Beyond Self-Care and Standardization: Creating a Sustainable Teaching Practice through Engaged Pedagogy

Abstract

Conversations around sustainable teaching practices either focus on self-care, placing responsibility for well-being on librarians; or program efficiency, which creates work environments that create business-like models for standardization of teaching programs. This framing of sustainability is reactive and harmful -- we are working within existing power structures and dynamics rather than imagining ways to share power and create space for engaged pedagogy. bell hooks introduces the concept of engaged pedagogy as a model of education that “does not seek to simply empower students… [but] will also be a place where teachers grow and are empowered by the [learning] process” (p. 21). It’s a feminist expansion of critical pedagogy that takes into account the personhood of the teacher as well as the student, creating a co-learning environment rooted in mutual respect where intellectual and personal development can flourish. This discussion session moves beyond typical sustainability conversations to develop ideas for positive change in library teaching programs with the goal of creating generative, healthy work practices