Critical pedagogy: What might it look like and why does it matter?

I first heard the term ‘critical pedagogy’ when I returned to university to undertake an honours degree after teaching health and physical education for four years. Several academic staff and postgraduate students met regularly to discuss the concept in a basement room that was cold and windowless. The meetings I attended spoke of hegemonic capitalism, patriarchy, domination, inequality, alienation, democracy and empowerment. To identify with a critical pedagogy seemed a serious, gloomy and somewhat confrontational business. This was in 1986 and it was the early days of scholarship in critical pedagogy in Australian health and physical education. It took me several years not to fear it, to understand its significance, digest its strengths and weaknesses and find a way of working with it that I felt was practical and positive. The aim of this chapter is to de-mystify critical pedagogy and introduce a range of contexts and practices where critical pedagogy can be used to engage more people in physically active, healthy lifestyles.