2025 Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity (CoNECD)

Title: Fostering Critical Awareness: Incorporating a Critical Consciousness Framework into Engineering Professional Development

Abstract:
(Keywords: Critical Consciousness, Engineering, Practitioners, Faculty).
Several researchers have discussed the tendency for academic organizations to perpetuate systems of social hierarchy, embedded policies and practices, and cultures that reinforce white supremacist ideals. Engineering is a discipline that has been known to manifest these hegemonic ideals. As a result, these spaces often decenter the voices of marginalized groups creating environments that justify dominant ideologies and discourse. To counter these entrenched ideologies and behaviors, the first author proposes integrating a critical consciousness framework into professional development practices utilized by engineering faculty and practitioners. This framework would focus on fostering self-reflection and continuous self-assessment among individuals, encouraging them to recognize and challenge pervasive biases and power structures.

Critical consciousness focuses on liberation from systemic inequity maintained by interdependent systems and institutions (Freire, 2020; Jemal, 2017). Freire (1970) and Jemal (2017) along with others (e.g., Landreman (2007) and Vallejo Peña (2012)) have recommended reflective questioning and dialogue as methods for consciousness-raising. Engaging in dialogue can aid engineering faculty in discovering different themes and stimulate awareness surrounding these themes (Freire, 2020). In addition, reflective questioning facilitates dialogue and critical analysis of one’s identity, experiences, and status quo. These consciousness-raising methods can lead to self and collective reflection.

During reflection, scholars emphasize the need for faculty to reflect beyond pedagogical practices, focusing on underlying beliefs regarding teaching, learning, and the broader sociopolitical landscape that might impact their professional practices and student outcomes (Hora & Smolarek, 2018). It is important for the engineering community, especially departmental leadership, to cultivate thoughtful approaches that encourage faculty to engage in self-reflective activities (Vallejo Peña, 2012). This can be accomplished by incorporating a critical consciousness framework that uses reflective questioning and an introspective approach to facilitate dialogue among engineers.

The first author proposes an integrated framework called Assessing Critical Awareness Higher Education (ACAHE). ACAHE incorporates elements from Waite’s (2021a) R.I.S.A. framework, Diemer et al.’s (2015) three components of critical consciousness, Jemal’s (2016) Transformative Potential, and Watts, Griffith, and Abdul-Abdil's (1999) Five Stages of Sociopolitical Development. The goal of the ACACHE framework is to provide a tool for educators and other stakeholders in higher education to assess their critical awareness using reflexive practice and measurement that encourages reflection, interrogation, self-examination, and action to improve critical consciousness development. Individuals are recommended to start at the reflection stage and move clockwise culminating in the final stage of awareness. In this stage, educators are encouraged to continuously engage in the cycle to further enhance critical consciousness.

A major benefit of this framework is the guided approach to self-assessment and professional evaluation. Through these assessments, individuals can evaluate the influence of various aspects of their experiences, positionality, and practices. This can allow faculty to highlight the privileges and elements of power they possess and the opportunities it has afforded them in comparison to peers. As a result, these evaluations may enable engineering faculty to identify effective strategies for challenging oppressive systemic structures and potentially foster a transformative shift in attitudes and actions.