Liberating childhood? A critique on new anti-pedagogy concepts

Abstract

The idea that children need to be liberated from traditional and outdated social and pedagogic hierarchies of power and authority is not new. It continually
(re)emerges at different times within different socio-political contexts, promoted by certain movements and groups, based on various anti-paternalistic doctrines. These ideas and developments of progressive education – from early approaches to anti-­authoritarian and anti-pedagogical approaches and children’s rights movements – also gave rise to the concept of ‘childism’. Situated at the intersection of politics and theory, childism understands children as a socially oppressed and marginalised group in an adult-dominated, adult-normative and paternalistic world, which it seeks to transform for the benefit of children. In my essay, I develop a critique of the central theoretical and normative underpinnings of childism.