Transformative pedagogy
Transformative pedagogy - close to critical pedagogy (Giroux, 1997, Giroux et al., 1999) and radical pedagogy (Gore,1993; McWilliams, 1997; Parkes, 2000ab) - finds its theoretical roots in the neo-Marxian critical theory of the Frankfurt School. The emancipatory work of Paolo Freire, known as the pedagogy of the oppressed (1970) is certainly the most famous example of application of this school�$B!G�(Bs critical theory. A comprehensive online resource on critical pedagogy, its definitions, its history, its theories and other related links, can be found on the university of Iowa�$B!G�(Bs website1. When browsing this site, one notices that TP is still an ongoing process shifting over time to follow social transformation:
In nowadays moving reality, the term pedagogy - the art or science of being a teacher - refers not only to strategies or styles of instruction but also to the facilitation and management of sustainable transformations, whether individual, social, structural or institutional. In this respect, most pedagogies should be regarded as inherently formative with respect to the role they play in the development of individuals, but their trans-formative dimension deserves to be clarified, revisited and eventually bent with regard to a) the responsibility of educators to transcend their traditional role and expand the scope of their work towards an active participation to knowledge advancement, and b) the role given to information and communications technologies (ICT) to act as mediating artifact of emerging networked educational systems, supporting peer-to-peer collaboration as well as learners' autonomy and responsibility for learning :
(1)�.A�N the responsibility of educators, practitioners, teachers, academics or stakeholders, to question, transform and expand the scope of their work towards an active participation to knowledge advancement1. Expanding the mandate of educators requires proactive policies aiming at a flexible redistribution of roles in schools and classrooms, departing from narrow transmissive models of teaching and learning. On the other hand, it requires an open vision of the curriculum.
(2) the role of information and communications technologies (ICT) to serve as the mediating artifact of emerging networked educational systems, supporting Open Distance Learning (ODL). Nowadays, ODL is presented to developing countries as the panacea allowing to democratise education; ODL systems are seen as the most viable means for broadening educational access while improving the quality of education, advocating peer-to-peer collaboration and giving the learners a greater sense of autonomy and responsibility for learning (Calvert, 2006). However, as Virkkunen argues(2003), although ICT opens a wide range of possibilities for the enhancement and support of learning, its effective impact is restricted by narrow conceptualizations of learning that are based on three pervasive but problematic dichotomies: the one between informal and formal learning; the one between individual and collective learning; and the one between learning and the development of societal practices. Overcoming these problematic dichotomies forms part of the research agenda on transformative pedagogies.