Creating a culture of thinking? Reflections on teaching an undergraduate Critical Social Psychology course

Abstract

English: This article is a retrospective reflection on the experience of teaching a newly introduced third-year Critical Social Psychology course at the University of the Witwatersrand. Student evaluations and course presentation are discussed in order to critically reflect on the implications, if any, for nurturing critical thought and practice in students’ work. While considering the content, structure, assessments and presentation of the course, this article examines the teachers’ own learning and development of professional identity as teaching practitioners. Using Freire and Foucault’s approaches to a critical pedagogy, the article highlights the importance of interrogation of student-teacher relations, as well as knowledge production in general.Afrikaans: Hierdie artikel bied ’n terugskouende oorsig van die ondervinding om ’n nuut-ingestelde derdejaarskursus in Sosiale Sielkunde aan die Universiteit van die Witwatersrand aan te bied. Studentevaluerings en kursusaanbieding word bespreek om die implikasies, indien enige, vir die kultivering van kritiese denke en praktyk in studentewerk, te oordink. Die artikel oorweeg dosente se eie leer- en professionele identiteitsontwikkeling deur krities na te dink oor die inhoud, struktuur, assessering en aanbieding van die kursus. Volgens die benaderings van Freire en Foucault tot kritiese pedagogie, lig die artikel die belang uit van die ondersoek na student-dosentverhoudings, asook kennisproduksie in die algemeen.