Pedagogies of Resistance

Reclaiming Student Autonomy through Student-Led Teaching in Higher Education

Authors

  • Daniela Lehner University of Graz
  • Björn Weber University of Klagenfurt

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14288/ce.v17i2.187227

Keywords:

student autonomy, student-led teaching, neoliberal university, critical pedagogy, pedagogies of resistance

Abstract

This article explores student-led teaching as a counter-hegemonic educational practice in response to the neoliberal restructuring of higher education. Drawing on critical pedagogy, we reflect on the co-development and facilitation of a student-led course at a university in Austria. Guided by a practice-based approach informed by reflexive thematic analysis, we used our field notes to reveal the many ways in which students co-created and shaped the course. The findings indicate that student-led teaching can foster meaningful engagement, a sense of ownership, and the development of critical political agency. At the same time, uneven participation revealed challenges, with more confident or experienced students at times dominating discussions. These dynamics underscore the need for attentiveness to power relations and inclusive facilitation. The most transformative moments emerged when classroom discussions connected with lived experience, especially when they involved collective social engagement beyond the university walls, affirming the value of linking higher education to collective action.

Author Biographies

Daniela Lehner, University of Graz

Daniela Lehner is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Education Research and Teacher Education at the University of Graz and a lecturer at the Centre for Peace Research and Peace Education at the University of Klagenfurt. Her work focuses on Critical and Transformative Education, Peace Education, Pluriversality, and on relational as well as democratic pedagogies in higher education. She is particularly interested in how educational practices can contribute to more peaceful, caring, and just ways of being, knowing, and relating, while fostering deeper connections with oneself, others, and the world through experiential, arts-based, place-based, dialogical, and participatory approaches.

Björn Weber, University of Klagenfurt

Björn Weber studied Early Childhood Education (B.A.) and Diversity Education in School and Society (M.A.). His academic interests include Critical Pedagogy, Critical Peace Education and materialist theory, particularly Marxist approaches to education and society. During his studies, he was particularly engaged in shaping and transforming education, to also rethinking his own educational path but also to critically questioning and seeking to change the university as an institution. He currently works as a social worker in refugee support.

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Published

2026-05-17

Issue

Vol. 17 No. 2 (2026)

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Daniela Lehner, Björn Weber

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