Skip to content

Mission, Vision, and Core Tenets

Check Out Our Searchable Database of Radical Pedagogy Resources!

Who We Are

The Radical Pedagogy Institute is a collective of educators based in the greater New Jersey area (this includes NYC) who believe in the transformational power of radical pedagogy and local political organizing. The Institute was created to provide a space for such educators to forge local connections and support one another in our work towards a truly liberatory education system for all students.

Our Vision

We dream of an educational system that uses tenets of critical pedagogies–-queer, anti-racist, DisCrit, culturally relevant, and other liberatory pedagogies–-to re/humanize educational experiences for all students. Such educational practices are what we refer to as “radical pedagogy.”

We intentionally use the term “re/humanize” with the backslash for two reasons. First, we honor that many Black, Latinx, and Indigenous students come to schools having already engaged in truly humanizing educational experiences at home with their family or other members of their community. Our goal for those students is to rehumanize their PK-12 education through the use of radical pedagogy. We also recognize that for some students, e.g., some queer students, such identity-based cultural experiences/communities may not be available, in turn limiting their access to truly humanizing educational experiences. For those students our goal is to humanize educational spaces and experiences through the use of radical pedagogy.

Our Mission

The Institute is a space for educators in the greater New Jersey area to foster meaningful connections, obtain the political knowledge needed to organize for change within their communities, and learn how to enact anti-racist, queer, and other critical pedagogies across ALL content areas (yes, even math) and grade levels. Here, teachers are viewed as expert change agents and valuable sources of community knowledge. To that end, members are encouraged to propose professional development ideas with the purpose of sharing the practices of radical pedagogy and political organizing they are employing in their own classrooms and communities.

Our Core Tenets

Core Tenets Driving the Mission, Vision and Overall Structure of Radical Pedagogy Institute 1. Educators must have access to professional development on the innovative & radical pedagogies that their peers are enacting in the field. 2. Educators need space to foster connections & support one another in enacting the above pedagogies & navigating the pushback that such pedagogical efforts may inspire. 3. Classroom teachers, as well as community activists, parents, students, & scholars, are all essential sources of knowledge & expert change agents in our schools. We can learn much from members of each of these constituencies. 4. The knowledge the above constituents bring to our community is as important as (or arguably more important than) that of high profile educational researchers. Recognizing the value of these folx, those with "boots on the ground," requires us to compensate them for their labor, just as we would those academics. 5. While content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, & pedagogical content knowledge are essential for effective teaching, so too is political knowledge, i.e., political conocimiento (Gutierrez, 2017). 6. Our community should be accessible to as many folx as possible, whether they pay for annual membership, trade membership for facilitating a workshop or other community contribution (aka "Activist Membership"), or apply for one of our Pre-Service Teacher Scholarships. 7. Providing a space for learning about radical pedagogy and political organizing is not sufficient. We must also provide support and opportunities for membership to engage in action.

Join Our Community

We would love to have you join the Radical Pedagogy Institute community! Check out our membership options here.

the Institute logo - a white square with a black outline. Inside the square is the mathematical radicand symbol, w/4 resistance forearms/fists, all of varying shades of skin color & heights, breaking through the top of the radicand. Forearm on the far left has a wristband w/the Philly pride flag colors (black, brown, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple) & the 2nd to last 1 on the right has a wristband w/the trans flag colors (baby blue, light pink, white, light pink, baby blue)

Sign up to learn about radical pedagogies, get FREE resources, and stay up to date on new session offerings and other events