Feminist Pedagogy

Bernice L. Hausman, Professor
Department of English
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Blacksburg, VA

Feminist pedagogy is a theory about teaching, about institutions where learning occurs, and about the democratic creation of knowledge. Teachers who use feminist pedagogy believe in establishing a collaborative learning environment where student ideas count as contributions to knowledge; they also believe that students must learn to be responsible for their own learning. Professor Hausman's courses mix collaborative learning activities with traditional measures of assessment (written, formal papers and exams). Each individual student will be responsible for his or her understanding of the course materials. Class time will be spent exploring the meanings of course readings; sometimes the professor will lecture in order to provide background information not present in the readings, but at other times class will be more loosely structured to accommodate discussion, small group activities, and exploratory writing.

It is important to understand that the use of feminist pedagogy in the classroom means that students are more responsible for the creation of knowledge than they are in a traditional classroom. The emphasis in a feminist classroom is on students' understanding and synthesis of course readings and discussion for their own purposes and goals. This does not mean, however, that students can never be wrong in a feminist classroom. The professor's job, in this context, is to suggest to students when interpretations are not grounded in defensible interpretations of facts or texts. A feminist classroom will, however, focus attention on the interested, or political, nature of all interpretations. Students are never required to hold any particular view; students will be required to understand both their own views and views that they do not agree with. Feminist theory and pedagogy require students and faculty to understand and be responsible for the particular positions that they take up, defend, and espouse. That means realizing the political, social, and economic stakes in any idea, theory, or action.