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Classrooms as socio-politically conscious learning

spaces: Developing political literacy, affect, and
discourse

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 E S S AY
Classrooms as socio-politically conscious
learning spaces:
Developing political literacy, affect, and discourse

Holden Kenneth G. Alcazaren

University of the Philippines Diliman

ABSTRACT

With the Philippines’ current political climate that has seen the rise
of fake news and misinformation, young people, particularly students,
turn to their classrooms to help them construct their own views and
perspectives on various social and political issues. However, with
educational agencies enforcing teachers to be apolitical, it is high time
to open discussions and conversations on how classrooms can foster
an environment where students develop a more socially and politically
conscious mind. In this essay, critical discussions in making classrooms
a safe space for political discussions between students and teachers were
made. In encouraging this type of learning space, classrooms should
be able to emphasize the development of political literacy, political
affect, and political discourse among students. Through these three
components, classrooms can be able to increase political participation of
the youth while promising a stronger citizenship education. Aside from
the supporting literature, the paper also included constructs and tenets of
the Sociocultural theory, Consciousness theory, and Social Construction
of Reality theory in situating student learning in a more sociological
perspective. These theories have highlighted the significance of social
interactions, most especially inside of the classrooms, in shaping and
co-constructing students’ worldviews on various societal and political
problems and issues. The essay calls for teachers to be an active agent of
transformation where classrooms are able to develop not just skillful and
capable students but also empathic and critical citizens of the country.

Keywords: political literacy, political discourse, sociocultural theory, consciousness

theory, social construction of reality
PCS REVIEW | SERIES (2022) : 163 - 179
© 2022 ALCAZAREN, H.K.G.
ISSN 2094-8328 | e-ISSN 2961-3426
 The PCS Review 2022
Introduction
The May 2022 presidential election has been demonstrative of the
Philippine public’s increasing social and political awareness especially
in the emergence of social media as a space for public expressions. This
continuous political awareness is also representative of the increasing
participation of students in these discourses where they are usually
engaged in their classrooms that, as Hyman (1959) argued, primarily
influence their political opinions and affiliations. As people express
their political views and dissents, particularly in social media, teachers
were reminded of their responsibilities as government employees. In a
now-deleted Facebook post, then Department of Education (DepEd)
Secretary Leonor Briones reminded teachers to remain ‘apolitical’ being
government agents that adhere to bureaucratic naturality through
DepEd Order No. 48, so. 2018 “Prohibition on Electioneering and
Partisan Political Activity” (Bautista, 2021). However, many teachers
and public officials expressed their opposition to this view of the agency.
Kristhean Navales, the president of the Quezon City Public School
Teachers Association, argued that being apolitical does not fit the
teacher’s function in teaching critical thinking and deciphering what is
wrong from right through factual information (Baustista, 2021). This is
also the same sentiments of Congresswoman France Castro when she
stated, “[b]y saying that teachers should remain apolitical is like saying
they should be robots who in turn mold robots that do not care about
what is happening in our society” (Manila Bulletin, 2021). She even cited
“Commission on Elections and the Civil Service Commission’s Joint
Circular No. 1, so 2016” that explained that expressing one’s views on
political issues cannot be deemed as a partisan political activity. With all
these debates with the intersectionality of politics within the classrooms,
it is difficult to deny how the influence and nature of politics have
remarkably become diverse and extensive. In an educational climate that
tackles the proliferation of “truth decay” (Kavanagh & Rich, 2018), “fake
news” (Journell, 2017), and misinformation (O’Connor & Weatherall,
2019), this essay argues that in battling these social problems requires
the integration of political discourse across school subjects (Mason
et al., 2018) that entails the strengthening of teacher-student political
participation inside the classroom (Kuş & Tarhan, 2016). In achieving
these ideal outcomes, classrooms should become learning spaces that
encourage socio-politically conscious minds through fostering political
knowledge and ideology (political literacy), political affect (emotions

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in political life), and political discourse. Furthermore, this essay tries
to use various theories – Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory, Damasio’s
Consciousness theory, and Social Construction of Reality Theory, to
support the need and benefits of transforming politically and socially
aware citizens.

Classrooms as socio-politically conscious learning spaces

With classrooms as a public sphere where hegemonic societal and
classroom perspectives affect identity through discourse (Henson
& Denker, 2009), these discursive practices have been mediated by
gender, ethnicity, and class (Chatterjee, 2002) where societal struggles
are exhausted (Applebaum, 2003; Brandon, 2003). With many political
reforms across the globe, democratization has been a term and a
process emphasized by various educational systems (Torney-Purta
& Richardson, 2004), that led to the rapid emergence of citizenship
education (Kuş & Tarhan, 2016). However, even with this initiative,
there has been a decrease in the political participation levels of the youth
(O’Toole et al., 2003; Pirie & Worcester, 1998). In a study done in the
Philippines, Sta. Maria and Diestro (2009) presented how the youth has
conceptualized two ways of political participation: a) in terms of doing
one’s duty and what is expected; and b) in terms of one’s connection with
others and the community. The findings presented how the urban youth
mostly resonated with the former emphasizing their civic responsibility
as participation whereas the rural youth perceived their participation
through involvement in their community. This urbanized political
participation has been coined by Lanuza (2015) as “decaffeinated”
activism where state-sponsored civic education dilutes the more radical
expressions of the youth movement into ‘slacktivism’ that only supports
state ideologies and state-led programs. To solve these issues, Lanuza
suggested the exploitation of social media and social networks by the
youth to advance their emancipation against this marginalization, which
is similar to David’s (2013) report on how information and communication
technologies (ICTs) were being redefined to amplify voices in political
life. Inside of the classroom, these types of discourse and participation
can only be manifested if there would be changes in how students think,
feel, and talk about politics and the various social aspects it affects.
Aside from upholding values of equality and democracy, political
participation positively influences one’s personal development,
particularly citizenship which pertains to an individual’s feelings of

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 The PCS Review 2022
belonging, personal, and societal growth (Quintelier, 2008). One of the
significant scopes of citizenship, and probably its most difficult, is the
discussions on political literacy (Davies & Hogarth, 2004). Because of
the estrangement of youth from politics, many agree that it is high time
to improve students’ political participation and knowledge. In definition,
political literacy is “learning about and how to make [students] effective
in public life through knowledge, skills, and values” (Advisory Group on
Citizenship, 1998, p. 13). Even though several factors like socio-economic
variables may affect political interest and participation (Verba et al.,
1995), improvement on these aspects has been heavily influenced by
one’s political knowledge, specifically one’s education acquired through
political education (see review of Kuş & Tarhan, 2016). In the study of
Kuş and Tarhan, findings revealed how teaching students to be critical of
political problems enables them to effectively make their own decisions,
and responsibly perform their duties as citizens. Even though social
science classes have the potential to raise current issues, many teachers
tend to avoid political subjects, and prefer non-political discussions
due to the lack of in-service training in politics and a curriculum that
only involves basic political knowledge. Davies and Hogarth (2004)
explained how these environments only propagate substantive values
that allow students to only think what they are told about rather than
having students utilize their knowledge, skills, and procedural values
to fully embrace their own citizenship. Thus, political knowledge is a
prerequisite in developing political participation leading to a more
socially conscious mind.
With political literacy enabling political participation, it is also
important to understand a crucial component of contemporary political
science, the difficult yet important function of emotion in politics
(Davies, 2019). In the context of the classrooms, emotions are commonly
referred to as aspects of learning that are non-rational, denote feelings,
and usually ineffable (Garrett et al., 2020). One domain of emotional
attachments in political life is one’s emotional investments in socio-
political issues that continually preserves democracy and the norms of
civic culture (cf. Noddings & Brooks, 2016), and fuels social movements
(Knight-Abowitz & Mamlok, 2019). With politics sorting individuals,
research findings showed how people create their identities by enacting
political lines and sorting patterns (Bishop, 2008; Enochs, 2017) that
result in less opportunities for talking about political and social issues
to others who may have different, and sometimes opposing, views. This

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makes students more adaptive to a more binary reasoning of arguments.
Research on neuroscience and political psychology have proven the
unlikelihood of detaching rationality from emotional functions of the brain
(Davies, 2019) that leads to tendencies of biased filtering of information
associated to one’s political or social identity (Redlawsk, 2006; Taber &
Lodge, 2016). In various classroom-based research, findings showed how
students’ motivated reasoning dismiss any presented factual evidence
contradicting their worldviews (Garrett et al., 2020) that usually lead to
dispute between students and faculty regarding political bias (Losco &
DeOllos, 2007), and perceived silencing behaviors inside the classroom
(Henson & Denker, 2009). These situations only confirm how people’s
developed worldview (i.e., beliefs on the function, or definition of a
construct) inhibits acceptance to any information that requires critical
change of their worldview (Dusso & Kennedy, 2015); thereby, proving
the presence of one’s affect as an influential domain in interpreting and
responding to political and/or social discussions.
With people holding different political views, another aspect of
democratic citizenship that should be emphasized is one’s participation
in political discourse (Bishop, 2008; Rojas, 2008). Not being an abstract
or theoretical issue in most universities, political discourse has been a
practical consideration that upholds the value of academic freedom whilst
promoting culture of diversity and inclusivity (Matto & Chmielewski,
2021). As discussed above, much research has indicated that discussing
political and controversial issues inside the classroom improves civic
learning and enhances one’s disposition and knowledge (Campbell,
2005; McDevitt & Kiousis, 2006). Following this proposition, research
has shown pedagogical implications on teaching political discourse such
as discussion-based teaching across disciplines (Thomas & Brower,
2017); instructional value of political discussions (Torcal & Maldonado,
2014); and teaching techniques in inclusion of political discussions
(Fenner, 2018; Panke & Stephens, 2018). The “Framework for Fostering
Student Activism in Higher Education” proposed by Bernardo and
Baranovich (2016), states that students contribute to developing activism
as part of the university culture through asserting their worldviews
and experiences that were distinctly theirs while educators reinforced
this culture through inculcating activism through policies, programs,
and resources. Moreover, the paper of Labor and San Pascual (2022)
highlighted the affordances of online and digital platforms in driving
activism during the COVID-19 pandemic through the framing of UP

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Babaylan, an established LGBTQIA+ student organization, in spreading
awareness of pro-LGBTQIA+ policies and related issues in their social
networking sites.

Developing a socio-politically conscious learner

Constructs of the Sociocultural Theory (Vygotsky, 1978),
Consciousness Theory (Damasio, 1999), and Social Construction of
Reality Theory (Berger & Luckmann, 1967) were analyzed for their
potential to expound how learning is and should be situated in the
learner’s social and political contexts. These three theories, though
came from various disciplines in social sciences, provide extensive and
insightful explanations of why and how the classroom should recognize
its influence in creating emphatic and critical citizens. The criteria used
for selecting these theories are that each theory: a) examines how social
constructs of rationality, affect, and discourse influence an individual’s
meaning-making, b) explains how social contexts influence learning
inside of the classroom, c) considers learning as both an individualistic
and interactive process, and d) offers distinct understanding of how
classrooms can become learning spaces that develop socio-politically
aware learners.
Sociocultural theory
Rooted from Kant’s philosophies and Marx’s dialectical method,
Lev Vygotsky was the first one to highlight the systems where culture
shapes the very nature of an individual (Cole & Scribner, 1978, in Turuk,
2008). In this theory, rationality and thinking are dominantly influenced
by one’s social experience (Vygotsky, 1978), and “internalized through
cultural practice” (Smagorinsky, 2009, p. 85). For instance, a child’s
initial speech patterns were intended to communicate with others and
participate in adult conversations where this “interpersonal process is
transformed into an intrapersonal one” (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 57). Similarly,
an individual’s social environment, from their home to their classroom,
infuences the way they create their perceptions on particular social and
political issues. As social interactions continually affect the way one
thinks and rationalizes arguments, social experiences in the classroom
play an essential role in the meaning-making and transformative process
of how students construct their own worldviews of their own identity
and the collective identity they want to be associated with. From the
students’ political participation to their political knowledge, students
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as individuals are situated in social relations and historical conditions
where they are in constant dialogue with themselves, and their society
(Anh & Marginson, 2013). This dialectical relationship of individuals
to their society exemplifies the socially meaningful activity that makes
sense of one’s consciousness, and the behaviors coupled with it. With
Vygotsky’s argument that ‘[c]onsciousness is co-knowledge’ (Leontiev,
1981, pp. 56-57), he clearly expounded this when he stated:
Any higher mental function was external because it was
special at some point before becoming an internal, truly
mental function. It was first a social relation between
two people. The means of influencing oneself were
originally means of influencing others or others’ means
of influencing an individual. (Vygotsky, 1981b, p. 162)
One of the underlying conceptions of this theory is the mediation
of the human mind, where one’s learning is significantly enhanced and
shaped through social interaction between people with different levels
of skills and knowledge (Vygotsky, 1978). This position attributes how
teacher-student interactions are vital in defining how students were
able to enact or misalign a socially conscious perspective on society.
This mediation is usually coursed through culturally constructed tools
or artifacts (i.e., mediators) that humans use not only to understand the
world, but also to transform and master themselves (Vygotsky, 1981a).
Such artifacts, whether symbolic or signs, were designed culturally and
historically specific, and as such embody one’s cultural attributes. Part of
the learning process is the child’s use of these artifacts as not only a solitary
exploration of their environment but their appropriation of methods of
action presented in one’s culture (Kozulin et al., 1995, in Turuk, 2008).
Some examples of these artifacts are written textbooks, school signs,
and teacher-initiated instructions and discussions. These artifacts or
mediators were categorized in two: a) human mediation, which deals with
adult involvement that affects the development of child’s performance,
and b) symbolic mediation, which pertains to the changes in the child’s
performance when symbolic tools (e.g., signs, language) are introduced.
The former can pertain to how teachers welcome or inhibit political
discussions inside the classroom whereas the latter can pertain to the
kind of resources students are presented with, like books or films that
can prompt social and/or political awareness. As Vygotsky (1978, p. 51)
posited, “[t]he basic characteristic of human [behavior]… is that humans

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personally influence their relations with the environment and through
that environment personally change their [behavior], subjugating it to
their control.”
Consciousness Theory
It was Antonio Damasio (1999), a neurologist, who proposed the
theory of consciousness supported by evidence from various neurological
practices and neuroscience studies (see review of Bosse et al., 2008).
Damasio’s theory emphasized the causal or temporal relationships
between particular neural states or patterns in the brain. These neural
states were interpreted as representations for something, for example
as ‘sensory representation’, or ‘second-order representation’ (Bosse
et al., 2008). One fundamental component of Damasio’s theory is his
notions of ‘emotions’, ‘feelings’, and ‘feeling a feeling’. Firstly, emotions,
as Damasio described, are neural objects (or internal emotional states)
that are results of an unconscious neural reaction towards a stimulus,
triggered by several neural activations in the brain. Defined as neural
responses, emotions function as aid to maintain human’s well-being by
prompting adaptive behaviors through these neural activations in the
brain structures that monitor and regulate bodily actions and states
around optimal physiological values (Mosca, 2000). Although emotions
are biologically determined, culture and individual development may
influence its overt expressions. Secondly, feeling is described as the
unconscious sensing of this body state. Lastly, feeling a feeling (or core
consciousness) is the result when an organism becomes consciously aware
that its own body state or proto-self (i.e., an integrated representation
of the organism) has been modified by its encounter of the stimulus
(Bosse et al., 2008). As Damasio explained, with interactions with the
environment, possibilities to generate representations of one’s proto-self
are exhibited; hence, consciousness transpires. Once an individual starts
to react to its environment, this is when they start to discover that they
are already responding to their environment.
As discussed, Damasio’s notions on emotions, feelings and
consciousness can have key roles in understanding individual development
towards a more socially and politically conscious mind. With brain
researchers identifying neuronal networks involved in political choices
(Schreiber et al., 2013), studies showed how emotions, particularly
social emotions (e.g., empathy, admiration, jealousy), are essential to
these forms of social decision-making (LeDoux, 1998; Panksepp, 2022).

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Although emotions are biological and do not necessarily predict one’s
choices, they limit and bias one’s decisions (Verweij et al., 2015). This is
in parallel with the literature (Bishop, 2008; Garrett et al., 2020; Henson
& Denker, 2009; Losco & DeOllos, 2007) that proved how emotions
about one’s political life and views can affect their choices and how
they rationalize these choices. These findings should be able to prompt
conversations on how important it is to embrace political literacy and
discourse inside of the classroom for students to regulate their own
emotions that still allow critical thinking towards social issues that they
may or may not already have preconceived notions. In creating these
spaces of interactions, classrooms can develop a sense of consciousness,
as Damasio (1999) posited, where students are able to reflect about their
reactions to various stimuli their environment provides and to examine
whether these reactions address needs of the society or only feed one’s
biases.
Social Construction of Reality Theory
With behaviors, emotions, and reasoning being affected by the
presence or the absence of others, this position emphasizes how the social
environment influences cognitive processes (e.g., reasoning), and social
conventions, norms and values which determine behaviors (Sandache,
2016). Through the lens of social construction of reality, psychic
processes, which involves perceptions, emotions, and feelings, are socially
influenced (Sandu & Nistor, 2020). Grounded from the seminal work of
Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann (1967), the social construction of
reality describes reality as “selectively perceived, rearranged cognitively,
and negotiated interpersonally” (Weick, 1979, p. 164). This posits how
social reality is subjective and multiple, with individuals actively making
meaning of their own realities for themselves through establishing their
own (Creswell, 2007), and co-constructing (Sandu & Unguru, 2017).
Because of this, reality appears to be a representation of an individual’s
world of meanings, institutions, and interpretations (Sandu & Unguru,
2017), that is dominantly constructed by language (Sandu, 2016). As
Luckmann (2013) argued, communicative interactions, which are
ubiquitous in social life, construct and reconstruct social reality in these
processes.
Part of developing citizenship among students is allowing them to
perform political discourses (Bishop, 2008; Rojas, 2008). Understanding
that one’s cognition and emotions are socially influenced, fostering

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an environment that allows discussions on social and political, and at
times controversial, issues provide students a space in making their own
decisions while interpreting these issues together with their peers and
teachers; thus, creating a more self-directed and autonomous learner.
Moreover, discourses that highlight an individual’s social experiences
and struggles can help establish and construct a social reality among
students that is grounded from the shared and collective narratives of
each other. This allows students to look into a particular problem in the
eyes of their peers, enacting a more empathic response and understanding.
With teachers in the helm of these classroom-based political discourses,
these pedagogical instructions reinforce a culture where activism is seen
as an important component of discourse parallel with the proposal of
Bernardo and Baranovich (2016).

Conclusion
In today’s political climate, young people, mostly students, turn
to their classrooms as a safe space to construct, co-construct, and
reconstruct their perceptions and interpretations of worldviews.
With the proliferation of fake news in social media (e.g., Cabañes et
al., 2019; Ong & Cabañes, 2018; Ragragio, 2021), it is more important
for classrooms to welcome political discourses and politically driven
topics for students to practice their autonomy and critical thinking as
a contributing member of their communities. Teachers should be able
to transform their classrooms to socio-politically aware learning spaces
that cater to the hunger and ignorance of the youth about the realities
of the world. In this transformational process, teachers should be able
to feed knowledge and information through developing one’s political
literacy, to touch emotions and consciousness of one’s political life, and
to nurture a learning space open for political discourses, no matter how
difficult and contradicting they may be. As support, this essay provides
theoretical underpinnings to strengthen the proposition in creating
a socio-political-centered classroom to produce more socially and
politically conscious citizens of the world.

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About the Author
MX. HOLDEN KENNETH G. ALCAZAREN is a university researcher
at the UP- Law Center. He is also a lecturer and a student under the
Ph.D. in Education majoring in Language Education at the UP- College
of Education. His research interests are in teacher-researcher identities,
the sociology of education, and gender studies.

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