Educational Philosophy of PAULO FREIRE
DOCTRINES
OF GREAT EDUCATOR - PAULO FREIRE
Prepared by
SABARISH-P
M.Sc., M.Ed.,NET
Lecturer in Physical Science, Arafa Institute for Teacher Education
Attur, Thrissur.
Introduction
Paulo
Reglus Neves Freire (1921-1997), the Brazilian educator and philosopher, was
one of the best known and most influential radical education theorists in the
20th century. His work has exercised
considerable influence among progressive educators all over the world,
especially in the context of emerging traditions of critical pedagogy,
issue-based earning, and social constructivism.
His impact upon peace education, adult education, non-formal education,
and critical literacy has been incalculable. He is widely regarded as the father of the
critical pedagogy perspective of education.
Paulo Freire is neither an idealist,
nor a realist or a mechanist. Freire denies the view that man is abstract,
isolated, independent and unattached to the world. He also denies that the
world exists as a reality apart from men. In his view consciousness and world
are simultaneous. Consciousness neither precedes the world as the idealist hold
nor it follows the world as the materialist believe, Paulo‘s position is near
to the existentialists who give much emphasis on existential man
equipped with strong will power who can transform the world with his own
efforts . In short, the role of “man as
a Subject in the world and with the world."
Freire‘s work mainly concerned
literacy and the desire to help men and women overcome their sense of
powerlessness by acting in their own behalf. The oppressed, as he called them,
could transform their situation in life by thinking critically about reality
and then taking action. Freire believed that the educational system played a
central role in maintaining oppression and thus it had to be reformed in order
for things to change for the oppressed.
Knowledge is not an
isolated phenomenon. It comprehends both action and reflection. In his words
the act of knowing involves the dialectical movement which goes from action to
reflection and from reflection upon action to a new action.
BIOGRAPHY
AND LIFE SKETCH
Paulo Reglus Neves Freire
was born September 19, 1921 to a middle class family in Recife, Brazil.
Freire became familiar with poverty and hunger during the ‘Great Depression’ of the 1930s. In 1931, the family
moved to a less expensive city, and in 1933
his father died. In school, he ended up four grades behind, and his social life
revolved around playing pickup football with other poor children, from whom he learned a great
deal. These experiences would shape his concerns for the poor and would help to
construct his particular educational viewpoint. Freire stated that poverty and
hunger severely affected his ability to learn. This influenced his decision to
dedicate his life to improving the lives of the poor: “I didn't understand
anything because of my hunger. I wasn't dumb. It wasn't lack of interest. My
social condition didn't allow me to have an education. Experience showed me
once again the relationship between social class and knowledge" (Freire as
quoted in Stevens, 2002). Eventually
his family's misfortunes turned around and their prospects improved.
Freire
enrolled at Law School at the University of Recife in 1943. Although admitted to the legal bar, he never actually practiced law but
instead worked as a teacher in secondary schools teaching Portuguese. In 1944,
he married Elza Maia Costa de Oliveira, a fellow teacher and had five children.
In
1946, Freire was appointed Director of the Department of Education and Culture
of the Social Service in the state of Pernambuco. In 1961, he was
appointed director of the Department of Cultural Extension of Recife
University, and in 1962 he had the first opportunity for significant
application of his theories, when 300 sugarcane workers were taught to read and write in just 45 days. In
response to this experiment, the Brazilian government approved the creation of
thousands of cultural circles across the country.
In
1964, a military coup put an end to that effort. Freire was
imprisoned as a traitor for 70 days. After a brief exile in Bolivia, Freire worked in Chile for five years for the Christian
Democratic Agrarian Reform Movement and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. In 1967, Freire published his first
book, Education as the Practice of Freedom. He followed this with his
most famous book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, first published in Portuguese in
1968.
On the
strength of reception of his work, Freire was offered a visiting professorship
at Harvard University in 1969. After a year in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, Freire moved to Geneva, Switzerland to work as a special
education advisor to the World Council of Churches. During this time Freire acted as an
advisor on education reform in former Portuguese colonies in Africa, particularly Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique.
In
1979, he was able to return to Brazil, and moved back in 1980. Freire joined
the Workers' Party (PT) in the city of São Paulo, and acted as a supervisor for its
adult literacy project from 1980 to 1986. When the PT prevailed in the
municipal elections in 1988, Freire was appointed Secretary of Education for
São Paulo.
In 1986, his wife Elza died.
After some years he married his former student Ana Maria.
Freire died of heart failure on May 2, 1997 in São Paulo.
IMPORTANT WORKS
Education as Practice of Freedom.
Pedagogy of the Oppressed,
Education for Critical Consciousness,
Pedagogy of Hope,
Pedagogy of Freedom.
The Politics of Education.
FREIRE’S PHILOSOPHY
Those who attempt to redress the ills of the suffering of humanity are
not leaders who work for the people, but who work with the people as their
servants. This is Friere’s philosophy which he prefers to be known as
‘Scientific Revolutionary Humanism’. This is essentially a philosophy involving
techniques of adult and non formal education, though the message is applicable
to any form of education.
FREIRE’S EDUCATIONAL VIEWS
Friere offers in his book Pedagogy of the Oppressed a detailed analysis
of the short comings of the prescriptive style of teaching. In prescriptive
teaching teacher assumes an authoritarian role. Freire refers this as the
banking system.In the banking system of education the man’s transaction is the
act of transferring information from teachers head and depositing in students heads.
Here the students are the depositories and the teacher the depositor. In
opposition to this domesticating system, Friere suggests a problem posing
education which will break the vertical pattern characteristics of the
traditional teacher student relations by establishing a horizontal dialogue.
According to Friere “No one can teach any one else; no one earns alone; people
learn together, acting in and on their world”.
a) Aims of Education
According
to Friere, the function of education is to humanize individuals through
conscious action for the purposes of transforming the world. In such a process education cannot be
neutral. It can either be an instrument
of domination or liberation. Educative
processes domesticate people where there exists a dominant culture of silence. In this culture people are taught to accept
what is handed down to them by the ruling elite without questioning. Hence, their understanding of their social
reality is limited to what they are taught and told to accept and believe. The following are the important constructs of
Frier’s educational views:
1. Education is a cultural tool for liberation
from oppression. It must give learners
the tools to be creators of their own reality.
2. Education is always a political act. It cannot be politically neutral. It can either be an instrument of domination
or liberation.
3. Education is a communion (the state of exchanging thoughts and feelings) between
participants in a dialogue characterized by a reflexive, reciprocal, and
socially relevant exchange, rather than the unilateral action of one individual
agent of the benefit of the other.
4. Knowledge is not a set commodity that is
passed from the teachers to the students.
Learners must construct knowledge from knowledge they already possess.
5. Learning begins with action. It is a process where knowledge is presented
to learner, then shaped through understanding, discussion and reflection.
6. Students should not be viewed as an empty account to be filled in by the
teacher (banking system of education).
Teachers should know that students have life experiences and their own
knowledge that is key in shaping their education and learning.
7. Education is a phenomenon in which educator
and educatee educate each other through the act of education.
8. Education is a critical understanding of
reality. Reading the word cannot be separated from reading
the world. Education should raise the
awareness of the students so that they become subjects, rather than objects, of
the world.
9. The method of education must starts from the
situation and reality of people. Their
life situation is made into a problem
posing situation.
10. Educational practice is not an extension but
a communication. Communication involves
mutual dialogue whereas extension involves transplanting knowledge.
b) Teaching tools
Dialogue as a pedagogical tool: Friere accepted dialogue as a method of learning.
Dialogue is the encounter between men, mediated by the world, in order
to change the world. Dialogue is the
principal tool of problem posing method.
It is a co-operative activity involving mutual respect in which teachers
and students learn together. It is a
talk with the other, instead of talking to the other. Dialogue requires a co-equal relationship
between teacher and student. It begins
with the experiences of learners.
Praxis as a synthesis of reflection and action (theory and practice)
in the learning process: Praxis means the use of a theory in a
practical way. Friere considered praxis (informed action) as the goal of
problem-posing education. He defined
praxis as reflection and action upon the world in order to transform it. It is a complex activity by which individuals
create culture and society, and become critically conscious human beings. It involves development of critical consciousness
combine with social action.
c) Paulo
Freire’s methodology
The 3 Basic Steps of this Methodology
are: to SEE, to ANALYZE, to ACT. These steps are repeated over and over again,
following the changes in the situation as experienced by the participants.
・ TO SEE the situation
lived by the participants
・
TO
ANALYZE this situation, analyzing the root causes (socio-economic, political,
cultural, etc.)
・
TO
ACT to change this situation, following the precepts of Social Justice.
Paulo Freire methodology in depth
I. FIND THE PROBLEMS (GENERATIVE
THEMES)
Participants
research – get to know participants and their life and work settings
get the
background and facts about the issues that affected them
understanding / READING the World in
which we live together
II. PRODUCE THE CODES (CODIFICATION)
create a material representation ( a drawing, a video,
a photo, a puppet show, an audiotape, etc. ) tocapture the GENERATIVE THEMES.
create a
play or skit including many or all of the GENERATIVE THEMES
what are your ideas?
III. THREE STEPS INDUCTIVE QUESTIONING
PROCESS
A. TO SEE THE SITUATION AS
PARTICIPANTS EXPERIENCE IT
describe the situation shown in the
CODE
define the problems in the situation
make the link
between the participants and the problems
B. TO ANALYZE THE SITUATION (The Problem Tree)
Why did this happen?
How is this perpetuated and/or
sustained?
What are the immediate effects and
the root causes of these problems? (socioeconomic, political, cultural)
C. TO ACT TO CHANGE THE SITUATION
short term Action (next 3 days, 3 weeks, 3 months:
affecting one of the Problem Tree‘s leaves)
Long term Action (next 3 months, 3
years: affecting one of the Problem Trees‘ source roots )
There are no ready-made formulas to
apply the Paulo Freire methodology in the classroom and this is perhaps the biggest
difficulty to many educators. They have to free themselves of the traditional
concepts of the educational process where the educator is the sole origin of
knowledge and the students are only the receptors of this knowledge, and they
only way they have to learn this is also the practice. They have to practice
the Freire Methodology in order to learn to use it. Theory and Practice are
inseparable: Theory is a moment of practice; from the practice is born the
theory, and the theory goes back to the practice to be changed and
reformulated.
ACTION + REFLECTION = PRAXIS
A CONCEPT OF EDUCATION – A CONCEPT OF
THE PROCESS OF PRODUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE
The most important precept of this
methodology is: The
learners are the Subject in the learning process, and not the object –
as they have to be Subjects of their destiny, and not objects. The educator and
the learners are equal participants in the learning process. This
process is developed by a continuous dialogue between the educator and
the learners
d) Role of teacher and learning situation
Egalitarian teacher –student relations: A unique feature of
Frier’s pedagogy is the egalitarian, respectful relations between the teacher
and learner. The teacher-student
relationship is horizontal and democratic, flourishing in an atmosphere of
mutual acceptance and trust. In problem posing method, both the teacher and
student teach and both learn. Equality
among the participants of dialogue is a sine
qua non condition for its success.
In this system, terms like the teacher
of the students and the students of
the teacher cease to exist and a new term emerges: teacher-student with
students-teachers.
The co-construction of knowledge : According to Friere, new
knowledge is produced in the classroom from the interaction between students’
and re-invention, through the restless, impatient, continuing inquiry learners
pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other. To facilitate co-construction of knowledge,
teachers should respect students’
knowledge and remain humble about the
limitations of their own knowledge.
Learning circles:
The
learning circle is a non-hierarchal 'class' model where participants can
discuss generative themes which have significance within the context of their
lives. This involves creating a democratic space where every ones' voice has
equal weight age. The conditions needed for this have to be actively created as
it does not often occur naturally. This can mean challenging cultural, gender
and other status related power relationships and stratifications. This
―critical and liberating dialogue, also known as ―culture circles, is the heart
of Freire's pedagogy. The circles consist of somewhere between 12 and 25
students and some teachers, all involved in dialogic exchange. The role of the
teachers in this civic education is to participate with the people/students.
CHARACTERISTICS OF FREIRE’S PEDAGOGY
The
central premise of Freire’s theory is that no education is neutral-it can be
used for domination or liberation. His
pedagogy calls for collective action and continuingly struggle on the art of
the oppressed to liberate themselves from all forms of domination. The important features of his revolutionary
pedagogy are briefed hereunder:
1. Education for liberation: Frier’s pedagogy is an educational plan to
liberate those who are oppressed. The
existing system of education is an education for domestication which denies people the power to think for
themselves and become architects of their own destinies. Liberating education provides the learners
with a critical perception of their own social reality which would enable them
to know their democratic rights to participate in social transformation.
2. Education for conscientization: Friere’s pedagogy aims to cultivate
conscientization or critical consciousness (critical awareness) in the
learner. Conscientization is the ability
to critically perceive the causes of social, political and economic oppression
and to take action against the oppressive elements of society. It is a state of in-depth understanding about
the world and resulting freedom from oppression.
3. Problem posing education:
Problem-posting is an alternative methods of education suggested by
Friere instead of the existing
authoritarian method which he ironically called banking education. In the
banking model of education, the teacher owns knowledge and deposits it in
students. The problem posing method is
based on the principal that a student learns better when he creates knowledge
and deposits it in students. The problem
posing method is based on the principal that a student learns better when he
creates knowledge and when knowledge is created for him. This method starts from the life situation
and reality of learners. Their life
situation is made into a problem posing offers all subject matter as historical
products to be questioned rather than as central
bank wisdom to be accepted. It
encourages students to become active in thinking about and acting upon their
world.
4. Transformative social justice learning: Friere’s pedagogy is essentially
transformative learning as it fosters and develops capacities that invite
people to live more meaningfully. It
helps the people to question their own assumptions, beliefs, feelings, and
perspectives to reach a deeper and richer understanding of themselves and their
world.
FREIRE’S
CONTRIBUTIONS TO EDUCATION
Freire’s ideas are specially relevant to
the teachers and educators in the developing countries. This is especially true
in case of adult, non formal and extension education programs, though the
values of his philosophy and techniques cannot be ruled out for the education
of the younger age groups as well.
Paulo Friere is acknowledged as one of
the most powerful voices in education theory and practice of our time. His revolutionary pedagogical theory has
influenced educational and social movements throughout the world and whose philosophical
writings influenced academic disciplines that include theology, sociology,
anthropology, applied linguistics, pedagogy and cultural studies. His specific contributions are the following:
1. Freire viewed education as a deep political project
oriented towards the transformation of
society. This approach has been crucial to the education of many revolutionary
societies in Latin America and Africa (Brazil, Chile, Caribbean region,
Botswana, Guinea, Bissau, Nicaragua, Tanzania etc.)
2.His work has exercised
considerable influence among progressive educators all over the world,
especially in the context of emerging traditions of critical pedagogy,
issue-based earning, and social constructivism.
His impact upon peace education, adult education, non-formal education,
and critical literacy has been incalculable. He is widely regarded as the father of the
critical pedagogy perspective of education.
3.
His pedagogy starts from a deep love for, and humility before, poor and
oppressed people and a respect for their common sense. This humility and
respect helped to bring the teacher and learner to the same platform were
knowledge is generated and shared for the benefit of the society.
4.
Freire made education a communion (exchanging thought the feeling ) between
participants in a dialogue characterized by a reflexive, reciprocal, and
socially relevant exchange, rather than
the unilateral action of the individual agent for the benefit of the other.
5. Freire’s pedagogy allowed intellectuals to make useful contribution to the most
marginalized people’s struggle for social change .
6. Freire provided the conceptual tool to
student and teacher with which they critically interrogate them so as to
minimize their domesticating influences.
7. His revolutionary pedagogy inspired millions
of students and teachers all over the world to unlearn their race, class and gender privileges and
to engage in a dialogue to reach at a critical awareness of the social
realities in which they are living.
8.
His critical pedagogy demobilized people from the oppressive yoke of banking
education .
9.
The dialogical problem-posing method of education, proposed by freire, is the
basis of present day problem-based learning which invites the oppressed
(learner) to explore their social reality as a problem to be transformed.
10.
Freire’s pedagogy was considered in agreement with the anti-capitalist and
anti-imperialist movement throughout the world. Thus, it has given momentum to
the movements aimed to build a more just and egalitarian society.
11.
His insistence on dialogue and his discussions of egalitarian teacher-student
relations provide the basis for peace education pedagogy.
12.
Freire proposed dialogue and horizontal relationship between teachers and
learners, and encouraged active learning.
13.
Liberating education, propound by freire, involves a process of humanizing
people who have been oppressed. It
empowers oppressed people to question their position in society.
RELATED
AREAS
1)
CRITICAL PEDAGOGY
Critical pedagogy is an educational
approach for developing critical consciousness or critical awareness in the
learner. Critical consciousness is
ability to Critically perceive the causes of social, political and economic
oppression and to take action against the oppressive elements of society.
Critical pedagogy enables student to
question and challenge domination, the beliefs and practices that dominate.
Critical pedagogy is defined as an
education methodology that seeks to increase student awareness of the hidden
curriculum’s inequalities and multiple form of oppression that exist in the
society, and encourage them to take step towards creating a more democratic and
equitable society.
Critical pedagogy takes as a central
concern the issue of power in the teaching and learning context. It focuses on
how and in whose interests knowledge is produced and ‘passed on’ and view the
ideal aims of education as emancipator. It considers how education can provide
individuals with the tools to better themselves and strengthen democracy, to
create a more egalitarian and just society, and thus to deploy education in a
process of progressive social change.
The aim of Freir’s critical pedagogy
is to restore to marginalized groups their stolen ‘voice’, to enable them
recognize identify, and give their name the things in the world
Characteristics
of critical pedagogy
1.
Critical pedagogy is based on the presumption that all education is pedagogy
2.
It provides the learner with tools to better themselves and define the world .
3.
Its approach is issue based or problem based .
4.
It provides the learner with the tools to analyze critically how and on whose
benefit the knowledge is constructed.
5.
Critical pedagogy transforms the learner from objects to subjects.
6.
It aims to create a more egalitarian and just society.
7.
It transforms the learner from the role of passive listener to active
participants.
8.
Critical pedagogy argues for an approach to education that is rooted in the
experiences of marginalized peoples.
9.
It is focused on dialogue instead of a one-way transmission of knowledge.
10.
It envisages a transformed world, i.e., a more democratic, more just and more
egalitarian world.
11.
Critical pedagogy needs to create new forms of knowledge through its emphasis
on breaking down disciplinary boundaries and creating new spaces where
knowledge can be produced
2. BANKING SYSTEM OF EDUCATION
The term ‘banking
system education’ is a phrase used ironically by Paulo Freire to describe the
prevailing system of education, He
called the traditional system of education as ‘banking education‘ because in
this system teachers make deposits of information and knowledge into the empty
accounts of students, in a similar manner one operates a bank account. The traditional education, as conceived by
Friere, is an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and
the teacher is the depositor. In this
system of education, the teacher lectures, and the students receive, memorize,
and repeat.
Characteristics
of Banking Education
1. The teacher teaches and the students are
taught.
2. The teacher knows everything and the students
know nothing.
3. The teacher thinks and the students are
thought about.
4. The teacher talks and the students
listen-meekly.
5. The teacher disciplines and the students are
disciplines.
6. The teacher chooses and enforces his choice,
and the students comply.
7. The teacher chooses the program content, and
the students adapt to it.
8. The teacher chooses the program content, and
the students adapt to it.
9. The teacher confuses the authority of
knowledge with his own professional authority, which he sets in opposition to
the freedom of the students.
10. The teacher is the subject of the learning
process, while the pupils are mere objects.
3) PROBLEM POSING EDUCATION (PPE)
Problem-posing is an alternative method of
education suggested by Paulo Friere instead of the existing authoritarian and
oppressing banking education. It is
based on the principal that a student learns better when he creates knowledge
and when knowledge is created for him.
The term problem posing is used because in this type of education the
whole learning is driven by a problem that pop up from the life situation of
the learners. On the other hand, in
problem posing education, learning always begins from a problem thrown up in
the classroom. The problem is posed so
that the students discover that they need to learn some new knowledge before
they can solve the problem. The responsibility
of the teacher is to diversity subject matter and to use students’ thought and
speech as the base for developing critical understanding of personal
experience, unequal conditions in society, and existing knowledge.
Characteristics
of Problem Posing education
1. Problem-posing education encourages students
to become active in thinking about and acting upon their world.
2. It involves co-creation of knowledge in which
the teacher and students learn together.
3. Dialogue is the method of problem-posing
learning.
4. Problem posing method opens doors to
critically analyze the hidden curriculum.
5. The teacher just acts as a mediator and
organizer, and barely comes up with any ideas.
6. Encourages the students to think critically.
7. It ensures egalitarian teacher-student
relations.
8. Problem posing ignites praxis and leads to
action.
9. In the problem-posing method teachers and
students learn together through dialogue.
10. This method starts from the life situation
and reality of learners.
Banking
System and Problem-posing System: A comparison
Banking System of Education
|
Problem-posing Education
|
Consider education as a process
of transferring knowledge
Teacher owns knowledge and he
teaches the students.
Consider students as passive and
inert individual learners.
Learners are involved in the
mission of knowledge registering.
It is oppressing in its nature
In involves transference of available knowledge
Characterized by vertical teacher
pupil relations
Teacher-centered curricula
Decontextualized study of
information
Facts learned in isolation
Mainstream, canonical texts
An emphasis on memorization and
regurgitation.
|
.
Education as an act of cognition
taking place through dialogue
.
No one is the owner of knowledge,
Men teach each other.
.
Consider students as interactive
social learners.
.
Learners are involved in the
mission of knowledge creation
It is liberating in its nature.
It involves co-construction of
new knowledge
Characterized by horizontal
teacher-pupil relations
Student-centered curricula
Contextualized study of
perspectives
Facts, beliefs, and questions
connected
Diverse, multicultural texts
An emphasis on exploration and
application.
|
CONCLUSION
Paulo Freire devised and tested an
educational system, as well as a philosophy of education, over several years of
active involvement. His Educational thrust centers on the human potential for
creativity and freedome in the midst of politico-economic and culturally oppressive
structures. His philosophy and system became so current and universal that the
‘generative themes’ he advanced have remained at the centre of educational
debates for the last three decades.
Paulo Freire is often described as a
humanistic, militant educator who believed that solutions in education are
always found in concrete context. Students should be asked what they want to
learn. There must be a collaboration, union and cultural synthesis. The
educator should not manipulate students but should also not leave them to their
own fate. He should direct tasks and study not order students. He believed that
the liberating educator invites students to think. This allows the student to
make and remake their worlds and become more human. Freire believed that
communication should be simple even if the information is complex. Simplifying,
allows for deeper accessibility by the students. Perhaps, nobody has made the
world so acutely aware of the subversive potential of education as Paulo Freire.
He converted the class room an arena of empowerment for the poor and the
oppressed.
REFERENCE
1. Sinha K.,
1995, Education Comparitive Study of Gandhi and Freire, Commonwealth
Publishers, New Delhi.
2. Zaghloul Morsy., 1997, Thinkers on
education, UNESCO/OXFORD & IBH Publishing.
3. Arjunan N.K., 2009, Philosophical and
sociological bases of education, Yuga publications.
4. Paulo
Freire., 1970, Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Newyork, Herder & Herder
5. Paulo
Freire., Biographical profile, Wikepedia.
6. K.Sivarajan,
2008, Education in the emerging Indian society,
Calicut university publishers.
7. Heinz-Peter
Gerhardt., Paulo Freire.,
Prospects: the quarterly review of comparative education (Paris, UNESCO: International Bureau
of Education), vol. XXIII, no. 3/4, 1993, p.439–58.
