Tools and Technologies in Context
Freire's pedagogy of the oppressed
Prosa, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Paradigm
| Category | Freire |
|---|---|
| Philosophy | Education as the process of “humanization”Enhancing consciousness beyond collective barriers of oppression through “praxis” |
| Psychology | The mind as a product of its environment Layers of consciousness that can be attained |
| Sociology | Libertarianism |
| Conception of Literacy | Literacy as a vehicle for dissecting and questioning one’s reality The ability to perceive one’s environmental limitations and consciousness of what lies beyond them |
| Attitude to Education | Instrument of oppression/liberation |
| Curriculum | ”Problem-posing”: Emerges from student interests and questions “Codification” that grounds learning in the real situations of a student’s experience |
| Pedagogy | Symbiotic collaboration, dialogue, and sense-making between teacher and students Critical reflection and inquiry Creativity and transformation of, and within, the world |
| Evaluation | Reflection and action |
| Outcome | Liberation |
Analysis
Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970) is a deceptively concise, but conceptually dense work that serves as both an intense repudiation of colonial education and an explicit guide on a revolutionary alternative. Freire deconstructs the imposition of what de Castell & Luke (1986) describe as “classical education”, characterizing its pedagogy of rote learning and rigid prescription as a vehicle for oppression that de-humanizes and molds students into subservience to their oppressors. Implicit in this repudiation are the educational technologies associated with classical education: Freire nearly scoffs at the notion of teaching “peasants” how to read using prescribe material, such as “‘wholesome’ texts in which one learns that ‘the water is in the well’” (p. 60), the didactic lesson in which the superior educator ‘fills’ passive students with knowledge, or any attempt to standardize and formalize the measurement of knowledge. To Freire, these technologies are merely instruments used to subjugate students into passive and non-disruptive entities.
An alternative to the oppressive educational technologies is presented by Freire, ones he proposes will facilitate liberation. In his paradigm, there is no structural hierarchy in which an implicitly superior other imparts wisdom into otherwise empty students. The students and the teacher operate in a symbiosis where learning occurs by all parties through discussion and inquiry. In place of reference texts and practiced oration, a process of “codification” carried out by the educator leads to the design of instruction that remains intrinsically relevant to the students’ real life, leading to critical analysis of the students’ situation (Burstow, 1991). Thus, educational knowledge to Freire isn’t memorizing classical texts, developing prescribed skills, or meeting arbitrary measures of assessment. Instead, it is the facilitation of a student’s humanization, their recognition of their situational barriers, and the awareness of how to overcome them in collaboration with their peers.
References
Burstow, B. (1991). Freirian Codifications and Social Work Education. Journal of Social Work Education, 27(2), 196–207.
Castell, S. de, Luke, A., & Egan, K. (1986). Models of literacy in North American schools: Social and historical conditions and consequences. In Literacy, Society, and Schooling: A Reader. Cambridge University Press.
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. http://archive.org/details/PedagogyOfTheOppressed-English-PauloFriere
AI Statement
Anthropic’s Claude was used minimally in this assignment to clarify assignment requirements and to assist with parsing aspects of Freire’s material.