Power, Epistemology and Pedagogy: Female Teacher Education in Oman

Abstract

This study investigates the ways in which socio-cultural factors influence the propensity for critical thinking and critical pedagogy among female teacher candidates in Oman. The conceptual and methodological starting point of the study is the contention that education systems, and teachers more specifically, either reproduce hegemonic values or serve as agents of change. Epistemological positions and the influence of a dynamic network of power relations determine this path. Based on six months of fieldwork in the College of Education at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) and a mixed methodology, this thesis is underpinned by theoretical elements derived from sociology, anthropology, history, education and psychology. Drawing upon the educational insights of Bourdieu, Foucault, Vygotsky and Freire, this study uses a detailed survey of female teacher candidates in the College of Education at SQU, to investigate whether Arab/Islamic traditions and ideals can coexist with critical practice as a foundation for developing a Knowledge Society in Oman. To that end, a voluntary, anonymous survey (n=274) in Arabic, supported by semi-structured interviews and discursive analysis, enabled the identification of core beliefs, behavioural norms and attitudes that underpin the female teacher candidates’ motivation to teach, Personal Learning Preferences, teaching philosophy, expectations of students, classroom practices, critical pedagogy and a knowledge society. Additional questions addressed key issues pertaining to religiosity, affinity for notions of tradition and modernity, Internet use, the contents of home libraries, overseas travel experience and descriptors of the ideal female Omani teacher and the qualities of the Arab woman. Quantitative survey data and qualitative responses to open ended questions, as well as interviews with key academic administrators and faculty, highlighted the characteristics of female teacher candidates at SQU. A meta-analysis of the data produced significant predictive models (p<0.001) for both critical thinking (R² = 0.285) and critical pedagogy (R² = 0.089). Using the Enter method, twelve independent variables relating to social and symbolic capital and the institutional authority of the Family, Islam, the State and SQU, informed the multiple regression analysis. The five factor predictive model for critical thinking demonstrates that among female teacher candidates, an institutional synthesis between Family and religious beliefs accounts substantially for the implementation or inhibition of critical practices. The principles of critical pedagogy are not ‘approved knowledge’ within the epistemic doxa of Islam in Oman. As such, critical pedagogy is driven by State support and, in a limited number of cases, the support of the Family. Without such support, cognitive dissonance occurs and broad acceptance and commitment to a reformist agenda in respect of critical perdagogy is unlikely. Analysis of survey data demonstrates however that when families support creative, independent thinking; and both public and personal religious beliefs and practices endorse such behaviour, and the State upholds the role of teachers as loyal civil servants and trusted agents of change, critical thinking will manifest in teacher candidates. Show more