Pedagogy and Praxis: Postmodern Spirit in the Classroom

This article identifies some of the benefits of using a postmodern approach in a social work practice or family therapy classroom. A postmodern peda- gogical stance has particular significance for faculty who teach clinical practice as postmodernism encourages reflexivity and increases students' awareness of sociopolitical issues. We provide an overview of critical peda- gogy and its relationship to postmodern theory. Specific ideas for classroom activities and assignments that enhance students' critical thinking along with ideas for student evaluation are illustrated that add to the learning process and flatten the hierarchy between student and teacher. You know the courses. We all do—the broad brush-stroke, around-the-therapy- world in 45 credit hours, overview of all the "major" schools of psychotherapy. Invariably, the textbooks we use reveal their biases and their blind spots. You know that no matter how much effort you put into giving equal time to each school you will be accused of favoring those "new" therapies. No matter what angle you take, frustration wraps its steely fingers around you and nary a unique outcome is in sight as you sigh at the futility of it all. This article discusses the ways postmodernism has shaped our educational phi- losophies and classroom experiences in the pedagogy of therapeutic practices. David is a professor of social work at California State University, Sacramento, and Julie is an adjunct faculty in the marriage and family therapy program at Argosy University- Twin Cities. Some of the questions we tackle include: What implications does postmodernism have for teaching about therapeutic work? What is the relation- ship between student and teacher? How do we teach assessment and models of practice without duplicating modernist ideas of norms and "truths?" How do we