in education and Palmer’s classic myth of objectivism for generating narrative and constructing thematic insights. We noted the need for increased, new spaces to rebuild an integrative critical pedagogy and wrote into particular loss-related happenings to reclaim spaces for critical thinking. Our narrative portrays our processes and discoveries—our tales of interiority—through collaboratively interweaving our individual meaning making with the voices and wisdom writings of others. The current writing grows out of the scarring and pain of the moral struggles over several years, yet builds on the belief that these experiences will encourage others with a message of hope to create new images that can move through intellectual time and space to open new integrative critical pedagogical interactions in education. Keywords: critical pedagogy; higher education reform; creative paradox; auto ethnography Demonization, Demoralization and Redemption Voices rising like a phoenix—glorious out of the ashes Once we were whole, and wholly existent We listened to and heard each other’s voices. Respect and ethical behavior allowed us freedom To research and write about the things and people we loved. Schools, teachers, interns, and what made them curious about lived experiences. What their voices had to say about students, pedagogy, assessment and success. Now we are fractured, Bullied into oblivion. Critical Questions in Education (Special Issue) 8:2 Spring 2017 207 Allowed to recede and allowed to be silenced. Out of context and out of sight, we will be heard again. Our voices will rise in unison to reclaim our value in the academy. In many institutions of higher education across the land, a resounding cry for reform echoes loudly. Primarily the cries come from politicos and corporate moguls who believe that the realm of higher education is to maintain and support the interests of the market-driven economy (Torrence, 2015). Giroux (2014) states that “increasingly, pedagogy is reduced to learning reified methods, a hollow mechanistic enterprise divorced from understanding teaching as a moral and intellectual practice central to the creation of critical and engaged citizens”(p.39-40) . As a result of reducing teaching and learning to a training exercise, faculty in colleges and universities find themselves engaged in the circular (and often futile) gathering of multiple forms of data to legitimatize their positions.“Faculty members are increasingly defined less as intellectuals than as technicians and grant writers”(Giroux, 2014, p. 39) . This is the environment which we found ourselves operating in 2012. Our ideal of giving students a broad, overarching view of the world and supporting their engagement in critical thought was

FAQs

What problem does the paper investigate in higher education reform?

It investigates how a reform agenda in higher education can limit critical pedagogical interactions, disrupt projects, and reduce teaching to outcome-based, measurement-driven practices.

How do the authors approach their exploration of critically reclaiming education?

They use guiding research questions and an autoethnographic narrative approach, drawing on writings about spirituality in education and Palmer’s myth of objectivism to develop thematic insights.

What outcomes do the authors describe from stepping away from the reform-centered environment?

They describe how increased directives and heavier workloads undermined their plans, while also emphasizing the need to create new spaces for critical thinking and rebuilding integrative critical pedagogy.

Oct 15, 2026

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