Towards a Critically Spiritual Pedagogy

 Critical pedagogy has reached an impasse. I will be arguing that the separation of the subject from context lies at the root of this problematique. The deconstruction of this situation takes us to the roots of western philosophy and the stance of distance advocated or, perhaps it is better to say, embodied by Socrates. Lineage here helps understand the setting for a reformulation of critical pedagogy that embraces the subject and its antithesis, structure. This takes place in a critical space excavated by the deconstructive work of both Foucault who gives us the ethical framework for the exercise and Derrida who reworks the subject an eye to the future, the á venir or futurity which destabilizes the present.

The genealogy of temporal ordering will be given depth by contextualizing the work within a causal layered analysis of both the subject and its context. I will argue positioning the subject in a heterotopic space, a space of otherness defined by hybridity and incongruity, will allow us to re-examine the ideological assumptions that have driven the wedge between those powerful concepts: free will and structure.

Marcus Bussey works at the University of the Sunshine Coast where he lectures in education and tutors in sociology. He has written over 30 articles and chapters on educational and youth futures, culture, neo-humanism, and policy. He has a forthcoming book entitled” The Futures of Critical Pedagogy: Temporal Ordering and the Self ”

Bio: Marcus Bussey began teaching the classic guitar in 1975. In 1983 he won the Dwight Prize for academic excellence at the University of Melbourne . Since then he has taught in a wide variety of contexts from large city based grammar schools and various state schools through to small city and country community schools. He is currently an advisor for Alcheringa Montessori College , Buderim , Queensland and on the state board of the Queensland Suzuki Music Teachers Association. He has also contributed to the development of the Neohumanist Education Diploma Programme ( www.gurukul.edu ). His focus throughout has been on generating learning communities via a wide range of cultural and creative curricula experiences that involve the whole family and build on the teacher's direct commitment to their own creative and spiritual fulfilment. It is out of this work that he began his current task of seeking to reframe critical pedagogy as an expanded form of neohumanistic, futures oriented learning.

He began writing about his experiences as an educator in 1995 and immediately linked up with the work of futurists Sohail Inayatullah and Richard Slaughter. He has published regularly over the years with over 30 journal articles, book chapters and encyclopaedia entries to his credit. He is currently working on his PhD at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia where he also teaches. His topic is the futures of critical pedagogy.