In recent years, teaching has increasingly been framed as a technical and scientific enterprise. Policymakers and educational organisations promote ‘evidence-informed’ practice rooted largely in cognitive psychology and measurable outcomes (Neelen & Kirschner, 2020; Roediger, 2013). Whilst such approaches have contributed valuable insights into memory, learning and instruction, they also risk narrowing our understanding of what education is for. When teaching is reduced to the efficient delivery of content, something profoundly human is lost.

For many classroom teachers, this narrowing is familiar. Lesson planning can become dominated by retrieval schedules, examination objectives and data tracking. Professional judgement is sometimes overshadowed by prescribed ‘best practice’. In this context, C. Wright Mills’ (1959) concept of the sociological imagination offers a valuable way to reassert the professional and ethical dimensions of teaching.

Mills argued that individuals should be able to connect their personal experiences with wider social structures and historical forces. Learning, in this sense, becomes a way of understanding one’s place in the world. Building on this idea, teachers can cultivate what may be termed a ‘pedagogical imagination’: the capacity to connect subject knowledge, pupils’ lived experiences and broader social realities in meaningful ways.

Beyond technical teaching

Pedagogy has never been solely a scientific pursuit. Historically, it has drawn on philosophy, psychology, sociology and ethics (Friesen & Su, 2023; Wyse, 2020). Biesta (2013, 2023) argues that education is fundamentally concerned with human flourishing and moral purpose, not simply instructional efficiency. For teachers, this means recognising that every lesson involves moral and social choices, whether consciously acknowledged or not.

In a similar vein, Alexander et al. (2008) describe pedagogy as encompassing ‘enabling’, ‘formalising’ and ‘locating’ ideas – about learners, institutions, culture and identity. A pedagogical imagination allows us to hold these dimensions together. Rather than viewing learning as a purely individual cognitive process, teaching can be situated within social relationships, school cultures and wider communities.

Learning as biography and history

Mills famously argued that ‘private troubles’ are often connected to ‘public issues’. In classrooms, this insight encourages teachers to see pupils’ challenges not simply as individual weaknesses, but as shaped by social and institutional conditions.

A pedagogical imagination, therefore, invites us to ask reflective questions: How do pupils’ backgrounds influence participation? How does curriculum privilege certain experiences over others? How do assessment practices shape learners’ identities? Engaging with such questions moves teaching beyond technique towards thoughtful professional inquiry.

For example, in a geography lesson on migration, urbanisation or climate change, you might encourage pupils to relate global patterns to their own communities by examining local housing developments, changing high streets or recent flooding events. Pupils can compare statistical data with family stories, local news reports or their own observations, helping them to see how large-scale processes shape everyday life. Similarly, in religious education, when studying beliefs about poverty, charity or environmental stewardship, we can invite pupils to reflect on food banks, faith-based community projects or sustainability initiatives in their area. By connecting religious teachings and ethical frameworks to lived experience, pupils learn to interpret abstract concepts through real social contexts. In this way, learning becomes both academically rigorous and socially meaningful.

Democratic and inclusive classrooms

Research in the sociology of education highlights how classrooms function as social spaces shaped by power relations and cultural norms (Bernstein, 2000; Trowler, 2005). Recognising this enables teachers to design more inclusive learning environments. As Halasz and Kaufman (2008) argue, sociological perspectives – when included within pedagogical approaches and frameworks – allow teachers to examine identity formation, inequality and the interactional dynamics of their classes.

Subsequently, a pedagogical imagination supports culturally responsive teaching by valuing students’ diverse experiences as legitimate sources of knowledge (Gay, 2018). Rather than expecting learners to adapt to a narrow ‘ideal pupil’ model (Becker, 1963), we can design lessons that reflect varied identities, languages and histories. This approach fosters empathy, participation and democratic dialogue.

Similarly, Freire’s (1996) emphasis on education as a practice of freedom also remains relevant to a pedagogical imagination. Whilst some may be wary of its political origins, its focus on dialogue, agency and critical thinking aligns closely with contemporary professional values, social issues and developing pupils that don’t just retain knowledge, but do something with it that betters society, their communities or professional lives in some way.

A transdisciplinary possibility

Importantly, a pedagogical imagination is not limited to humanities subjects. In science, teachers can explore the social consequences of technological innovation. In mathematics, financial literacy can be linked to economic inequality. In English, texts can be situated within their historical and cultural contexts (Hoggart, 1970).

Moreover, project-based learning, role-play, structured discussion and community engagement offer practical ways to foster these connections. Such approaches encourage students to see knowledge as interconnected, contested and socially significant.

Limitations and possibilities

However, concepts such as the sociological imagination can be challenging to implement in pressured school environments (Palmer, 2023). Teachers face time constraints, curriculum demands and performance measures that restrict experimentation. Moreover, no single framework can address all educational challenges.

Yet developing a pedagogical imagination does not require abandoning evidence-based practice. Instead, it involves complementing cognitive science with social and ethical understanding. Cognitive research can inform how students learn, whilst sociological and philosophical perspectives help clarify why learning matters.

Conclusion: Teaching with imagination

A pedagogical imagination enables teachers to reconnect curriculum, experience and society. Inspired by Mills’ work, it encourages educators to link subject content with students’ lives and social realities in purposeful ways.

In an era of increasing polarisation and uncertainty, such connections are essential. When students learn to situate themselves within wider social worlds, they develop empathy, critical awareness and civic responsibility. Teaching, then, becomes more than content delivery: it becomes a shared endeavour to understand the world and imagine how it might be improved.

For teachers, cultivating a pedagogical imagination is not an additional burden. It is a way of reclaiming professional agency, ethical purpose and intellectual depth within everyday classroom practice.

• This blog is a condensed and repurposed version of a longer article. See: Jones, A. B. (2024). Cultivating the sociological imagination: Fostering inclusive and democratic classrooms. FORUM: for promoting 3-19 comprehensive education, 66(2), 122–130. https://doi.org/10.3898/forum.2024.66.2.14

References

• Alexander, R., et al. (2008). Education for all, the quality imperative and the problem of pedagogy. CREATE.
• Becker, H. S. (1963). Outsiders: Studies in the sociology of deviance. Free Press.
• Bernstein, B. (2000). Pedagogy, symbolic control and identity (Rev. ed.). Rowman & Littlefield.
• Biesta, G. (2013). The beautiful risk of education. Paradigm.
• Biesta, G. (2023). The integrity of education and the future of educational studies. British Journal of Educational Studies, 71(5), 493-515.
• Freire, P. (1996). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Penguin.
• Friesen, N., & Su, H. (2023). What is pedagogy? Educational Theory, 73, 6-28.
• Gay, G. (2018). Culturally responsive teaching (3rd ed.). Teachers College Press.
• Halasz, J. R., & Kaufman, P. (2008). Sociology as pedagogy. Teaching Sociology, 36, 301-317.
• Hoggart, R. (1970). Speaking to each other. Chatto & Windus.
• Mills, C. W. (1959). The sociological imagination. Oxford University Press.
• Neelen, M., & Kirschner, P. A. (2020). Evidence-informed learning design. Kogan Page.
• Palmer, N. (2023). The sociological imagination within teaching sociology. Teaching Sociology, 51(1), 1-12.
• Trowler, P. (2005). A sociology of teaching and learning. Papers: Revista de Sociologia, 76, 13-32.
• Wyse, D. (2020). The academic discipline of education. British Educational Research Journal, 46(1), 6-25.

Photo credit: Image of C. Wright Mills by Institute for Policy Studies, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 (CC BY 2.0).