Paulo Freire

Paulo Freire (1921-1997) was a Brazilian educator and philosopher renowned for his significant contributions to critical pedagogy and mass literacy campaigns across Latin America. His educational philosophy emerged as a response to authoritarian teaching methods prevalent in many educational systems during the 1960s and 70s. Central to Freire's theory is the critique of what he termed the "banking concept" of education, where knowledge is deposited by teachers into passive students, stifling creativity and critical thought. In contrast, Freire advocated for a liberating education model that emphasized dialogue and critical engagement, allowing learners to participate actively in their education and understand societal structures of power and oppression. His seminal work, "Pedagogy of the Oppressed," articulates these ideas and serves as a foundational text in adult education. Freire believed that education must always embrace a political dimension, aiming to empower individuals to challenge the status quo and transform their realities. His methodologies have influenced educators globally, promoting a vision of education as a means of social change and consciousness-raising. Freire's legacy continues to resonate in contemporary discussions about the purpose and practice of education.

Published in: 2021

By: Smith, Tricia

Subject Terms

Paulo Freire

Brazilian Paulo Freire (1921-1997) was known for his mass literacy campaigns for Latin American education. His approach to education was a critical reflection of his own practices as an adult educator as he examined authoritarian educational systems. In his many writings, Freire reflected upon the pedagogical activities that represented the political and historical milieu in the 1960's and 70's. He created a theory of education linked to issues of oppression and struggle and coined a term, "banking concept" of education (Jackson, 2007). Freire's most important text is Pedagogy of the Oppressed, a critical reflection of his own practices as an adult educator in Brazil.

Keywords: Banking Concept; Consciousness-raising; Critical Theory; Domesticating Education; Dialogue; Freire, Paulo; Liberating Education; Liberation Pedagogy; Pedagogy of the Oppressed; Problem-posing Education; Praxis

Overview

Brazilian Paulo Freire (1921-1997) was known for his mass literacy campaigns for Latin American education. Philosophically, Freire was influenced by existentialism and Critical Theory (Gutek, 2009). As an intellectual as well as educator of adult learners, he developed a liberating conception of teaching and learning that is structural, purposeful and academically rigourous (Roberts, 1996). His approach to education was a critical reflection of his own practices as an adult educator, as he examined authoritarian educational systems. In his many writings, Freire reflected upon the pedagogical activities that represented the political and historical milieu of the 1960's and 70's. He created a theory of education linked to issues of oppression and struggle (Jackson, 2007).

Freire's most important text is Pedagogy of the Oppressed, a critical reflection of his own practices as an adult educator in Brazil. He worked with impoverished workers in Brazil, peasants who participated in Freire's cultural circles. Through Freire's methodologies, they realized an understanding about their culture and improved their literacy skills in just 40 days (Schugurensky, 1998). For Freire, learning "never takes place in a vacuum; learning always occurs in a social context, under specific political conditions" (Roberts, 1996, p. 4). His works promoted a new view of teaching that moved the oppressed to better understand themselves in their world. To Freire, teaching becomes "a necessary interventional occupation, implying a commitment to a given ethical and political position, from which pedagogical principles and practices derive" (Roberts, 1996, p. 3).

Views of Society & Education

To Freire, society is characterized by the relationship between power and domination over those who do not have power. Those in power, called the oppressors, exert power over those who are powerless, the oppressed (Mayo, 1993). Freire applied a dialectical analysis to what he considered to be bourgeois education. A bourgeois education supports certain characteristics of the interaction between teacher and learner. The teacher and learner are at "direct opposites, or in dialectical contradiction" (Allman, 1994, p. 8). The teacher possesses knowledge that the learner needs; the learner is subordinate and dependent on the teacher. This relationship is said to limit the learning and creative potential of both the teacher and the learner. Freire coined the term banking education to illustrate this point; teachers deposit the information and the learners acquire it (Allman, 1994). Freire proposes that this oppressive concept "perpetuates inequalities and injustices and stifles creativity" (Roberts, 1996, p. 2). This form of education becomes an oppressive social function supported by the political entities that support education.

The Banking Concept

Friere often criticized the version of mainstream education he found in most Latin American countries, which he termed "Banking Education." In the banking concept of education, the teacher controls the information that he or she deposits within the learner. Mayo (1993) defines the banking concept of education as "a top-to-bottom approach to knowledge transmission through which the teacher is the sole dispenser of knowledge and students are the passive recipients" (¶ 2).

For example, the teacher may research a topic for his or her lecture, preparing the notes and organizing the presentation. The teacher chooses what the learner is to know and transmits this knowledge to the learner, with no active participation occurring on the part of the learner. The learner receives the information, without question or dialogue (Allman, 1994). As a passive learner, he or she may memorize the material and repeat it back to the teacher. In this manner, Friere believed that knowledge becomes "a gift to be bestowed by teachers upon voiceless, patient and ignorant students; knowledge becomes lifeless and static" (Roberts, 1996, p. 2). This type of education dissuades critical thinking by the student and lead to domestication, which allows the further political oppression of citizens by an authoritative government.

McCarter (2013) views the "learned helplessness" of contemporary American high-school students as being very closely related to Freire's banking concept. He writes, "Instead of allowing their students to wallow in the complexity of the world in which we live, high school teachers must construct a static reality that can be memorized and then spewed out onto a multiple choice exam when test time comes." He likens this to Freire's banking concept of education (McCarter, 2013).

Liberating Education

Friere supported changing the approach to this teacher-learner relationship to a liberating education model. He conceived teaching and learning as two internally-related processes that occur within each person. To Freire, teachers must relinquish their authoritarian control over the learner and become part of the learning process. The learner joins together with the teacher "in a mutual process of teaching and learning" (Allman, 1994, p. 8). Promoting Freire's problem-posing theory changes the dynamics of this relationship (Roberts, 1996, p. 2). Within problem-posing education, learners begin "to understand their world in a depth hitherto unknown to them" (p. 3). Academic rigour is a characteristic of problem-posing education. Expectations are that teachers prepare themselves to be conversant in their content area of study, always learning more and more about the subject through their interaction with the material. Only through study can teachers prepare themselves to become facilitators of the process of learning (Roberts, 1996).

This can best be accomplished through dialogue. Dialogue is a problem-posing approach to effectively using questions to advance critical thinking. Dialogue is not random, but has a clear structure, generally supported through curriculum decisions reflected in a syllabus. Dialogue has a meaningful definitive focus that cohesively reflects the objectives of the lesson (Roberts, 1996) Critical thinking is required for dialogue to occur, and dialogue creates even further critical thinking. Dialogue becomes "a pivotal pedagogical process," as the teacher communicates and "re-learns" the material with the learner (Roberts, 1996, p. 2). Both learners and teachers relate to one another in a horizontal, rather than hierarchical manner (in which the teacher controls the discussion) (Roberts, 1996). Instead of using the Socratic method to analyze Great Books, the focus of dialogue is on problem-posing.

In this critical theory, knowledge is not static and is viewed as transformational; learners scrutinize what they know and "constantly test its adequacy as a tool for illuminating…the real condition and informing our action" (Allman, 1994, p. 2). Knowledge helps learners understand the characteristics of their lives; they constantly test and question their conditions. Knowledge can best be developed through this dialogue, where all participants "seek…to know, gather, reflect and pose problems" (p. 2).

The liberating teacher becomes a facilitator, whose responsibility is to furnish effective learning conditions in the classroom. The teacher gives "structure and direction to learning, while encouraging and enhancing academic rigour" (Roberts, 1996, p. 5). The teacher does not indoctrinate the learner, but enables the learner to make discoveries and decisions on his or her own (Malcolm, 1999, p. 10).

Kojima, Miwa, and Matsui (2013) wrote about the importance of problem-posing in mathematics education. Endeavoring to improve problem posing for novices, their study discussed an approach that supports learning from examples as a production task. They implemented a system that "presents examples of problem posing and supports learners in understanding the examples by having the learners reproduce them." The results demonstrated that "the learners successfully adapted the example when posing their own problems if they learned the example by the reproduction method" (Kojima, Miwa, & Matsui, 2013).

Education & Politics

Freire stated that education can never be neutral in its political stance. Teachers need not hide their political positions; however, they should not "coerce learners to accept [their] political position" (Roberts, 1996, p. 6). To Freire, teaching can never be divorced from the "critical analysis of how society works," that "teachers must challenge learners to think critically about the social, political and historical realities within which they inhabit the world" (Jackson, 2007, p. 203). No education "is neutral," education systems either "work to domesticate children or to liberate them" (Archer, 2007, p. 2).

To Freire, the task of education in a democracy does not involve cultivating intellectual virtues. Instead, education helps people realize "the full range of untested feasibilities available to them as they yearn to complete themselves" and transform "the very society that has denied them the opportunity of participation" (Malcolm, 1999, p. 77). Education gives learners choices to think critically and apply their thinking to liberate themselves and transform their reality (Crowther, 20005). Through learning, learners "make and remake themselves," as they take "responsibility for themselves as capable of knowing — of knowing that they know and knowing that they don't" (Jackson, 2007, p. 203).

Applications

The Liberating Educator

For Friere's pedagogy to succeed in contributing to social transformation, classroom teachers are encouraged to change their approach away from the Banking model. Simpson, et al. (2006) outline the characteristics of teachers who exhibit Freirean professional attitudes, dispositions or behaviors. These educators:

Demonstrate humility; which entails abandoning arrogance and cultivating self-confidence as well as the ability to listen to and learn from others;
Use common sense, which demands rejecting authoritarian tendencies and employing experimental knowledge to work ethically, efficiently and effectively with others;
Manifest lovingness, which involves uprooting negative attitudes and demonstrating concern for students, teaching, and colleagues as we cultivate a more humane and just society;
Develop courage, which requires recognizing and overcoming our fears and taking risks, fighting myths, and choosing love;
Exhibit tolerance, which includes opposing the intolerable and respecting those who are different from us as we work to create and sustain democratic classrooms and schools;
Cultivate decisiveness, which involves breaking free from both arbitrariness and permissiveness and choosing from among our professional and personal options;
Build security, which encompasses abandoning the insecurity of conformity and gaining professional competence, political clarity, and ethical integrity;
Express impatient patience, which means discarding both sheer activism and passivism and reflectively pursuing the right and needs of students and faculty;
Display verbal parsimony, which necessitates eliminating obstructed and uninhibited discourse and engaging in measured but passionate dialogue and advocacy; and,
Pursue the joy of living, which calls for casting off the gloom of misfortune and oppression and fostering the joy of learning (p. 163-165).

Critical thinking is encouraged in liberating education through problem-posing. Problem-posing is a dialogical strategy for enhancing critical thinking in a learner. Malcolm proposes that the method of problem-posing has several steps:

Identify the problem, a problem that addresses an issue in learners' lives;
Name the problem, as learners generate words for the problem;
Codify the generative themes, describing and writing down the full ramifications of the problem;
Engage critically with the problem, thoroughly analyzing the factors and the obstacles;
Synthesize perceptions, perceiving obstacles differently but more equipped to transform them in new ways (1999, p. 9).

Study is the disciplined approach to understanding content. In a liberated classroom, study is a way of investigating content "through purposeful, structured, critical dialogue" (Roberts, 1996, p. 9). Those who study must "muster [their] intellectual energies such that the learners transcend mere awareness and penetrate beneath the surface of the subject…under investigation" (p. 9).

Viewpoints

While Paulo Freire was a prolific writer about his work in adult education theory, many critics had issues with specific elements of his writing. To some, Freire's writing is not accessible to the average reader, particularly in light of the fact that his theories are based on the development of adult learning. Schugurensky (1998) states that Pedagogy of the Oppressed is difficult to read, that it contains "pompous, snobbish, elitist, convoluted, arrogant, and metaphysical" and "sexist language" ("Some Problematic Areas"). Another criticism focuses on the prominent theme of oppression. Freire speaks extensively of class struggles, i.e., the oppression of peasants in Brazil. However, he clearly avoids race and gender issues in his work, as if oppression is only related to class struggles (Schugurensky, 1998).

To some critics, Freire's writing lacks the concrete methodology that could be used by teachers to teach adult education classes. Readers of his works have commented that they would have enjoyed 'how-to' methods for the ways in which he taught literacy to adult learners. None of his books give guidelines regarding how to read and write; his texts are far too theoretical to be useful as guides in teaching literacy (Schugurensky, 1998).

Nonetheless, education theorist Paulo Freire made an invaluable contribution to adult literacy development through his work in critical pedagogy. He raised the consciousness about education, "constructing a critical awareness of social, political and economic conditions and contradictions under which people live and work" (Gutek, 2009, p. 399).

More recently, Webb (2012) has written that Freire was "the visionary instigator of utopian pedagogy." He cites the pedagogical necessity, recognized by Freire, of utopia "as process, orientation, and system." As such, "the role of the active utopian educator becomes one of unmasking reality, of illuminating the path toward humanization, of sharpening the curiosity, and radicalizing the hope of the educands, and, crucially, of directing their purposive action toward the realization of a utopian vision, system, and goal" (Webb, 2012).

While Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1972) was Freire's all-time best seller by an educationalist, other texts written by Freire include:

Education for Critical Consciousness (1973);
Cultural Action for Freedom (1972);
Pedagogy in Process (1978);
The Politics of Education (1985);
Pedagogy of the City (1993);
Pedagogy of Hope (1994);
Letters to Christina (1996);
Pedagogy of the Heart (1997);
Pedagogy of Freedom (1998);
Politics and Education (1998) and,
Pedagogy of Indignation (2004).

Terms & Concepts

Consciousness-raising: Consciousness-raising is a theory that analyzes "control and power in institutions and schools and seeks to empower those who are marginalized in a capitalist society and economy" (Gutek, 2009, p. 417).

Critical Theory: Critical theory is a philosophy that is "engaged in the great struggles and social movements of its times" (Noddings, 1995, p. 68). Critical theorists analyze "the social conditions that underlie, accompany, and result from forms of domination" (p. 68).

Domesticating Education: Domesticating education is the banking concept of education that is characterized as a top-to-bottom approach to knowledge transmission. Domesticating education promotes authoritarian social relations and oppression (Noddings, 1995).

Knowledge: From a Freirian position, knowledge is a means by which learners begin learning about themselves and their environment rather than as an end in itself. Knowledge helps learners understand the contradictions of their realities and becomes "the springboard for the creation of new knowledge or the deeper understanding of the world which [learners] need for developing a revolutionary praxis" in order to institute change (Allman, 1994, p. 9).

Liberating Education:

Liberating education is a learning process that respects people as "active and creative subjects rather than treating them as passive objects or receptacles" (Archer, 2007, p. 2).

Liberation Pedagogy: Liberation education is a concept of education developed by Paulo Freire that promotes education that "liberates people from oppression and guides them in their own self-empowerment" (Gutek, 2009, p. 417).

Praxis: Praxis in a process whereby learners are "distanced from their world of everyday action in order to see it in a different, more critical, light with a view to transforming it" (Mayo, 1993, p. 12).

Bibliography

Allman, P. (1994). Paulo Freire's contributions to radical adult education. Studies in the Education of Adults, 26, 144-162. Retrieved June 24, 2009, from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Complete: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=9502226094&site=ehost-live

Archer, D. (2007). Education for liberation. Adults Learning, 18, 28-29. Retrieved June 23, 2009, from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Complete: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=25166115&site=ehost-live

Crowther, J., & Martin, J. (2005). Twenty-first century Freire. Adults Learning,17 , 7-9. Retrieved June 26, 2009, from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Complete: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=18626760&site=ehost-live

Gutek, G. (2009). New perspectives on philosophy and education. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Jackson, S. (2007). Freire re-viewed. Educational Theory, 57, 199-213. Retrieved June 23, 2009, from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Complete: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=25088698&site=ehost-live

Kojima, K., Miwa, K., & Matsui, T. (2013). Supporting mathematical problem posing with a system for learning generation processes through examples. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, 22, 161-190. Retrieved December 1, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=90795063&site=ehost-live

Malcolm, L. (1999). Mortimer Adler, Paulo Freire, and teaching theology in a democracy. Teaching Theology and Religion, 2, 77 - 89. Retrieved June 23, 2009, from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Complete: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=3252839&site=ehost-live

Mayo, P. (1993). When does it work? Freire's pedagogy in context. Studies in the Education of Adults, 25, 11-31. Retrieved June 23, 2009, from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Complete: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=9609222781&site=ehost-live

McCarter, W. (2013). Education and learned helplessness. Teaching American Literature, 6, 69-72. Retrieved December 1, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=90713084&site=ehost-live

Noddings, N. (1995). Philosophy of education: Dimensions of philosophy series. Boulder, CO: Westview.

Roberts, P. (1996). Structure, direction, and rigour in liberating education. Oxford Review of Education, 22, 295-307.

Schugurensky, D. (1998). The legacy of Paulo Freire: A critical review of his contributions. Convergence, 31, 17-29. Retrieved June 22, 2009, from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Complete: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=801631&site=ehost-live

Simpson, D., Boroda, G., Bucy, B., Burke, A., Doue, W., Faber, S., Fehr, M., Fryer, W., Gonzales, G., Harp-Woods, C., McMahan, S., Nesmith, S., Reynolds, S., Riegle, S., Romano, J., Willey, R., Wimberley, S., & Won, M. (2006). A teacher's indispensable qualities: A Freirean perspective. Journal of Latinos and Education, 5, pp. 163-165. Retrieved June 22, 2009, from EBSCO online database, Academic Search Complete: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=19918671&site=ehost-live

Webb, D. (2012). Process, orientation, and system: the pedagogical operation of utopia in the work of Paulo Freire. Educational Theory, 62, 593-608. Retrieved December 1, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=80413486&site=ehost-live

Paulo Freire

On this Page

Subject Terms

Paulo Freire

Overview

Views of Society & Education

The Banking Concept

Liberating Education

Education & Politics

Applications

The Liberating Educator

Viewpoints

Terms & Concepts

Liberating Education:

Bibliography

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