Rent strikes in the neoliberal university: Critical pedagogy for reimagining educational futures

Against the backdrop the Covid-19 pandemic, student rent strikes took place in many universities in England. Students were at times required to pay rent for accommodation they were unable to occupy, or which offered significantly reduced amenities. These students were largely first-year undergraduates, housed in accommodation owned, overseen or marketed by their university. They often did not know other students even within their accommodation blocks. Nonetheless, these students joined together to resist, to act collectively and to refuse to pay their rent. Their action resulted in at least partial victory, in some places, for some moments.   Semi-structured interviews were conducted with students involved in these rent strikes and the data were analysed thematically. Through the lens of Freire’s critical pedagogy, we examine students’ lived experiences of participating in the rent strikes and of imagining alternative educational futures. Ideas of dialogue and praxis pervade the data. Exploring this particular coming-together through political action and resistance, elucidates a tangible thread, fleshing-out the stages which interweave and coalesce to raise critical consciousness. The research neatly illustrates every step of the process of raising critical consciousness and shows how students can learn through action to bring about change in the neoliberal university.