Neoliberalism is more than a bundle of economic policies; it is a hegemonic ideology that permeates institutions and relationships, creating isolation and inequality (Brown, Undoing the demos: Neoliberalism’s stealth revolution, Zone Books, 2017; Han, Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and new technologies of power, Verso, 2017). Neoliberal hegemony in urban schools limits student learning and propagates the purpose of education as the creation of human capital, not a socially aware citizenry (Brown, Undoing the demos: Neoliberalism’s stealth revolution, Zone Books, 2017); this creates a depoliticized labor force that strives for self-optimization rather than solidarity (Han, Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and new technologies of power, Verso, 2017). Compounding this problem, urban schools track under-resourced students into Career Technical Educational (CTE) pathways that neglect critical thinking/dialogue around social/environmental justice issues, which perpetuates present inequities by limiting workers’ ability to name and confront oppression (Darder, Reinventing Paulo Freire: A pedagogy of love, Routledge, 2017; Oakes and Saunders, Multiple perspectives on multiple pathways: Preparing California’s youth for college, career, and civic responsibilities, University of California Los Angeles, 2011; Shor and Freire in A Pedag Lib 97–119, 1987). Using a qualitative research design that employs ethnographic elements, this study found that integrating constructivism and critical pedagogy (Critical CTE) positively impacted the experience and participation of students in a building and construction pathway by fostering a transformative solidarity that worked to dismantle neoliberal notions of human capital; however, more research is required to fully understand how these pedagogical shifts can be more effectively integrated into diverse CTE career clusters. © The Author(s) 2025.
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