**1. Introduction**

The COVID-19 pandemic disruptions have shown us that Higher Education institutions need to improve student learning and maintain a modern education for all [1]. Student learning is improved by reforming curricular content that considers students' lifestyles and social and cultural realities by making education more accessible and critical [2]. In addition, institutions should modernize curricula to enhance individual development and collective intelligence, as it will improve students'social and emotional skills [3, 4]. Furthermore, this improvement of institutions must also include modifying their architectural, organizational, and administrative structures to make them more flexible, mutable, and adaptable to the context of a post-industrial society [5]. The reason for this argument lies in transforming the university into an inclusive space consistent with new educational practices. Therefore, improving learning and

constructing modern institutions must respond to a context of uncertainty, change, liquidity, and complexity in the 21st-century culture [6, 7].

A significant current discussion topic concerns how to enhance the quality of HE by eliminating its rigid structure. University education is characterized by reproducing the established order and promoting uncritical individuals under standardized patterns [8]. Reproduction in Higher Education is the result of preserving the foundations of the industrial, functionalist, and control schools of the late 19th and early 20th centuries [9, 10]. As a result, students might be reduced to a body of uninformed individuals and subjected to standardized patterns serving neoliberal ideologies and the market [11]. Therefore, innovative alternative ways to encourage the development of critical thinking and creativity among students while adapting to the circumstances of complexity and uncertainty that characterize our time may be necessary to implement [12].

Understanding the various alternatives to HE indicates that it needs to be rethought based on more inclusive and critical methodological or paradigmatic shifts. As an alternative to rethinking Higher Education, transdisciplinary projects across programs (e.g., between education and engineering) may be an option [13]. Authors such as [14, 15] highlight the need to break down the disciplines between the various grades to promote divergent thinking using curricular content. Also, these authors identify the structure of different initiatives or projects committed to combining different stages of learning as a methodological strategy to improve their training [16]. Corroborating this statement, other researchers such as [17] or [18] reaffirm the gap in implementing projects across programs. Therefore, there is a clear need to generate studies that allow this methodological dimension to be explored in various training contexts.

Rethinking Higher Education also involves the implementation of critical pedagogy. It was the pedagogue Paolo Freire who developed this critical pedagogy approach in the 1970s. He developed a theoretical and practical framework for new liberating practices within educational settings through his struggle against oppression [19]. The main objective of critical pedagogy is to teach students to recognize existing relations of power and privilege instinctively. Furthermore, critical pedagogy aims to analyze the ideologies cultivated within academic institutions that ratify the existence and nature of social and capitalist relations [20]. Lastly, critical pedagogy allows university education to explore ways to create links between people based on equality and justice [21].

This paper explores how transdisciplinary and critical pedagogy can generate new practices in Higher Education that improve students' knowledge and training. So, this study aims to explore and analyze the methodological actions that will establish the basis for implementing transdisciplinary approaches through a critical perspective in Higher Education. Thus, the research approach taken in this study is qualitative, as it aims to determine the methodological principles for implementing the transdisciplinary approach and critical pedagogy in HE. Data for this study were collected using a case study at the University of Lleida (Spain) involving two university degrees (Social Work and Industrial Engineering). The experimental work presented here provides one of the first investigations into incorporating a transdisciplinary approach mixed with critical pedagogy to evidence why Higher Education may need new ways of teaching and organizational changes.

This chapter is structured in four parts. The first part refers to conceptualizing the different disciplinary approaches and emphasizing transdisciplinarity. In turn, the Transpraxis approach is explored as a critical conceptual framework for applying new forms of teaching within HE. Next, the methodology of this research is presented. Specifically, the context, the participants, the educational proposal, the procedure,

#### *A Transpraxis Approach to Higher Education: A Case Study on Methodological Orientations DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109203*

and the data collection are detailed. This section ends with the main characteristics that emerged through the categorization of the data. This data categorization shapes the following section based on the results. This section explores the different methodological, interpersonal, and teaching aspects implemented in the experience. Thirdly, the discussion of the results is presented. This section presents the main characteristics that a critical transdisciplinary project can have. Finally, the main conclusions of this research are presented.

### **2. Literature review**

Teaching and training spaces are usually distributed through curriculum standardization and top-down governance [22]. Through this text, we are made aware of how Neoliberalism and mercantilism promote hierarchical disciplinary systems. Consequently, subjects and disciplines that do not contribute to mathematical utility or economic rationality are no longer considered necessary. Additionally, such an approach leads to conceptual and cultural ignorance through taking tests, memorizing information, and the inability to question information [22, 23]. In this context, what can be done to subvert this approach to university teaching and training?

There is a need for educational centers to become spaces for thoughtful reflection, where the societal, historical, and cultural relationships that influence educational practice are visible [24, 25]. The result is the transformation of students into active citizens committed to society [26, 27]. Moreover, students and their contexts should be provided with optimal conditions for critical learning [28]. As educators, we can facilitate learning situations by reflecting upon the social aspects of our professional practices using critical thinking and social reflection [29]. It is also possible to mediate knowledge and situate learning through this approach [30].

Higher Education has evolved knowledge by distributing curricula into specific disciplines, contributing to a deeper understanding of the field. These distinctions, however, have distanced knowledge from an interconnected perspective with other domains of knowledge [31]. According to [32], parceled and quantitative thinking structures lead to blind intelligence. This is because each discipline has become its category of knowledge, defining its linguistic, technical, and sometimes theoretical boundaries. It has been suggested by several authors that disciplines should be "greened" and contextualized by taking into account the cultural and social circumstances in which they are situated [33, 34]. The question is, what approaches were attributed to the disciplines, and which approaches are present in our classrooms today?

#### **2.1 Disciplinary educational approaches**

The literature reveals a variety of disciplinary relationships. **Table 1** provides an overview of different approaches to knowledge innovation, and their prefixes indicate the degree of porosity of the discipline. It is common to find them in a great deal of research in education and HE. However, the use of disciplinary, multidisciplinary, and interdisciplinary approaches does not facilitate the creation of a systemic approach consistent with everyday habits and lifestyles [35]. Furthermore, these approaches do not provide a holistic view of the problem. Interdisciplinary approaches are the closest to this concept, although they do not allow knowledge transfer across disciplines. Accordingly, a transdisciplinary approach is advocated by several authors [36–38] as a comprehensive and integral element that enables fields to be "crossed".

#### **Disciplinary approach**

Concentrates on a specific issue within a single discipline. Based on theoretical explanations and a positivist perspective, a methodology is developed that removes a single object from its context and rejects its connection to other elements.

#### **Multidisciplinary approach**

As a result of focusing on a common problem, several disciplines are considered. As each discipline intervenes for a different purpose, it is pertinent to consider that the objectives differ between disciplines. Consequently, it is possible to define the conclusions of such an approach separately.

#### **Interdisciplinary approach**

It is intended to investigate development problems with and from disciplines that share a common goal and problem. The research process involves all disciplines. Consequently, it enables cooperation between various disciplines, thus allowing bridges to be constructed between them.

#### **Transdisciplinary approach**

The project's scope extends beyond typical disciplinary boundaries and the fragmentation of knowledge. The solution to societal problems is based on a holistic, integral, systematic, and ontological approach.

Note*. Own elaboration.*

#### **Table 1.** *Disciplinary approaches.*

#### **2.2 Transdisciplinary approach**

The prefix 'trans' indicates that a transdisciplinary approach extends beyond the discipline. There have been a variety of interpretations of the concept by different disciplines. As a result, different fields have coined this concept. This approach gives it a specific meaning and defines the term as a novel approach to creating knowledge through empirical, interpretive, and critical means [39]. Transdisciplinarity must be based on complexity and a holistic perspective to transcend mono, multi, pluri, and interdisciplinarity. Therefore, this systemic approach considers the social, cultural, and political contexts [40]. Following **Table 2**, transdisciplinary knowledge is based on three axioms.

Transdisciplinary praxis can be defined by these three [41]. Transdisciplinary praxis is defined as 1) situations where dialectical participation is a commitment, 2) experiences that allow moving beyond comfort zones through multiple perspectives, 3) investigating in formal and informal contexts, 4) valuing complexity as a factor that enhances relationships, 5) being humble and reflective, and 6) promoting collective action based on community and critique of power. As a result, this praxis concretizes transdisciplinary initiatives between society, organizations, citizens, and universities [42]. Additionally, the horizontal concretion of these elements enables the implementation of educational proposals consistent with social evolution, integrating knowledge and action in the same manner [43, 44]. According to [45], Transpraxis strengthens the concept of transdisciplinary praxis and emphasizes the reflexivity of educational approaches. [46] reflexivity is a critical self-evaluation of each individual in a particular situation [47]. Reflection differs from this in that it places the person reflecting outside of the process of reflection. Therefore, reflexivity enables us to develop strategies for questioning our actions, thoughts, and values [48]. The use of a transdisciplinary approach combines all the qualities necessary for critical training and education, which allows us to establish points of connection with critical pedagogy.

#### **Ontological axiom**

In essence, it involves recognizing that reality is composed of several levels interacting with one another (externally and internally).

#### **Logical axiom**

This axiom reconciles contradictions, and different forms of knowledge are integrated into new knowledge, utilizing tertiary logic.

#### **Epistemological axiom**

As a result, knowledge is viewed as an emergent, embodied, and always-in-flux phenomenon.

Note*. Own elaboration.*

#### **Table 2.**

*Axioms of the transdisciplinary approach.*

#### **2.3 Transpraxis approach (TA)**

As a conceptual current, the Transpraxis Approach is closely related to critical pedagogy in that both aim to develop attitudes that support social justice, equality, freedom, and the rights of individuals [49]. Furthermore, it allows for the definition of professional practices that create a dynamic, fluid, and change-oriented society [50]. Consequently, such practices must foster a critical and liberating consciousness [51] capable of subverting dominant approaches and exploring education from a horizontal and egalitarian standpoint. Only its transdisciplinary character allows such a response, given its practical, reflexive, and non-binary nature [52]. A critical pedagogy employs the transdisciplinary perspective to transform the school into an agent of social change for the community. Thus, rhizomatic experiences can be generated for teachers and students due to this multidimensional structure of reality [53]. Additionally, it provides them with an opportunity to contribute to the solution of problems in complex social situations. It is possible to achieve such solutions by engaging in collaborative, creative, and interactive thinking [54]. Therefore, as [55] states, understanding the world requires more than memorizing knowledge, but rather the quality of one's ethical and moral relationships with others.

Critical pedagogy and Transpraxis share a relationship. It is because both aim to help students establish relationships with the environment and themselves and provide them with a holistic vision relevant to their daily lives. Therefore, both theories interpret knowledge as global and connected to learners' everyday lives [56]. Consequently, students are active participants in the learning process and can solve real problems in their everyday lives [57]. In turn, connecting with their environments deconstructs dominant discourses and empowers social reconstruction to achieve social justice. Teachers are also encouraged to develop dialogical educational situations based on different knowledge and understandings of critical pedagogy and the Transpraxis Approach. Furthermore, they seek to create training experiences that can situate learning in and for communities to ensure that a teacher is connected to the community [58]. As a result, both approaches conceptualize learning as an emancipatory and humanizing process.

According to a literature review, transdisciplinary educational practices are lacking among university programs in diverse fields of knowledge. As a result of these

educational practices, critical pedagogy and ethical and responsible learning methods were promoted. As a result, the study's main objective is to describe the methodological principles for implementing the Transpraxis Approach (TA) in Higher Education (HE). A specific set of objectives is proposed to accomplish this: 1) Designing the methodology for HE subjects based on TA; 2) Analyzing the implementation of TA in HE subjects; 3) Determining the methodological principles for the implementation of TA in HE.
