Educational Philosophy of PAULO FREIRE

Educational Philosophy of PAULO FREIRE

• 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.
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.
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
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
PRODUCE THE CODES (CODIFICATION)
create a material representation ( a drawing, a video, a photo, a
puppet show, an audiotape, etc. ) to capture the GENERATIVE
THEMES. create a play or skit including many or all of the
GENERATIVE THEMES
The 3 Basic Steps of this Methodology are: to SEE, to
ANALYZE and to ACT.
1. TO SEE the situation lived by the participants
2. TO ANALYZE this situation, analyzing the root causes (socio-
economic, political, cultural, etc.)
3. TO ACT to change this situation, following the precepts of
Social Justice.
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
 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.
 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.
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.
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.
CRITICAL PEDAGOGY
 Critical pedagogy is an educational approach for developing critical
consciousness or critical awareness in the learner.
 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.
 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  Education as an act of cognition taking
transferring knowledge place through dialogue
 Teacher owns knowledge and he  No one is the owner of knowledge,
teaches the students. Men teach each other.
 Consider students as passive and inert  Consider students as interactive social
individual learners. learners.
 Learners are involved in the mission of  Learners are involved in the mission of
knowledge registering. knowledge creation
 It is oppressing in its nature  It is liberating in its nature.
 In involves transference of available  It involves co-construction of new
knowledge knowledge
 Characterized by vertical teacher pupil  Characterized by horizontal teacher-
relations pupil relations
 Teacher-centered curricula  Student-centered curricula
 Decontextualized study of information  Contextualized study of perspectives
 Facts learned in isolation  Facts, beliefs, and questions connected
 Mainstream, canonical texts  Diverse, multicultural texts
 An emphasis on memorization and  An emphasis on exploration and
regurgitation application.