Dr Galamba is adamant: “All education is political, all education is ideological.” In his research, he has found that ideologies are “hidden” in any curriculum and education is often instrumentalised by governments, consciously or not.
He explained to co-hosts Sara Black and Liam Cini O’Dwyer that he started to look at these questions in earnest in 2018, after Jair Bolsonaro was elected President in his home country of Brazil. He was interested in understanding the impact that a “fascist” government can have on a country’s education.
Focusing on the science classroom (due to his academic expertise on science education) he found that forms of homophobia, misogyny and racism can be conveyed in science textbooks and lessons. Far from being objective as it is commonly thought, science therefore carries ideological undertones, and science teachers can perpetuate some aspects of fascist ideology without even realising it.
In the episode, Dr Galamba also talked about decolonisation of education, the need for climate change education, and his deep concern for social justice. “We need to talk about solidarity, to be more empathetic about people,” he said.
Finally, he mentioned a concept that he’s developed with Sufyan Droubi, Fernando Fernandes, Amanda Mendonça and Raphael Heffron: the need to implement the ‘CCR pedagogy’ in schools. CCR stands for Critical thinking, Coexistence, and Resistance to neoliberalism.