But can it be applied? Reflections on the theory and practice of security

In this article Norma Rossi discusses the pedagogy of teaching security. Norma was awarded a BISA Learning and Teaching Small Grant to conduct the project.

The challenge of teaching security in ways that do not perpetuate existing security responses and common assumptions is a key issue for the discipline. Attempts to challenge these are often met with predictable accusations of naïve retreat into abstract theorising that lacks real-world applicability, often justified through rhetorical claims about ‘realism’.

And yet, as critical approaches to security emphasise, an alternative pedagogy of security is essential to propose different possibilities for being and acting politically. This project, titled "But can it be applied? Reflections on the Theory and Practice of Security," examined the relationship between thinking and practising security in pedagogical practices within the classroom, developing a critical approach to problem-based learning. It aimed to challenge dominant accounts and narratives of what it means to be secure and ‘whose’ security is invoked, while also making visible existing alternatives that are often marginalised, and mobilising alternative forms of political imagination.

In doing so, the project, has provided a much-needed pedagogical contribution to the design, application, and reflection on a pedagogical strategy focused on the relationship between thinking and practising security. It began with the rigorous testing and critical evaluation of a problem-based learning approach for security studies, originally developed by Rossi and Riemann in a new Security Studies textbook (SAGE), published in April 2024, which is based on the Explore-Understand-Respond logic. Besides encouraging continuous reflection among educators, this project actively involved key stakeholders in any pedagogical enterprise – the students. What sets this project apart is its integration into an ongoing discourse on applied pedagogy within critical security studies. The project not only contributed to this conversation but also closed the feedback loop between instructors and students by testing this innovative applied pedagogy in the classroom. The project was developed in three phases and integrated into the design and delivery of the Critical Security Studies core module as part of the MLitt in International Security Studies at St Andrews. The results of the study, which included two masterclasses and reflections from students and teachers, are in the process of being analysed to produce further outcomes in the form of a peer-reviewed article on critical problem-based learning. 

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