Beyond rhetoric: a case study of critical and inclusive pedagogical practices in a teaching and learning center

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine how critical and inclusive pedagogical (CIP) practices are understood, promoted, and implemented in teaching and learning centers. As organizations dedicated to the advancement of faculty development within higher education, teaching and learning centers (TLCs) provide useful insight into strategies aimed at fostering critical and inclusive pedagogies. Using a critical qualitative approach, this study employed an instrumental, single case study methodology informed by critical race theory (Delgado & Stefancic, 2017), critical consciousness (Freire, 1998), and the theory of racialized organizations (Ray, 2019). Four themes were identified that illuminate how TLCs operationalize CIP within their institutional and sociopolitical contexts: 1) interrogating tensions between critical and inclusive pedagogy, 2) teaching & learning centers as first responders: the limitations of pedagogical support, 3) performative commitments: the gap between institutional rhetoric and practice, and 4) navigating institutional power: the Faculty of Color experience. Overall, participants considered CIP to be a core part of teaching and learning praxis, and their collective efforts contributed to fostering a campus ecosystem where critical and inclusive pedagogy could be better understood, supported, and enacted. However, despite their shared articulation of values, various institutional and sociopolitical factors shaped differences in their understanding and application of CIP frameworks within teaching and learning center practice. The findings of this study offer insights to educational developers, informing their organizational missions and practice-based approaches to advancing equitable teaching practices.