Professor Laura Wray-Lake from the USA visits the IFS
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Professor Laura Wray-Lake from the University of California, Los Angeles was a visitor to the Center for Research on Education and School Development (IFS) on 8 April and gave a lecture entitled ‘Pathways to Critical Consciousness in Adolescence’. In it, she showed that critical consciousness consists of three dimensions: a cognitive (reflection), a motivational (agency) and a behavioral (action) dimension.
Professor Wray-Lake illustrated how young people's perception of social inequalities develops over time, paying particular attention to differences between ethnic groups. In the second part of her presentation, she discussed the role of schools in promoting critical consciousness and the importance of political movements for its development. The subsequent discussion offered participants the opportunity to ask questions, exchange perspectives and engage in dialogue.
Professor Wray-Lake's visit took place as part of the Civic Education Research Lab, in which researchers from the IFS and the University of Duisburg-Essen are investigating the factors that influence the political socialisation of young people and organising various networking formats on the topic of civic education. The following day, Ms Wray-Lake gave a keynote speech together with Professor Jan Germen Janmaat at the College of Social Sciences and Humanities in Essen, which supports the Civic Education Research Lab.
Thank you very much for the inspiring visit and the exciting exchange!