The Power of Critical Theory for Adult Learning and Teaching (häftad, eng)

“This is a sophisticated and comprehensive treatment of the power of Socratic questioning of dogmas and a prophetic witness against the conservative status quo …a must read for all seriously engaged teachers.”Cornel West, Princeton University, USA

This major contribution to the literature on adult education provides adult educators with an accessible overview of critical theory’s central ideas.

Using many direct quotes from the theorists’ works, Brookfield shows how critical theory illuminates the everyday practices of adult educators and helps them make sense of the dilemmas, contradictions and frustrations they experience in their work.

Drawing widely on central texts in critical theory, Brookfield argues that a critical theory of adult learning must focus on understanding how adults learn to challenge ideology, contest hegemony, unmask power, overcome alienation, learn liberation, reclaim reason and practice democracy.

These tasks form the focus of successive chapters, while later chapters review the central contentions of critical theory through the contemporary lenses of race and gender. The final chapter reviews adult educational practices and looks at what it means to teach critically

Essential reading for anyone teaching, working in, studying or researching adult education.