Critical Pedagogy in Moroccan EFL Higher Education: A Mandated Decision or an Informed Choice

Within critical pedagogy (CP), education, including language education, is a liberatory practice whereby transformative instructional strategies serve as the basis to enhance social justice, critical consciousness and equity. These principles align closely with the objectives outlined in Morocco’s Strategic Vision for Educational Reform (2015–2030), which advocates for learner-centered pedagogies to develop critical thinking, promote inclusivity, and enhance the socio-economic relevance of education; thus, CP provides a compelling theoretical and practical framework for realizing Morocco’s reform goals. Against this background, this study investigates the intersection between Moroccan higher education EFL classroom practices align with both the Strategic Vision’s guidelines on learner centered pedagogies and the foundational principles of critical pedagogy that best inform such approaches. The purpose is to assess the effectiveness of teachers’ classroom practices with reference to the Reform ideals and critical pedagogy principles. To reach this objective, the study employed a qualitative research design implemented into two phases. Phase one involved critical discourse analysis of the Strategic Vision. This aimed to determine the underlying pedagogical and theoretical assumptions guiding the Reform and their alignment with critical pedagogy. The second phase involved the conduct of non-participant classroom observations in higher education EFL context to evaluate teachers’ classroom practices with reference to critical pedagogy and the Reform ideals. The findings indicate that although the official discourse deviates from the core tenet of CP informing transformative pedagogy, EFL teachers’ classroom practices do incorporate critical pedagogy principles not as an informed decision but rather as personal choice.