Open research questions in Critical and Liberation Pedagogy
105 gap statements mined from Critical and Liberation Pedagogy papers in our 7.9M-paper local library, which holds 1,950 papers on the topic — drawn mostly from each paper's own stated research gap, future-work, challenge and limitation notes, and its abstract. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one.
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What the literature leaves open
However, while there is much academic work on the need for critical pedagogy, documented practical experience of how this works in the classroom remains scarce.
It remains to be seen whether this strategy for challenging neoliberalism could be a workable solution.
Treating and Resisting Neoliberalism in Locally-Produced ELT Textbooks: A Critical Review · 2025 · DOIThe paper suggests that future research should explore the application of Muxerista spirit restoration and healing pedagogies in different educational settings. The paper implies that future research should investigate the impact of embodiment and healing on student outcomes.
The paper identifies a gap in understanding how to be a liberator in a system that works within and against the educator. The paper notes that there is a need for more exploration of Muxerista spirit restoration and healing pedagogies in educational settings.
The lack of a framework that integrates professional competence and moral character.
The two-winged education paradigm: Reuniting professional competence and moral character · 2026 · DOIFuture research should prioritize the experiences of international students in Canada. Researchers should explore the intersection of racism and international education. Further study is needed on the effectiveness of critical pedagogy in disrupting the intergenerational miseducation of racism.
The author argues that there is a need for more research on the intersection of racism and international education.
The paper identifies a need for deeper discourse that interrogates how liminality functions within, and in response to, structural conditions in higher education through a systemic lens. The study aims to fill this gap by using situational analysis to study liminality and power in higher education.
Toward Theoretical Plausibilities of Power: An Analysis of Liminality in Higher Education · 2026 · DOIBecause the compassion element in CCI is understudied in teacher education, yet crucial to the success of the framework as a whole, in this article, I apply the tenets of relational–cultural theory (RCT) to enhance existing understandings of this component.
Critically Compassionate Intellectualism in Teacher Education: The Contributions of Relational–Cultural Theory · 2018 · DOIIn the final section we supplement our conclusion that universities should promote academic citizenship and aim to foster students’ ability to live a good life with a sobering note and urgent call: successful pursuit of these aims is only possible in an ethical environment and ethos that are currently lacking in universities.
ETHICS EDUCATION AT THE UNIVERSITY: FROM TEACHING AN ETHICS MODULE TO EDUCATION FOR THE GOOD LIFE · 2017 · DOISuch expressions have not been characterized and discussed in the mainstream educational leadership literature; however, they have been documented for centuries across philosophies and religions, including the Mahayana Buddhist teachings of the six virtues of the Bodhisattva, the awakened spiritual leader.
The author highlights the need to balance the teaching of formal ethical codes with the development of critical thinking and ethical decision-making skills.
The paper identifies a gap in the current approach to teaching professional ethics, which may leave prospective teachers ill-equipped to deal with complex situations. The author argues that a comprehensive approach is necessary to address this gap.
The paper argues that alternative approaches to ethics teaching have limitations.
The book is designed and appropriate only for gifted children. There is no bibliography, so students might have a starting point for further exploration.
G/C/T Review: Teaching Philosophy to Gifted Students: A Secondary Level Course of Study for Teachers and Administraton · 1986 · DOIThe paper questions whether the knowledge and skills stressed are necessary and appropriate for all children.
G/C/T Review: Teaching Philosophy to Gifted Students: A Secondary Level Course of Study for Teachers and Administraton · 1986 · DOIThe author notes a lack of exploration of the concept of tolerance in the context of moral education.
There is a need for approaches that can help students develop responsibility. Prior work on teaching responsibility has not provided a comprehensive solution.
The field's focus on practical applications rather than intellectual integrity. The lack of a clear understanding of the purpose and future of philosophy of education. The danger of losing sight of professional purposes and obligations in the pursuit of relevance to educators.
The field of philosophy of education is in philosophical disrepute. There is a lack of focus on intellectual integrity and the development of philosophical issues.
The book argues that kindness is commonly discussed implicitly yet rarely defined with sufficient precision.
Book review of Catherine J. Denial (2024). A pedagogy of kindness. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman. · 2026 · DOIThe author notes that the connection between art and teaching is often sloganized, but the meaning of art is often left unexplained.
It argues that the concept of hope is often overlooked in favor of cynicism.
Solidarity, Struggle, and the Discourse of Hope: Theory, Practice, and Experience in Radical Education, Part II · 1986 · DOIThis paper critically reviews the scarce literature on the approaches to treating and resisting neoliberalism in locally-produced ELT textbooks.
Treating and Resisting Neoliberalism in Locally-Produced ELT Textbooks: A Critical Review · 2025 · DOIIt does so by offering a five-step model, which involves: situating the text in its historical context; acknowledging and addressing problematic content; drawing out novel or underexplored themes and questions from the text; bringing the text into dialogue with diverse and contemporary philosophical approaches and issues…
Diversifying . . . Aristotle? Engaging Diverse Students with New Approaches to the Nicomachean Ethics · 2021 · DOI
Most-cited papers in Critical and Liberation Pedagogy
- The caring relation in teaching · Oxford Review of Education · 2012 · 581 citations
- An Ethic of Caring and Its Implications for Instructional Arrangements · American Journal of Education · 1988 · 424 citations
- Chapter 1 Developing Socially Just Subject-Matter Instruction: A Review of the Literature on Disciplinary Literacy Teaching · Review of Research in Education · 2007 · 324 citations
- The relationship of perceived teacher caring with student learning and teacher evaluation · Communication Education · 1997 · 291 citations
- ‘Pedagogy of discomfort’ and its ethical implications: the tensions of ethical violence in social justice education · Ethics and Education · 2015 · 287 citations
- Building an Ethical School: A Theory for Practice in Educational Leadership · Educational Administration Quarterly · 1991 · 248 citations
- More Than Words? Delving Into the Substantive Meaning(s) of “Social Justice” in Education · Review of Educational Research · 2006 · 228 citations
- Theory, Practice, and the Education of Professionals · The Elementary School Journal · 1998 · 224 citations
- Education, Accountability, and the Ethical Demand: Can the Democratic Potential of Accountability Be Regained? · Educational Theory · 2004 · 218 citations
- Fidelity in Teaching, Teacher Education, and Research for Teaching · Harvard Educational Review · 1986 · 206 citations
Most recent work
- There are alternatives! Navigating tensions in critical management education · Management Learning · 2026
- Editors’ Introduction: On Grief, Loss, and Radical Hope · Equity & Excellence in Education · 2026
- A Luta Continua! Education and the long black freedom struggle · Ethnic and Racial Studies · 2026
- When I say … liberation pedagogy · Medical Education · 2026
- Relational pedagogy and educator wellbeing: navigating care, identity, and institutional conditions in higher education · Higher Education Research & Development · 2026
- The demise of critical agency in a post-conflict teaching environment · ELT Journal · 2026
- Safeguarding students against trivialization and hijacking of social justice: A Freirean framework of reflective practice · Educational Philosophy and Theory · 2026
- Resisting Business School Academics’ Dehumanization: On the Humanizing Possibilities of Doubt · Academy of Management Learning and Education · 2026
- Ending American Exceptionalism: Common Futures Beyond Empire · Equity & Excellence in Education · 2026
- THE POWER OF CARING: NEL NODDINGS’ CONTRIBUTIONS TO PHILOSOPHY AND EDUCATION · The Social Science Review A Multidisciplinary Journal · 2026
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