IN-PERSON MADRID FOCUS ON PEDAGOGY. SECTION B

Abstract

This paper highlights the Community Engaged Learning (CEL) Program at New College, University of Toronto, which emerged from a rich tradition of scholar-activism and critical pedagogy. CEL enables students to apply classroom theories within community contexts by working with social justice organizations (tenant and labour unions, cooperatives, and grassroots organizations) for 5–7 hours per week over 24 weeks. Amid growing austerity and the corporatization of higher education, CEL faces existential challenges but also opportunities to reimagine pedagogy as collective resistance. Drawing on Walter Rodney’s pedagogy of Groundings (which combines Marxist analysis, local knowledge, and co-intentional education) alongside student and community partner reflections, this paper asks the following questions: How can CEL act as a counter-hegemonic space within a university increasingly oriented toward corporate logics? What would it mean to position CEL not at the margins but at the heart of a liberatory educational project grounded in mutual aid, solidarity, and critical action? Ultimately, drawing on Rodney’s critical insights, the paper argues that CEL can serve as a pedagogy of community self-defence, one that equips students with the habits of solidarity, mutual aid, and collective action necessary for engaged and critical citizenship.