Search

BackgroundImplementation science frameworks situate intervention implementation and sustainment within the context of the implementing organization and system. Aspects of organizational context such as leadership have been defined and measured largely within US health care settings characterized by decentralization and individual autonomy. The relevance of these constructs in other settings may be limited by differences like collectivist orientation, resource constraints, and hierarchical power structures. We aimed to adapt measures of organizational context in South African primary care clinics.MethodsWe convened a panel of South African experts in social science and HIV care delivery and presented implementation domains informed by existing frameworks and prior work in South Africa. Based on panel input, we selected contextual domains and adapted candidate items. We conducted cognitive interviews with 25 providers in KwaZulu-Natal Province to refine measures. We then conducted a cross-sectional survey of 16 clinics with 5-20 providers per clinic (N = 186). We assessed reliability using Cronbach's alpha and calculated interrater agreement (awg) and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) at the clinic level. Within clinics with moderate agreement, we calculated correlation of clinic-level measures with each other and with hypothesized predictors - staff continuity and infrastructure - and a clinical outcome, patient retention on antiretroviral therapy.ResultsPanelists emphasized contextual factors; we therefore focused on elements of clinic leadership, stress, cohesion, and collective problem solving (critical consciousness). Cognitive interviews confirmed salience of the domains and improved item clarity. After excluding items related to leaders' coordination abilities due to missingness and low agreement, all other scales demonstrated individual-level reliability and at least moderate interrater agreement in most facilities. ICC was low for most leadership measures and moderate for others. Measures tended to correlate within facility, and higher stress was significantly correlated with lower staff continuity. Organizational context was generally more positively rated in facilities that showed consistent agreement.ConclusionsAs theorized, organizational context is important in understanding program implementation within the South African health system. Most adapted measures show good reliability at individual and clinic levels. Additional revision of existing frameworks to suit this context and further testing in high and low performing clinics is warranted.

This paper explores the experiences and perspectives of parents from minority-ethnic backgrounds concerning their children's education in primary and post-primary schools in Ireland. Five focus groups were conducted with 20 parents of non-White African and Asian backgrounds. Our findings demonstrate complex interactions and tensions between home and host cultures, parenting approaches and schooling experiences for both students and their families. Participating parents' accounts illustrate their strong interest in their children's education, their critical cultural consciousness and their desire to engage in dialogue with teachers. Positive teacher attitudes, teacher professional development, acceptance of/learning about differences and a more diverse teaching population emerged as key recommendations in parents' discussions regarding culturally inclusive learning environments. We argue that parents from minority-ethnic backgrounds are uniquely positioned to support the development of teachers' intercultural competencies and of inclusive education practices in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability to understand one's and others' cultural conditioning is essential to developing culturally responsive clinical practice. One means to do this is through ingroup discussion about a shared social identity. This study examines the impact of affinity groups on critical and cultural consciousness among student trainees in a doctoral clinical psychology program. For 6 weeks, 13 participants convened weekly in small identity-related affinity groups, discussing a shared identity using a list of provided prompts. Written reflections of the groups were analyzed, and seven themes emerged: initial apprehension, positive experience, intimacy and safe space, commonality of experience, exploration of intersectionality, group connection and expansiveness, and conscientization of self and other. The groups served as positive, supportive spaces of identity-based enlightenment, with exploration of the interconnectedness of social identities, and deepened insight regarding societal positioning and impact. Implications of the use of affinity groups to develop cultural and critical consciousness within trainees are discussed. Public Significance Statement: This article spotlights affinity groups as a mechanism that clinical psychology instructors and training programs might institute to develop cultural and critical consciousness in student trainees. Building individual capacity for multicultural and structural awareness of self and others contributes to developing clinicians with deeper cultural insight and more readiness to examine how social identities are experienced, and therapeutic environments in which clients with intersecting identities are seen and heard for their layered experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing diversity of the student population in classrooms across the United States demands the adoption of pedagogical principles based on the concept of culturally responsive teaching. This study adopts the notion that culturally responsive teaching only becomes possible when teachers implement self-reflection and critical consciousness. Using a qualitative approach, the authors aimed at examining the effects of an international professional development experience on a group of elementary teachers from the United States and Costa Rica with a focus on their perceptions about linguistic and cultural diversity in schools. The analysis of the interviews and reflective journal entries revealed that participation in an international teacher exchange program prompted participants to examine their personal beliefs about education and question, not only their own instructional practices, but also broader school systems and policies related to language, culture, and ethnicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Aims Design Data Sources Results Conclusion Implications for the Profession and/or Patient Care Impact Patient and Public Contribution The purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual overview of resistance and argue for the need to embrace resistance as a part of nurses' professional repertoire for disrupting inequities and fostering social justice in both nursing education and practice.Discursive article.Published peer reviewed literature on ‘resistance’ and ‘professional resistance’ in nursing, medicine, social work and other allied health care professions.Enhancing critical consciousness and engaging in intersectional collaboration are promising strategies to embrace resistance for collective action towards disrupting inequities and injustices in nursing education and practice.Embracing and legitimising resistance in everyday individual and social interactions in educational and practice settings is instrumental to fostering social justice in nursing. Without resistance, nurses may risk jeopardising enactment of moral and ethical responsibilities and suppressing their professional values of caring and compassion.Nurses can embrace resistance in practice to counteract social injustice and promote diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging and antiracism in clinical and educational settings.Research demonstrated that perceived and real inequities and injustices are common in nursing in the form of individual and structural racism, sex and gender discrimination, power imbalances and incivility. Nurses' engagement in resistance and increased capacity to resist injustices and incivilities can play an instrumental role in disrupting professional inequities in clinical practice and education.There was no patient or public involvement in the design or writing of this discursive article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building upon recent calls for the integration of abolition into psychology, we develop and validate a measure of Abolitionist Ideology. In two studies with abolitionist leaning (N = 201, abolitionist‐identifying n = 58) and nationally representative (N = 350) samples, we identify and confirm a three‐factor, 26‐item measure including subscales of Alternatives to State Violence, Revolutionary Abolitionism, and Abolitionist Identity. The Abolitionist Ideology Scale demonstrates convergent validity with measures including support for Black Lives Matter, critical consciousness, openness to experience, radical imagination, and attribution of violence to the state. The scale demonstrates divergent validity from measures including social dominance orientation (SDO) and political conservatism. Finally, the scale predicted activism tenacity above and beyond a related measure of carceral system justification. The Abolitionist Ideology Scale demonstrates initial reliability and validity and will be useful for those aiming to engage abolition in liberatory theory, research, and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores adolescents' evaluations of unfair teacher and peer behavior in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) classes. Participants included ninth and tenth grade students from five public schools in the Southeastern United States, (N = 577, 45.9% female, 49% male, 5% other/prefer not to say/unsure). Students were ethnically representative of their communities: 48% White/European American, 22.7% Black/African American, 14% Latino/a/e/x, and 15.3% multi‐racial/other/prefer not to say. Measures assessed adolescents' responses to hypothetical scenarios of unfair treatment. The findings indicate that adolescents recognize both teacher and peer unfair behavior as wrong, with nuanced differences based on participants' gender and grade. Attribution analysis reveals varied expected reasons for unfair treatment. Responses to unfair behavior differ, with adolescents more likely to confront peers than teachers. Demographic factors, school climate, discrimination, belonging, and critical consciousness contribute to variations in judgments and responses. The study highlights the importance of addressing unfair treatment in STEM settings to foster inclusivity and support student persistence in STEM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To resist and cope with oppression, youth of color may use the process of critical consciousness which involves understanding racial injustices (critical reflection), developing motivation to fight these injustices (critical motivation), and taking action to enact sociopolitical change (critical action). However, little is known about how each dimension of critical consciousness affects mental health in adolescents of color. In a sample of 367 ethnically and racially diverse American adolescents of color (age range = 13–17; 68.9% girls, 28.6% boys, and 2.5% gender minority; 84.4% US‐born), we conducted multivariate regressions in Mplus to examine the cross‐sectional links between each critical consciousness dimension (reflection, motivation, and action) and mental health outcomes (anxiety, depression, and stress) over and above the impact of everyday discrimination. We also investigated the interaction between critical consciousness and discrimination in predicting mental health outcomes. Controlling for age, gender, nativity, and social class, we found that discrimination and critical action were both positively associated with anxiety, depression, and stress. For our covariates, girls and gender minority adolescents reported worse outcomes. No interactions were significant. Overall, critical action, while necessary to enact societal change, may have a complex relationship with youth's depression, anxiety, and psychological stress symptoms and warrants careful exploration. Future research should focus on understanding the longitudinal mechanisms of critical action and how we can maximize the benefits by protecting youth from those negative effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the intricacies involved in the process of decolonizing education. It draws on the author's first‐hand teaching experiences and observations as an activist scholar and a critical pedagogue at Bingöl University in Turkey from 2013 to 2016, during a period marked by intense political tension between security forces and Kurdish insurgencies. It elucidates a transformative pedagogical endeavor aimed at decolonizing education, with a particular focus on Kurdish students who endure colonial domination and oppression. Grounded in critical pedagogy, border thinking, and the principles of epistemic disobedience, this intervention represents a deliberate departure from traditional educational paradigms. It endeavors to cultivate a more inclusive and liberatory learning environment by drawing on theoretical frameworks articulated by renowned scholars such as Freire, Fanon, Mignolo, and Illich. At its core, this endeavor seeks to transcend the conventional boundaries of education by fostering critical consciousness, agency, and alternative worldviews among marginalized communities. Through prioritizing interactive dialogue, problem‐posing educational models, and participatory learning practices, the initiative empowers students to critically engage with their social, historical, and cultural contexts. Employing innovative pedagogical strategies like the marketplace of ideas and extracurricular reading groups, students are encouraged to reclaim their own forms of knowledge and challenge hegemonic narratives perpetuated by colonial structures. This initiative underscores the transformative potential of education in dismantling oppressive structures and fostering alternative visions of social change. By amplifying the voices of marginalized communities, the intervention not only challenges the status quo but also lays the groundwork for a more equitable and emancipatory educational landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The juvenile "justice" system in the United States and the expansion of the carceral state into communities of color are deeply rooted in white supremacy. To challenge these oppressive systems, it is essential for system‐impacted youth to have access to these subjugated histories. We argue that critical youth participatory action research (YPAR) is a powerful tool for providing these youth with the necessary exposure, space, and support to access these histories, develop critical consciousness, and transform their personal pain and experiences into reflection, collaboration, and actions aimed at challenging oppressive systems such as the juvenile legal system. To illustrate this potential, we present an overview of recent YPAR projects in partnership with system‐impacted youth. We underscore the importance of system‐impacted youth in meaningful, non‐tokenistic ways. Concrete recommendations for supporting YPAR projects with system‐impacted youth are provided. Key points for the family court community: The juvenile legal system is an unjust system that disproportionately harms BIPOC youth, their families, and communities.Deficit narratives rooted in personal responsibility and cultural deficit frameworks continue to present system‐impact BIPOC youth, their families, and cultures as the problem rather than underlying social processes such as discrimination and racism.Critical YPAR, emphasizing critical consciousness development and adults sharing power with young people, represents a potentially powerful strategy for meaningfully engaging with system‐impacted youth to effect social justice change.Juvenile justice reformers must move beyond tokenizing youth with lived experiences by involving them in research and other projects from the beginning rather than simply asking them to share their stories or provide feedback.YPAR represents an underutilized strategy for collaborating with system‐impacted youth in meaningful, non‐tokenistic ways to effect social justice change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Youth development programs offer flexible environments for healing and positive identity development for youth facing discrimination and oppression. Programs often occur in out-of-school time (OST), a context that is clearly positioned in tandem with the education system to create complex relationships that lead to challenges in OST spaces. Youth development programs occurring in OST settings have the potential for resisting or replicating oppressive practices toward youth occurring in the education system. This article highlights a youth participatory action research (YPAR) project within an OST program using photovoice, field trips, and arts-based strategies. Eleven youth participated in the project over the course of nine months. Thematic content analysis of weekly photovoice and critical consciousness resulted in a primary theme of peeling back the layers. This theme encompassed the evolution of youth understanding the interconnectedness between their individual-level experiences of racism and broader community and systems-level inputs. This article describes critical consciousness development of OST youth participants through intentional engagement in critical dialogue, experiential field trips, and reflective art making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Cultural stress is experienced by undocumented students when they encounter discrimination in higher education and society. In response, undocumented students engage in critical consciousness, while simultaneously experiencing psychological distress. A conceptual model is introduced to describe the links between cultural stress, critical consciousness development, and psychological distress. Method: One hundred seventy-one undocumented college students were recruited to participate in this study and completed measures of cultural stress (discrimination). They also completed measures of psychological distress, critical consciousness, and social justice self-efficacy and outcome expectations. The proposed model was tested for global fit and path analysis in structural equation modeling. Indirect effects were probed to assess the mediating role of critical consciousness and psychological distress. Results: The model fit the data excellently. Greater discrimination was associated with higher critical consciousness, which in turn was associated with elevated social justice self-efficacy and outcome expectations. Additionally, higher discrimination was also linked to greater psychological distress. The link between cultural stress and critical consciousness was not explained by psychological distress. Conclusions: This research expands theory by articulating the adaptive ways undocumented students respond to the conditions that cause cultural stress and psychological distress. This aligns with a growing literature documenting the psychology of undocumented immigrants' activism and advocacy. Findings may inform interventions by higher education institutional agents and research to offset cultural stress and psychological distress. Public Significance Statement: The discriminatory, unwelcoming, and culturally hostile climate toward undocumented students in higher education institutions and society activates cultural stress that is experienced as psychological distress symptoms. Undocumented college students respond to this by developing critical consciousness to become confident and hopeful as they seek to change this climate. A model explaining this process is introduced with initial evidence that may be helpful to individuals, groups, and institutions seeking to support undocumented college students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To examine how cultural stressors (ethnic–racial discrimination, immigration-related threat, and COVID-19 stress) influence critical reflection, motivation, and action among Latinx adolescents and whether parental preparation for bias moderates these relations. Method: One hundred thirty-five Latinx adolescents (Mage = 16, 59.3% female, 85.2% U.S.-born) completed online surveys at two time points, 6 months apart. Results: Immigration-related threat was associated with greater Time 1 (T1) critical reflection (β =.31, p <.05) and Time 2 (T2) critical motivation (β =.24, p <.01). Preparation for bias moderated the relation between immigration-related threat and T1 critical action (β =.18, p <.01). COVID-19 stress was associated with greater T1 critical motivation (β =.24, p <.01) and T2 critical action (β =.18, p =.01). Conclusions: Cultural stressors may alert Latinx youth to systemic injustices in the United States, and combined with parental messages, may empower youth to address inequities. Public Significance Statement: Cultural stressors (i.e., immigration-related threat and COVID-19 stress) were associated with youths' understanding of broader social inequities, recognition of the importance of addressing social injustice, and actions taken to challenge these inequities. Further, parental conversations about bias were linked to greater youth engagement in action to create social change. This awareness and empowerment may support other positive outcomes like mental well-being and academic flourishing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, discourse on topics like cultural humility, social determinants of health (SDOH), and health disparities and inequities has greatly increased in medical education as attention to their impact on health has magnified. Unfortunately, traditional medical education models may fail to optimize learning in this area. To address these complex social health issues, we must find innovative ways to engage students in an educational partnership in which they are challenged to critically think and reflect on their attitudes, role, and actions in health equity and culturally responsive care. Through reviews of existing literature coupled with our own experience with iterative implementation of a model that includes interpersonal engagement paired with individual self-directed learning, we assembled 12 tips on how to prepare diverse students to practice lifelong cultural humility and provide culturally and socially responsive care in an ever-changing social landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latinx youth are often engaged in critical action to transform social injustices, yet we know little about the wellbeing of Latinx youth activists. This study draws on critical ethnographic research to understand the multidimensions of wellbeing that Latinx youth experienced when they engaged in critical action toward anti-immigrant politics during the Trump Era. Data collected through open-ended interviews with Latinx youth who participated in social protests revealed that (a) concepts of wellbeing need to be extensively explored for a more nuanced understanding of its characteristics, and (b) when youth engage in critical action, they experience physical and socioemotional wellbeing in distinct ways. This research contributes to the critical consciousness and wellbeing scholarship by (1) adding to the dearth of research on Latinx youth physical wellbeing and critical action, (2) theorizing nuances of physical, mental, and socioemotional wellbeing as simultaneously present during critical action, and (3) centering the voices and experiences of Latinx youth, specifically Latina youth, who have historically been omitted from the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to contribute fresh insights into youth participatory action research (YPAR) by using bell hooks' engaged pedagogy to illuminate the process of co-designing a program for transition beyond secondary school. Engaged pedagogy is a critical pedagogy that combines critical consciousness and radical wholeness and seeks to foster a learning community. The 10-week YPAR included six staff collaborators (SCs) and five youth collaborators (YCs). Data comprised recordings of weekly collaborative group meetings; group interviews with SCs and YCs; and reflections and artefacts such as planning documents, graphic organisers and photographs. Informed by engaged pedagogy, findings are represented in two themes. First, YCs and SCs raised critical consciousness by collectively unpacking and critiquing the concept of transition. Critical consciousness allowed YCs to share their lived experiences and critique the dominant deficit discourse that represents transition as a linear process that needs to be smoothed by expert adults. Second, YCs and SCs demonstrated what hooks describes as radical wholeness, by bringing their whole selves to the YPAR. While some SCs and YCs struggled with the messiness of co-design as they negotiated expectations and roles, they learned to be honest and share their emotions, becoming what hooks describes as a learning community. Using an engaged pedagogy lens, we conclude by advocating for a holistic approach for YPAR in which educators take the risk of being vulnerable, sharing uncertainty and discomfort while encouraging youth to also take risks by bringing their whole selves to the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently published professional learning outcomes require future engineers to think of the impacts that engineering decisions have on society. History shows that construction and civil engineering projects can exacerbate inequality by ignoring community concerns and failing to consider the impacts on marginalized and vulnerable stakeholders, among other factors. How might construction engineering professors help students meet these standards, and how do construction and civil engineering students respond when construction engineering is framed as inextricably linked to these obligations? We designed and evaluated curriculum modules aimed at helping develop a critical consciousness with construction and civil engineering students (N=177) in three construction and civil engineering courses at two universities in the midwestern region between 2020 and 2021. The curriculum builds on a three-phase framework aimed at encouraging students to see social inequities and their impacts, finding social inequities unjust, and enhancing reflective self-awareness. Post-implementation responses to the case study designed to make clear the need for a critical consciousness in engineering found that students responded positively to both the instructional approach of a case study and the content connected to critical consciousness. We discuss implications for the development of further curriculum and the implementation of such an approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mathematics instruction is not race or culture neutral. For students who have been historically marginalized in mathematics classrooms, high-quality mathematics instruction, instruction that helps students build conceptual understanding, on its own might not be enough to disrupt inequities. These students might also need instruction that is culturally relevant, with teachers who demonstrate cultural competence, build critical consciousness, and support student learning. Our goal in this study was to understand which components of culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) are captured and which are missed in a typical U.S. framework of high-quality mathematics instruction. To find the overlaps and gaps, we analyzed the mathematics lessons of three elementary teachers through both the lens of CRP and the Mathematics-Scan, a mathematics observation tool. We found the strongest overlap between the two frameworks in the patterns of strengths and weaknesses in the teachers' lessons. When the teachers were delivering high-quality instruction, they were also often supporting students' learning or showing cultural competence. When the teachers were delivering lower quality instruction, they were also often missing opportunities to enact CRP. At the same time, key elements of CRP including linguistic support for students, high expectations, critical consciousness, and nuances within cultural competence, were missed by the high-quality instruction framework. High-quality instruction was the foundation for CRP in the teachers' classrooms, but CRP was more than just high-quality instruction. We conclude with recommendations for increasing the alignment between the frameworks and implications for international educators also grappling with equity in their own frameworks of mathematics instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reflects on a week-long staff professional development program at Tezpur University), Assam, India, conducted during mid-December 2023. As a focus of the professional development, staff from the Cultural Studies Department along with visiting academics and staff from other departments at Tezpur University learned how to teach community dance to their master’s students in 2024. Embedded into this learning was a transformational pedagogical approach to teaching that offered an alternative to direct knowledge transmission. Khedkar & Nair (2016) commented on the value of this pedagogical approach, noting, Transformative pedagogy is defined as an activist pedagogy combining the elements of constructivist and critical pedagogy that empowers students to critically examine their beliefs, values, and knowledge with the goal of developing a reflective knowledge base, an appreciation for multiple perspectives, and a sense of critical consciousness and agency. (p.232). Outcomes have been drawn from the participants' personal reflections. All the participants responded with enthusiasm to the new ideas and learning that came from the week of professional development. Enthusiastic engagement and enjoyment observed during the sessions suggest that their positive reflections were honest and open according to the guidance they had been given. We reflect on the learning that emerged from this, both for the participants and the facilitator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research article highlights how two dual language kindergarten teachers in an urban Title I school incorporated family relationships and cultural practices to support children’s learning through online schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic. We report from ethnographic work conducted during the 2020–21 school year through virtual classroom observations and teacher interviews. We combined the lenses of equitable family engagement and critical consciousness to examine how the teachers regarded the role of families as schooling entered homes. Our findings show that the teachers perceived families’ expertise as equally influential as teachers’ knowledge of children’s learning, considering them “co-teachers.” Rooted in their beliefs about families’ central role in education, the teachers’ approach exemplifies what we term “critically conscious family engagement,” a novel conceptualization of family engagement that connects critical consciousness to teachers’ active and consistent relationship-building with parents, caregivers, and children. Our implications highlight strategies for educators to build and sustain such relations in any instructional modality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on participatory research with secondary school learners in Perú and Uganda that shows how environmental and social (in) justices are interwoven and embedded in young people's experiences of the natural world. These experiences contrast with learners' accounts of environmental education in secondary schooling, in which the notion of justice is comparatively, and therefore conspicuously, absent. We employ four distinct but overlapping conceptualisations of justice—biocentric and anthropocentric notions of environmental justice, including climate justice, and epistemic justice—to analyse how learners understand responsibilities for climate action, and what change they anticipate and hope for in the future. Observing that ethical frameworks enable learners to make sense of the complexity of human and more‐than‐human relationships within natural ecosystems, we argue that a multiple justice framework in formal schooling is needed. A multiple justice approach to environmental education could support learners to develop a critical consciousness in and about the natural world, and to imagine and be motivated to act in support of a better future. Our findings are based on accounts from 123 secondary school learners in eight schools—four schools in northern Uganda and four in diverse regions of Perú. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The imperative for decolonial research in health professions education (HPE) is rooted in a resistance to coloniality, which characterises modern medicine and HPE. Coloniality is a residual effect of colonialism, which upholds White, Western, Eurocentric knowledge systems while simultaneously marginalising diverse epistemologies. We outline the problematic nature of coloniality in HPE typified in unequal research partnerships, skewed student exchanges and poor representation of diverse authors. Decoloniality advocates for the active disruption and dismantling of colonial hierarchies to promote epistemic justice. We suggest a practical framework for applying decolonial principles in research, emphasising awareness (critical consciousness), deliberation (reflexivity) and action (transformative praxis). Practical steps for decolonial practice include interrogating research conceptualisation, sharing power and diversifying research teams, adopting participatory and reciprocal (mutually beneficial) methodologies, (re)centring marginalised voices and amplifying ‘Other’ knowledges, and disrupting hegemonic dissemination practices. By employing decolonial strategies, researchers can produce equitable, socially accountable and epistemically just scholarship, ultimately enhancing the relevance and impact of HPE research for all people globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I consider the global tradition of live art as a pedagogical force that draws on queer affect and resonance. Scholars of performance studies have situated live art in the field of experimental and undisciplined art but have not given enough attention to its pedagogical potential. In southern Africa, live art has been theorised as a practice that is leaky, transgressive, and undisciplined, emphasising risk, extremity and endurance. These conditions are partly shaped by the region’s historic struggle for liberation since the twentieth century but cannot be reduced to this period alone.As an African practitioner and scholar of live art with a Namibian and South African experience and training, I draw on various experiences of performing, workshopping, curating and researching live art, offering a queer vocabulary to develop the pedagogical potential of live art. I posit that this is a vocabulary for Archival F(r)ictions, emphasising the centrality of archival work in live artistic pedagogies. These pedagogical frameworks rely on the principles of critical consciousness, embodied learning and democratic participation as put forward by the Brazilian critical pedagogue Paulo Freire. As a result, I show how gestures of hoeing and smuggling can produce joy, pleasure, and irritations as sites of queer epistemic work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses working-class young people's perceptions of and resistance to place-based stigma, through a case study of a youth-led theatre project in the East End of Glasgow, UK. The impact of stigma on working-class communities is well-established; through the effects of poverty and inequality people and places are stigmatised. Although existing literature emphasises that we must recognise how working-class people construct alternative narratives, there is limited evidence on how people in neighbourhoods with high levels of poverty manage and resist stigma. There is a dearth of research on young people's resistance to stigma. This qualitative study found promising signs of young people's agency to resist place-based stigma by constructing alternative narratives. Through creative work, young people were able to convey powerful messages around poverty-related issues, making visible the effects of poverty on individuals and communities and encouraging empathy and understanding. However, it was also evident that individualistic understandings of poverty are so powerfully ingrained that these alternative narratives stopped short of an explicit recognition of structural causes of poverty. This article argues that viewing resistance as a process helps to identify possibilities for supporting young people to further develop critical consciousness, to confront stigmatising discourses in a way that exposes power relations, and to generate activism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zusammenfassung: Unser Beitrag ist ein theoretischer Artikel, der die Bildung im Anthropozän durch die Brille einer kritischen Pädagogik betrachtet. Die Diskussion stützt sich vor allem auf Philosophie und Anthropologie, greift aber auch auf zahlreiche Konzepte der Erziehungswissenschaften und der Bildung zurück. Wir beginnen mit einer Beschreibung des globalen Systemphänomens Anthropozän und der Gefahr plötzlicher irreversibler Veränderungen, die die Fähigkeit des Menschen, in einer Gesellschaft zu leben, gefährden würden, wenn bestimmte Kipppunkte überschritten werden. Es wird gezeigt, dass die Menschheit und insbesondere die Pädagog_innen angesichts der anstehenden Probleme vor einer großen Herausforderung stehen, aber auch angesichts der Tatsache, dass der politische und soziale Wandel nur sehr langsam vonstatten geht, obwohl wir uns der Situation durchaus bewusst sind. Es gilt also, spezifische Formen der Entfremdung zu berücksichtigen, die über das Problem der Unwissenheit hinausgehen, das seit der Zeit der Aufklärung angeklagt wird. Unter diesem Gesichtspunkt mag es schließlich angebracht sein, eine Pädagogik der Befreiung, wie die von Paulo Freire, zu unterstützen, da sie den Wunsch nach individueller und politischer Emanzipation – d.h. die verschiedenen Ebenen, die im Zusammenhang mit dem Phänomen des Anthropozäns eine Rolle spielen – klar zum Ausdruck bringt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Life-Enhancing Anxiety: Key to a Sane World" by Kirk J. Schneider challenges the idea that anxiety should be cured and instead argues that it can provide valuable insights. Schneider explores the multifaceted nature of anxiety and its connection to sociopolitical, relational, and historical contexts. He emphasizes the importance of addressing anxiety to avoid negative consequences like violence and polarization, and proposes changes to the economy, education, and work to support this perspective. A reviewer highlights Schneider's emphasis on depth experiential therapies and the need for relationships and social structures that allow individuals to grapple with anxiety and find collective meaning. They also note Schneider's incorporation of psychological theories and critiques of power, although expressing concern about the examination of power mechanisms. Overall, the book is seen as a genuine exploration of these dilemmas and a call for rethinking psychology and society. [Extracted from the article]

This paper explores the concept of racial microaggressions, everyday slights and offensive behaviors experienced by people of color, particularly focusing on their manifestation within social work education programs. Black social work students, in particular, frequently encounter instances tied to stereotypes about their intellectual abilities, perpetuating historical prejudices and contributing to mental health challenges such as anxiety and impostor phenomenon (IP). The historical trauma endured by Black individuals adds a distinct layer to the struggles faced by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) students in social work education. Despite the evident impact, there exists a significant gap in scholarship addressing these issues, emphasizing the urgent need for the social work profession to confront and comprehend how implicit biases and racial microaggressions impede the success of Black social work students. This theoretical exploration aims to spark vital dialogue on the manifestations of implicit biases and racial microaggressions, probing their link to feelings of IP and historical trauma. Central to this inquiry is the examination of the critical consciousness framework's efficacy in social work education, uncovering its role in raising awareness among professionals regarding their inadvertent perpetuation of oppressive systems. By leveraging this framework, the paper seeks to unearth structures of oppression and privilege, promoting awareness of unintentional complicity in upholding these structures. Recommendations align with the critical consciousness framework, advocating for future dialogues and the implementation of effective microaggression scales to incorporate and analyze frequencies and the impact of racism in social work research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, Andrea Dyrness, Jackquelin Bristol, and Daniel Garzón explore how cultural mentoring with elementary students was enacted by undergraduate and graduate students from minoritized backgrounds attending a predominantly white university. They examine how these mentors engaged with a framework of community cultural wealth and borderlands pedagogies of acompañamiento in their interactions with their mentees and in their own and collective reflections. Using testimonies and ethnographic data, the authors illustrate participants' mutual engagement in the ongoing struggle to make sense of and confront structural injustice and argue that acompañamiento illuminates the reciprocal, transformative relationships between university and elementary students of color in the shared process of developing their critical consciousness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender sexuality alliances (GSAs) represent consciousness‐raisings that hold potential for critical consciousness development in youth. In this study, we focus on critical reflection—the understanding that oppression is structured and maintained by human action. We engage intersectionality as our analytical framework and analyze both student interview data (n = 38) and advisor closed‐ended and open‐ended survey data (n = 58) to examine: (1) the nature/content of critically reflective discussions in GSAs and (2) how advisors support critically reflective discussions in GSAs and their role in these discussions. Our findings suggest that (1) conversations centering race and its intersections with other socio‐structural axes occur, albeit infrequently; (2) youth recognize and understand the concept of intersectionality in nuanced ways, desire to have critical intersectional conversations, and experience fragmentation from conversations around race, sexuality, and gender if they are situated at privileged locations on those axes; and (3) students want advisors to engage in critically reflective discussions in GSAs. The findings suggest that interventions and programming are needed that could cultivate advisors' and youth leaders' skills in facilitating intersectional dialogues for critical reflection among members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Rates of alcohol and/or substance use (ASU) among residents of predominantly Black and marginalized communities are similar to ASU rates in White communities. Yet ASU has worse consequences in predominantly Black and marginalized communities (e.g., higher incarceration). Objective: We randomized participants to one of 16 intervention conditions using a 24 full factorial design to optimize a multilevel intervention reducing ASU among 602 formerly incarcerated men with substance-use-disorders (SUD). Candidate intervention components included (1) critical dialogue (CD; six weekly 2-hour-long group sessions vs. no CD sessions), (2) Quality of Life Wheel (QLW; six weekly 1-hour-long group sessions vs. no QLW sessions), (3) capacity building projects (CBP; six weekly 1-hour-long group sessions vs. no CBP sessions), and (4) delivery by a trained peer versus licensed facilitators. Outcome was percentage of days in which participants used alcohol, cocaine, opioid, and/or cannabis in previous 30 days. Results: Intent-to-treat analysis did not meet a priori component selection criteria due to low intervention attendance. After controlling for intervention group attendance (percentage of sessions attended), peer-delivered CD and CBP produced statistically and clinically significant main and interaction effects in ASU over 5 months. Per the multiphase optimization strategy framework, we selected peer-delivered CD and CBP for inclusion as the optimized version of the intervention with a cost of US$1,380 per 10 individuals. No adverse intervention effects occurred. Conclusion: CD and CBP were identified as the only potentially effective intervention components. Future research will examine strategies to improve attendance and test the optimized intervention against standard of care in a randomized-controlled-trial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this Narrative Inquiry, we share the stories of three Chinese rural students who grew up in a southeastern county in China before moving to the county seat for high school. By inviting our participants to read their own life, we aimed to understand how Chinese rural students make sense of their experience in an exam‐centered school system that seemed to offer them opportunities of upward social mobility but at the same time perpetuated the mindset of rural deficiency. Data analysis shows that the visceral feelings of shame and love played an important role in our participants' critical consciousness about school, allowing them to work within and against school norms to transform a strictly stratified school space. We argue that marginalized youth's storytelling can become a practice of critical literacy, enabling them to construct critical meaning makings in embodied ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Northern Nigeria is a region where traditional Al-Majiri/Qur'anic schools have faced significant challenges despite several government efforts at reforms. Through Freire's critical pedagogy, particularly the concept of conscientization, this paper explores the potential for educational empowerment of critical stakeholders: parents, Mallams (teachers), Al-Majirai (pupils/students), and the authorities. By advocating dialogue among these groups, the paper proposes a transformative approach that not only addresses the immediate educational needs but also confronts the underlying social, economic, and political structures contributing to the marginalization of the Al-Majirai. The proposed reform aims to integrate the Al-Majirai with mainstream education that respects the cultural and religious significance of Qur'anic education while promoting critical consciousness, community involvement, and sustainable development. The article contributes to the discourse on educational reform in marginalized contexts emphasizing the pivotal role of pedagogy in driving social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article "Newfound Belonging: Reimagining Youth Development Through Culturally Relevant Physical Activity and Literacies" explores the integration of culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) and Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility (TPSR) in a physical activity program for youth. The program aims to foster academic success, cultural competence, and critical consciousness through activities that combine physical health, literacy development, and mathematical support. By utilizing multimodal literacies and promoting belonging, interaction, reciprocity, and empowerment, the program seeks to provide a safe and inclusive space for diverse youth to engage with physical activity and literacy practices. The study highlights the importance of integrating multiple literacies and CRP in youth development programs to promote holistic well-being and academic achievement. [Extracted from the article]

This article suggests that regrettable silences in development education (DE) on key issues of social justice and sustainability largely result from four unresolved issues. First, there is ongoing conflation of different meanings of 'development', but the most common meaning of development conflicts with development toward critical consciousness, greater justice, and sustainability. Second, the dominant form of human development usually involves exploitation of other people, species, and ecosystems, and this may elicit uncomfortable cognitive dissonance for development educators. Third, DE is not well-grounded in the Earth's biophysical limits or in what those limits imply for the directions future development must take. Specifically, modern civilisation is a selfterminating system that must be replaced. Fourth, much of DE is linked to the United Nations' (UN) 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which steer us away from sustainability and do not resolve vast and toxic inequality. Given these issues, it is understandable that DE often appears to be stuck tinkering around the margins of an unhealthy, unfair, and unsustainable civilisation. By merging time-tested Indigenous worldviews with science regarding the Earth's limits and the basic needs of life, future directions for development education are proposed to help humanity create a healthy, just, and sustainable civilisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to address issues of potential gender bias in pre-service elementary teachers' conceptions of engineers and engineering using Freire's (2018) Critical Consciousness perspective. By identifying the biasness as causal and structural attributions, the study also aimed to construct a critical pedagogy framework for future pre-service elementary teachers to reflect on and to radically reimagine and transform potential gender bias in their conceptions of engineers and engineering. Drawings of engineers and narratives of drawings from 115 pre-service elementary teachers served as data. The analysis comprised a two-step process: (1) identification of patterns through an inductive analysis of the data; and (2) analysis of patterns from the Critical Consciousness perspective to generate themes. Themes included: (1) depictions of male engineers being afforded privileges of having innate abilities to perform engineering from the standpoint of strong disciplinary backgrounds in mathematics and science while depictions of female engineers being afforded privileges of having innate abilities to perform engineering from the standpoint of computing, designing, and coding. (2) depictions of male engineers' "work" of engineering being related to tangible outcomes like physical products, and (3) depictions of male engineers as authority figures and having the ability to lead the work of engineering. The critical pedagogical framework constructed is a step toward developing a tool for critically reflecting, and radically imagining, reimagining, and thus transforming inequities inherent in future pre-service elementary teachers' conceptualizations of engineers and engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the Division for Early Childhood's (DEC) commitment to racial equity and its efforts to create a more inclusive and equitable resource system. The DEC collaborates with the Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education community to produce resources that reflect collective expertise and address the needs of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with disabilities and their families. The article emphasizes the importance of personal and collective liberation, and invites readers to reflect on how to welcome diverse contributors, empower practitioners and individuals with disabilities, and create a resource system that centers marginalized voices. The DEC aims to dismantle systems of oppression and ensure fair distribution of resources, while also seeking open and affordable access to its materials. The article concludes by emphasizing the need for various voices and leadership to champion the DEC's racial equity point of view and work towards greater equity in early intervention and special education. [Extracted from the article]

This single-site case study investigates the effects of a culturally responsive teaching professional development (CRPD) program on seven teacher educators' self-efficacy and implementation of culturally responsive practices in their coursework. Over five years, the study involved evaluating existing coursework, educator training, community partnerships, and curriculum revisions. Quantitative and qualitative data, including a culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy survey, syllabi content analysis, interviews, exit tickets, and classroom observations, were collected and analyzed. Results show a positive impact of the PD on educator self-efficacy in implementing CR practices, promoting inclusive learning environments, fostering meaningful classroom relationships, improving assessment and instructional practices, enhancing discourse strategies, and cultivating critical consciousness among both educators and students. Cross-disciplinary collaboration, collaborative mentorship, and sustained personal and professional growth emerged as crucial elements in this transformative process. The study highlights the significance of targeted support and training for educators to effectively integrate CR practices into their teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have documented positive and negative relationships between adolescents’ critical consciousness and mental health. This study aims to clarify the role of friendship networks contributing to these associations. Using egocentric network data from a nationwide adolescent sample (N = 984, 55.0% female, 23.9% nonbinary, 72.7% non-white), regression analyses examined whether adolescents’ psychological distress and flourishing were predicted by their friend group’s average critical consciousness and the difference between adolescents and their friends on critical consciousness dimensions (sociopolitical action, critical agency, and critical reflection), accounting for network and demographic covariates. Higher friend group critical consciousness positively predicted flourishing, and higher friend group sociopolitical action negatively predicted psychological distress. Adolescents who participated in sociopolitical action more frequently than their friends had higher psychological distress and lower flourishing. Those with higher agency than their friends had lower flourishing. At the individual level, adolescents’ sociopolitical action predicted higher psychological distress and flourishing, critical agency predicted higher flourishing, and critical reflection predicted higher psychological distress and lower flourishing. Adolescent mental health is uniquely related to their friends’ critical consciousness. Findings highlight the utility of social network analyses for understanding social mechanisms that underlie relationships between critical consciousness and mental health.

Intercultural competence (IC), a desired outcome in many international schools, comprises the necessary knowledge, skills, and attitudes to effectively navigate intercultural situations. However, international schools are often elite institutions catering to affluent expatriates and host country nationals, thus aligning the development of IC to elite norms. This study explored the perspectives of six local scholarship students in a Central American international school, finding that these students have internalised this elitism as part of their IC development. This suggests that international schools could better serve the broader community by incorporating a critical stance towards IC that promotes equity without reinforcing elitism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Setting in train various forms of curriculum and pedagogic change in schools whilst seeking to improve both teaching strategies and Aboriginal educational outcomes in Australia is a complex business. This involves a sustained effort to equip the next generation of educators with the skills and knowledges to identify, diagnose, and devise remedies for the 'problems' that are sometimes ascribed to Aboriginal learners. The work of Paolo Freire is a point of reference here. However, the halo around Freire and his work may occlude thinking about how to evoke his concepts, (specifically conscientisation) in the contemporary Australian context. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of Freire's work in this light. We also discuss the Culturally Nourishing Schooling (CNS) project, a whole school reform model where teachers are encouraged to shift their reflective gaze onto themselves and on the settings in which they work. We argue that for 'success' in education to no longer be defined by deficit thinking, firstly, conscientisation must be a collective process. To change teachers and their practice and schooling requires a different conception of both change and of conscientisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore a site of unplanned, informal critical pedagogy and how raising critical consciousness occurs. During the Covid-19 pandemic, many students in England were required to pay rent for accommodation they could not occupy, or which offered reduced amenities. These undergraduates, who were largely first years, had yet to meet each other. Nonetheless, these students joined together to resist collectively, refusing to pay rent. Their action resulted in some partial victories. Through the lens of Freire’s critical pedagogy, we examine students’ lived experiences of participating in rent-strikes – using semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis. Ideas of dialogue, praxis and learning with others through collective resistance, pervade the data. The research fleshes-out these stages which interweave to raise critical consciousness. This offers a site of critical hope, providing insights into possibilities for realising critical pedagogy across a wider demographic despite a relentless neoliberal agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to characterise and understand the manifestation of critical mathematics consciousness (CMC) in the modelling process and the relationships that are established between mathematical modelling as a teaching methodology and the development of critical consciousness. Based on a contextualised topic of interest, the students produced mathematical models, and an improved analytical framework based on education for critical mathematical consciousness was used to analyse the interpretations and validations produced. In addition, a questionnaire was applied to ascertain consciousness at an individual level. The results show that the application of the analytical framework generated insights into the development of critical mathematics consciousness. Furthermore, it was noted that the use of questions seems to help in the development of mathematical modelling by deepening discussions and benefiting the development of CMC. This suggestion contributes to the evolution of CMC, through the reflection on social issues in the production of a model. It appears that mathematical modelling is favourable to the manifestation of CMC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVES: Clinical settings are increasingly focused on addressing patients' social needs, thus medical education must prepare future clinicians for this task. Critical consciousness, an awareness that puts health within a broader social, historical, and cultural context, could help shape students' understanding of patient social needs. Our paper explores how experiential learning through participation in a social care intervention deepened students' critical consciousness, or their understanding of the systems and structures that make it difficult for patients to meet their basic needs. METHODS: We conducted one-on-one semistructured interviews with all 24 students who served as advocates for the intervention. Of the 24 advocates, 75% (n = 18) were first-year medical students, 17% (n = 4) were public health students, and 8% (n = 2) were social work students. Interviews were audiorecorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using framework analysis. RESULTS: We identified themes informed by critical consciousness, including individual (assumptions and biases), interpersonal (communication and relationship), and structural (organization and power) factors. Within these categories, advocates expressed deeper self-awareness of personal biases (individual), the importance of interpersonal communication to build trust with caregivers (interpersonal), and the identification of the structural factors that influence health, such as housing conditions (structural). The advocates highlighted the importance of experiential learning to help them understand social determinants of health. By witnessing multiple patients experiencing social needs, advocates saw the cascading effects of social needs, the structures that make it difficult to meet basic needs, and the effect on health and healthcare behavior. CONCLUSION: Students engaged in the intervention demonstrated the development of critical consciousness. Although limited, our findings suggest that when students engage with patients around social needs, students can better understand the broader social context of patients' lives. Experiential learning through social care interventions may have the potential to influence critical consciousness development and shape the practice of future clinicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated nine faculty members’ lived experiences with graduate courses at a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) using a phenomenological research design under the guidance of a framework for culturally sustaining pedagogy. In this phenomenological study, we analyzed interview transcripts focused on faculty members’ lived experiences with culturally sustaining teaching practices in graduate-level courses. The phenomenological data analysis revealed the following themes: introspection and reflection, collaboration, feedback, evaluation, and assessment. One noteworthy finding was that most faculty members did not intentionally foster students’ critical consciousness. We structure findings around three effective graduate teaching practices: (1) designing an effective learning environment, (2) structuring intentional learning experiences, and (3) assessing teaching effectiveness. We also provide implications for HSI faculty developers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Methods Conclusions and Significance Epistemic violence is enacted in medical curricula in mundane ways all the time, negatively impacting learners, teachers and patients. In this article, we address three forms of such violence: White supremacy, indigenous erasure and heteronormativity.In this article, we examine the knowledge systems of medicine as a global phenomenon, impacted by Western and European ideologies of race and colonisation, both produced by them, helping to reproduce them through authoritative and hegemonic ideologies. We seek not only to problematise but also to propose alternative teaching approaches rooted in the Global South and in Indigenous ways of knowing. Taking inspiration from Paulo Freire, we advocate for the development of critical consciousness through the integration of critical pedagogies of love, emancipation and shared humanity. Drawing on Irihapeti Ramsden, we advocate for cultural safety, which emphasises power relations and historical trauma in the clinical encounter and calls for a rights‐based approach in medical education. Deliberately holding space for our own vulnerabilities and that of our students requires what Megan Boler calls a pedagogy of discomfort.Our perspectives converge on the importance of critical consciousness development for culturally safe practice in medical education, acknowledging the need to emphasise a curriculum of shared humanity, introducing the concept of Ubuntu from Southern Africa. Ubuntu can be encapsulated in the phrase ‘I am because we are’, and it promotes a collective approach to medical education in which there is active solidarity between the profession and the diverse populations which it serves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engaging in critical consciousness has been central for anti-oppressive practice in social work education. This article presents reflections on migration and (anti-) oppressive social work practices based on a student-academic activist project beginning in the North-East (NE) of England. The project involved MA social work students and two academics from a NE university, organizing a series of events aimed at raising awareness in relation to the refugee crisis. In addition, the project crucially involved a study trip to Athens, Greece, where the discussions with frontline professionals, refugee activists and social work students were utilized as an opportunity for co-learning and anti-oppressive praxis. Using Freire's (1970, 1994) analysis for oppression and critical consciousness, understandings of social work across international boundaries and contexts of practice were developed, revealing the need for social work education to undertake a more activist and politicized approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We employed a mixed‐methods design to identify intervention elements that may improve relational inclusion in classrooms through equity‐framed and culturally‐attuned teacher−student relationship interventions. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 29 (26 female) school mental health professionals and 19 parents (mostly mothers) of racially, ethnically, and culturally diverse students. Using a convergent mixed‐methods design, we first analyzed the individual data points and then integrated the quantitative and qualitative data in the interpretation and discussion of the results. Our findings showed that, for school mental health professionals, the quantitative data largely complemented the qualitative results, which represented four themes: School−family partnerships, critical consciousness, educator preparation, and transformational social‐emotional learning. Parents of minoritized students identified unique elements, including microaggressions, color evasion, recognition of bias, storytelling, and systemic change as important for the development of culturally‐attuned interventions. The two groups had parallel and contrasting recommendations about elements that may contribute to improved classroom relational inclusion for minoritized students. Results illustrate how merging professional and parent perspectives could contribute to the development of teacher−student relationship interventions that appropriately address issues of equity and culture in ways that are meaningful to end users and other stakeholders. Practitioner points: School mental health professionals and parents of minoritized students have parallel and contrasting recommendations about the elements that may operate to improve classroom relational inclusion for all learners.Teacher−student relationship interventions that attend to include various systemic forces, such as economic, societal, political, and structural barriers is essential to culturally‐attuned teacher−student relationship interventions.Intervention program elements that reach beyond classrooms and schools to include various systemic forces, such as economic, societal, political, and structural barriers may explain low cultural, racial, and male representations in the teaching profession and may be especially helpful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is important to understand men's participation in action for gender equality as true societal change necessitates aid from allies. In the present study, we investigated whether critical consciousness (CC) may be a tool men use to combat sexism. CC entails three interrelated components: critical reflection, critical efficacy, and critical action. According to the theory, people will act to change unjust social systems if they have critically reflected on injustice and possess internal efficacy. Additionally, external efficacy may stymie action for those who also have greater reflection. Men (N = 680) attending a predominantly White, liberal arts college in the United States answered questions about two forms of critical reflection (perceived inequality and egalitarianism), internal and external efficacy, and their participation in action for gender equality. Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate the hypothesized model that men who engaged in critical reflection would act for gender equality if they also possessed higher internal and lower external efficacy. Internal efficacy mediated the connection between perceived inequality and action and the connection between egalitarianism and action. External efficacy did not mediate relations between perceived inequality or egalitarianism and action. Our findings indicate that men may act if they have critically reflected on gender inequality, hold egalitarian views, and possess internal efficacy. Results suggest CC may be a resource men can use to serve as allies and help create a more gender-equitable society. Public Significance Statement: Gender equality will not be achieved without men's participation in actions to dismantle sexist social structures. The findings from this study suggest that men may act for gender equality if they possess critical consciousness regarding sexism and gender equality. Experiences that allow men to reflect critically on gender inequality, develop more egalitarian views, and feel confident in their understanding of gender equality issues may empower them to act. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]