A Pedagogy of Difficulty – Preparing Teachers to Understand and Integrate Complexity in Teaching and Learning

In this article we explore the notion of difficulty and the vital role it can play in the learning journey of student teachers, both with respect to their own and their students’ educational maturation. Confronting today’s popular but flawed reductionist learning models, we explicate the opportunity for deeper learning provided by a proactive engagement with, rather than suppression of difficulty. Thus, difficulty is seen not as an impediment to learning but as a source of motivation and impetus for a deeper, transformative learning. In addition, we present a theoretical framework for this alternative approach to learning developed to guide our students in reconceptualizing teaching and learning, promoting what Salvatori calls a “pedagogy of difficulty”.

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