Pedagogical Transformations and Critical Epistemology

Abstract

Contemporary education is undergoing a profound crisis of meaning stemming from the exhaustion of the epistemological foundations that underpinned the modern school. This reflective article analyzes pedagogical transformations from a critical epistemological perspective, arguing that current educational challenges are not exclusively methodological or curricular, but rather respond to the persistence of an instrumental rationality based on objectivity, the fragmentation of knowledge, and the standardization of educational processes. Drawing on the contributions of authors such as Foucault, Bourdieu, Passeron, Illich, and Morin, it examines how the modern school has operated as a mechanism for control, discipline, and the reproduction of social and cultural inequalities. In contrast, it explores the contributions of critical epistemologies, particularly the proposals of Paulo Freire, Boaventura de Sousa Santos, Sandra Harding, Donna Haraway, bell hooks, and María Zambrano, who champion situated knowledge, the plurality of knowledges, subjectivity, and the ethical dimension of education. From this perspective, pedagogy is conceived as a political practice oriented toward emancipation, social justice, and the transformation of reality. Likewise, the need to redefine the teacher's role as a reflective intellectual, a researcher of their own practice, and a mediator of knowledge is analyzed, as well as the importance of critical teacher training based on self-reflection, the decolonization of knowledge, and intercultural dialogue. Finally, a transformative education is proposed, supported by five pillars: reflective thinking, interdisciplinarity, ethical relationality, radical contextualization, and social transformation, all aimed at building a more democratic, inclusive, and humanizing school.