Provided for the ‘Critical Pedagogies Power & Possibilities’ workshop at the University Centre at Blackburn College (18th-20th May, 2016) for the Cultural Difference and Social Solidarity Network.

1. “Critical Criminology and the
ABC for Critical Pedagogy?”
Dr Philip Johnson and Belinda Child, Criminology
Department, University Centre at Blackburn College

2. Aims Aims of the workshop the
workshop:
• The session will aim to fire “the teaching and
learning imagination” by:
• Considering how teaching and learning
practitioners can provide learning journeys that,
but for undergraduate status, would not have
been possible;
• Discussing how leading publishers are
refashioning the writing of traditional academic
textbooks.

3. Socrative or www.socrative.com
A new era of students as
teachers, and vice versa?
i.e. students as producers not
consumers?

4. Critical criminology
“The social problems associated with the post-crash
era – austerity, mass imprisonment, growing
inequality, war, terrorism, mass migration, structural
underemployment, ecological degradation, slavery,
exploitation, corporate intrusion into our private
lives, and so on – have led to a resurgence of
interest in critical criminology.
However, given the huge changes that have taken
place, we cannot simply return to the ideas of the
sixties and seventies and apply them to the
problems we face today.”
(BSC Critical Criminology Network, 2016)

5. Thanks to critical pedagogy at
UCBC, Criminology undergraduates
have travelled from:
What is Crime?
to
What is Zemiology?

6. Comparative Criminal Justice
Project
Two Continents, Two Great
Institutions, nearly 60 students

7. A map for the “Internationalising the
Criminology Curriculum” (ICC) project

8. Collegial views from the ICC project:
“The Criminal Justice Administration program at Franklin
University was excited about participating in this innovative
project. With the help of Belinda Child and Phil Johnson, our
students were able to accomplish two important takeaways:
comparing criminal justice issues and laws from other countries
and engaged students in a group-based learning exercise that
promotes learning in a social context.
Franklin University is focused on high quality teaching and
learning through the use of outcomes that move students above
knowledge and to higher levels of learning that involve critical
analysis and critical thinking. These skills are needed in the
workplace and necessary for criminal justice practitioners.”

9. • “The survey responses from students showed that the
students were impacted by this innovative instructional
practice. The project provided students new content on how
the UK and USA combats organized crime and gang related
crime but also how the UK and the USA compare in the area
of use of force.
Through this sort of learning, students are forced to interact
and produce ideas and critical analysis of concepts that will
help them as practitioners but also expands their Worldview
and global awareness. We are thrilled to be a part of
innovative teaching and learning and the work that is shared
between the institutions has been nothing short of
spectacular.”
(Jonathan McCombs, Ph.D. Program Chair, Criminal Justice
Administration, Franklin University)

10. pbworks.com

11. Student views from the ICC project:
• “I believe I have gained an increased amount of knowledge regarding the
differences and similarities between the two countries’ responses to crime
and the sentencing. One such law is the joint enterprise doctrine in the
United Kingdom and the RICO law in the United States, and the time between
the laws’ conception and the reasoning behind why the laws are necessary.
Taking both laws into account, the fact that both nations have created very
similar laws albeit with different origins, has shown that globalisation may be
effecting the laws that govern us” (UK Student, 2014-15).
• “This was the first time I had done this type of project, I feel it has help me
progress in learning through different ways, i.e. from other people. My
perceptions of responses to crime related problems have changed indeed.
The reasons being that I was unaware of how different the UK is to the USA
and vice versa. This project has allowed me to see that the police are
interpreted as something very different in the USA than in the UK in some
ways” (UK Student, 2014-15).

12. Student views…
• “From this project I learned that the US and the UK have significant differences
in the way that they police. I also learned that the perception of the police is
generally the same and that there are a lot of questions as to laws that are
generated in both countries” (USA Student, 2015-16).
• “I was already interested in the subject matter, but the assignments we were
tasked with led me to do a lot more research on criminal justice, which led to a
lot of “ah ha” moments and learning about things I didn’t know of before.
Working with the UK group was also eye opening. I knew every country had
their own laws and approach to criminal justice, but I didn’t realize just how
vastly different the United States is in this manner. The police use of force
assignments were especially eye opening. Knowing how big of an issue that has
been in the United States over the last several years, seeing how police use of
force here compares to that around the world was shocking. This class definitely
made me more interested than I already was in the subject matter and pursuing
more education on the topic down the road” (USA Student, 2015-16).
• “The sharing of information and tactics offers great opportunity for all
involved. Hopefully, the Blackburn project can continue” (USA Student, 2015-
16).

13. The journey of critical pedagogy
at UCBC:
What is Zemiology?
from
What is Crime?

14. About the book
• Criminology aims to
provide an introduction to
criminology, accompanying
students from day one of
their university studies
through to graduation and
beyond.
• Across 30 chapters the
book covers all the core
and popular optional
modules on a three-year
criminology degree course,
as well as offering research
skills, employability
guidance, and careers
advice.
• The book places emphasis
on the student as a
‘knowledge producer’ and
takes an ABC approach:
Always Be Critical.
• The ethos of this text is to
challenge students to be
active learners: to think, to
critique, and to generate
knowledge of their own.

15. http://www.kvnonews.com/2015/07/reforms-urged-in-nebraska-police-lineup-procedures
“The Usual
Suspects”
for ‘crime’?
Classicism
Positivism
Criticalism
Realism
Behaviourism
Cognitivism
Constructivism
Connectivism?
Plus their ‘neo’
incarnations…
“The Usual
Suspects”
for ‘higher
education’?

16. MLOWWXXB

17. So what? Next steps?
philip.johnson@blackburn.ac.uk
belinda.child@blackburn.ac.uk
Is there a future for students as producers in the
privatised age of consumerism and student experience?
Can we sustain producers of questions and not just
answers?