Critical, Moral and Equity-Oriented Theories

Critical, Moral and Equity-Oriented Theories groups accounts that center power, culture, identity or moral relationship as the lens for understanding education, distinct from a theory of cognitive mechanism, motivation or curriculum design. Belongs here: Critical Pedagogy, Paulo Freire's theory treating education as a route to critical consciousness; Ethic of Care, Nel Noddings' theory centering the caring relationship between teacher and student as a moral foundation for education; Funds of Knowledge, the theory that treats a student's home and community knowledge as an asset to build instruction on; and Multiliteracies, the New London Group's theory of pedagogy responsive to linguistic, cultural and modal diversity in the classroom. Does not belong here: a general instructional design framework with no particular claim about power, culture or moral relationship, grouped under Instructional Design and Curriculum Frameworks, and a philosophy of education's aims such as Liberationism, which is an approach-type entity already grouped under Philosophies of Education, even where Critical Pedagogy and Liberationism share Freire as a common source.