PAULO FREIRE’S CRITICAL PEDAGOGY

By: Aaron Noel F. Taloza, MA Philos I

Contemporary Philosophical Texts

Introduction

It is every nation’s aim to progress and develop its various sectors – education, political

system, economy, foreign relations, labor force and others. In order to realize this end, a nation

must adopt appropriate measures and policies. One of the most important things that a nation’s

policies should ensure is quality education for the young. Education plays an important role in

nation building. Through quality education, a nation is able to produce effective, efficient, and

competent citizens ready and willing to effect change and progress in the nation. Indeed, the

primary step towards a nation’s progress is to invest in the education of its citizens.

Concomitant to the ideals of progress and development is the reality of social oppression.

This oppression which dehumanizes human persons takes various forms such as terrorism, drugs

and criminality, political corruption, discrimination among sexes, labor and agrarian issues,

poverty and other kinds of human exploitation. Here, I would like to give emphasis on political

oppression that takes its source in the greed for power and money. This political oppression which

is perpetrated by those who hold power continues to distort the various sectors. Hence, this is one

of the major reasons why a country like the Philippines can hardly leap for progress. Nevertheless,

this oppression needs to stop though not radically. The first step to alleviate this oppression is to

make the citizens aware of social realities that yields to it. This awareness must begin to develop

in the education of the young. Hence, it calls for a pedagogy that results to critical awareness.

This paper devotes to present critical pedagogy. Critical pedagogy aims to help in

challenging and actively struggling against any form of social oppression and the related customs

and beliefs. It advocates social criticism to effect social change and transformation. It is geared
towards emancipation or liberation from the many forms of social and political oppression through

critical consciousness. In particular, this paper delves on Paulo Freire, a Brazilian liberationist and

existentialist educator and philosopher, the forerunner of the critical pedagogy movement. His

philosophy of education will be explored and exposed.

Paulo Reglus Neves Freire (1921 – 1997) and Critical Pedagogy

Perhaps the most influential thinker about education in the late twentieth century, Paulo

Freire has been particularly popular with informal educators with his emphasis on dialogue and

his concern for the oppressed.1 He advocated a “liberating” kind of education wherein the learners

are immersed in activities that demand the use of critical thinking.

Freire’s Epistemological Framework

It is noteworthy to first delve on the epistemological framework of Freire in order to set

the foundations in understanding his philosophy of education.

Knowing is always related to the interaction between human beings and their ever-

changing world. Knowing, for Freire, necessarily implies transformation; it is the task of human

subjects encountering a world dynamically in the making.2 It results from human practice, not from

abstract reasoning.

Knowledge always is becoming.3 Knowing has some sort of historicity. And for Freire,

knowledge about something is not necessarily the same tomorrow just as reality moves and

changes. Knowing for him is a permanent process of discovery – of searching, investigating,

1
Mark K. Smith, “Paulo Freire: Dialogue, Praxis and Education”, http://infed.org/mobi/paulo-freire-
dialogue-praxis-and-education/, accessed on June 25, 2019.
2
Peter Roberts, Education, Literacy, and Humanization: Exploring the Work of Paulo Freire (Westport:
Bergin and Garvey, 2000), 37.
3
Ibid., 38.
inquiring, and probing.4 Moreover, he speaks of knowing as praxis, implying both a reflective and

an active component.5 One does not know by the use of the mind alone. Knowing entails

interaction with social situations.

Freire, believing that knowing is situated in the process of change, seemingly proposes that

knowledge is acquired through reflections from the social and political situations and is always

grounded on human practice. Human beings, endowed with rational powers, are capable of

reflecting in the process of knowing. For an instance, they do not only know the problem of

political corruption as it is but they know the process through which knowing political corruption

takes place.

Continuing the Oppression: The Banking Concept of Education

In Freire’s context, the relationship of the teacher and the student can be likened to the

oppressor –oppressed dichotomy. In this relationship, the teacher is the narrating subject and the

student is the listening object. The teacher simply gives all the inputs of knowledge while the

students receive them as if they were empty bottles to be filled with water. Education is suffering

from narration sickness.6 This sickness is what Freire coined as “the banking concept of

education”. Here, education becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the

depositories and the teacher is the depositor.7

The A-J of Banking Education

In the banking concept of education, knowledge is bestowed by those who consider

themselves knowledgeable upon those whom they consider to know nothing.8 The teacher claims

4
Ibid.
5
Ibid.
6
Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 30th Anniversary Edition. trans. by Myra Bergman Ramos (New
York: Continuum International Publishing Group Inc., 2005), 71.
7
Ibid., p. 72.
8
Ibid.
to have the monopoly of knowledge. This assertion is very oppressive since it believes that students

know nothing at all. The banking concept of education mirrors oppression in what is called the

“A-J of Banking Education”:

(a) the teacher teaches and the students are taught;

(b) the teacher knows everything and the students know nothing;
(c) the teacher thinks and the students are taught about;
(d) the teacher talks and the students listen – meekly;
(e) the teacher disciplines and the students are disciplined;
(f) the teacher chooses and enforces his choice, and the students comply;
(g) the teacher acts and the students have the illusion of acting through the action
of the teacher;
(h) the teacher chooses the program content, and the students (who were not
consulted) adapt to it;
(i) the teacher confuses the authority of knowledge with his or her own
professional authority, which she and he sets in opposition to the freedom of
the students;
(j) the teacher is the subject of the learning process, while the pupils are mere
objects.9

In the “A-J of Banking Education”, Freire presented a simple dialectic of contradiction

between the respective attributes of the teachers and student under the banking system. 10 Going

on, the banking concept of education regards men as adaptable, manageable beings.11 This is an

implication that there is an effort to turn men into auto-machines. The student is less trained in

critical consciousness so that he remains manipulated. He remains in oppression. In fact, this

situation is what the oppressors want. Their dominating power as expressed in the banking concept

of education would stimulate the credulity of students with the ideological intent of indoctrinating

them to adapt to the world of oppression. The oppressors would ever love to control the

consciousness of the oppressed. Indeed, the interest of the oppressors lie in changing the

9
Ibid., 73.
10
Jones Irwin, Paulo Freire’s Philosophy of Education: Origins, Developments, Impacts and Legacies (New
York: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2012), 52.
11
Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 73.
consciousness of the oppressed, not the situation which oppresses them.12 The banking education

is the best way to achieve what the oppressors wish to.

Nevertheless, the banking concept has always its tendency to dichotomize everything. The

students are not called upon to know but to memorize the contents narrated by the teacher. 13 It

undermines the power of the student for critical reflection and creativity. Moreover, the banking

concept is the assumption of a dichotomy between human beings and the world: a person is merely

in the world, not with the world or with others; the individual is spectator, not recreator. 14 The

individual has an empty mind ready to receive deposits of knowledge.

Maintaining the Status Quo

The very purpose of banking education is to pass on traditional knowledge, information,

values, and approaches to learning, and to prepare students for their prescribed place in the

society.15 Thus the banking concept of education has the following characteristics:

 teacher-centered curricula
 discontextualized study of information
 facts learned in isolation
 mainstream, canonical texts
 asking the students to accept knowledge and perspectives of the teacher and the
textbooks as given irrefutable
 an emphasis on memorization and regurgitation
 pedagogical approaches which include lecture, recitation, multiple choice tests
 concern for getting the “right” answer
 maintenance of the status quo.16

12
Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 74.
13
Ibid., 80.
14
Ibid., 75.
15
Paulo Freire, Education as the Practice for Freedom, trans. by Myra Bergman Ramos (New York: Seabury
Press, 1973), 57.
16
Ibid.
Breaking Away from Oppression: The Problem-Posing Education

As an antidote to the malignant ways of banking education, Freire proposed the “Problem-

Posing Model of Education”. The basic problem with banking education is that it maintains a

contradiction on the teacher-student relationship. On the other hand, the problem-posing education

drives to reconcile the two. The teacher and student will learn, think, reflect, and transform the

world together.

A Drive for Humanization

The primary purpose of Freirean model of problem-posing education is humanization.

Human beings are always in a state of becoming more fully human.17 The calling to be more fully

human is an expression of human nature making itself in history.

To humanize is to liberate the individual from oppression. The solution to the problem of

oppression is not to integrate the oppressed into the structure of oppression, but to transform that

structure so that they can become “being for themselves.18

Key Elements in Problem-Posing Education

Humans pursue their vocation of becoming more fully human when they engage in

authentic praxis, through dialogue with others, in a critically conscious way. 19 Freire’s problem-

posing education connotes a process of humanization. It proposes a reclaiming of the true sense of

being human.

1) Praxis

Humans are different from other forms of beings not only because of physical attributes

and mental processes but also with their distinct capacity to engage in praxis. Freire defined praxis

17
Cf. Roberts, Education, Literacy, and Humanization, 41.
18
Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, p. 74.
19
Roberts, Education, Literacy, and Humanization p. 41.
as “reflection and action upon the world in order to transform it”.20 Human beings are capable of

consciously and reflectively transforming the world. Only human beings are capable of engaging

in a purposeful activity where their actions are directed on interaction on and with the world.

For human activity to be praxical, there must be a synthesis of reflection and action. 21 A

reflection without a corresponding action is sheer verbal construct. However, it is not presupposed

that every reflection should always be followed by action. Freire himself argues that critical

reflection is also a form of action.22 Nevertheless, not all praxical activities are humanizing. There

praxes that are directed towards humanization such as revolutionary praxis. On the other hand,

there is praxis of domination. In a revolutionary praxis, a humanizing one, a crucial element is

needed. That is, dialogue.

2) Dialogue

To exist humanly, is to name the world, to change it.23 Human beings are not born to be

silent. They are constantly called to transform the world. Every human being has this calling. Every

human being has the right to transform the world because he is built in word, in work, in action-

reflection.24 However, no single human being can transform the world by his own. He needs other

people to do so. Thus, dialogue is required.

Dialogue is the encounter between men, mediated by the world, in order to name the

world.25 Dialogue cannot exist without an agreement of two parties to name the world – between

those who deprive others their right to speak and those who are deprived. To initiate a dialogue

20
Ibid., 42.
21
Ibid.
22
Cf. Ibid., 43.
23
Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 88.
24
Cf. Ibid.
25
Ibid.
would require an equal right to speak. Through dialogue, people are able to name the world,

transform it, and achieve significance as humans. Thus, dialogue becomes an existential necessity.

The existence of dialogue requires four important foundations: love, humility, faith, and

hope. First, love is at the same time the foundation of dialogue and dialogue itself.26 To love is to

commit oneself to others. This commitment, because it is loving, is dialogical. 27 Secondly,

humility would mean accepting that no one is self-sufficient. To be in a dialogue is to admit that

there are no people who holds the monopoly of knowledge but rather there are only people who

are attempting together, to learn more than they now know.28 Thirdly, in a dialogue, there must be

an intense faith in humankind, faith in their power to make, and remake, to create and recreate,

faith in their vocation to be more fully human.29 This faith is a priori in every dialogue. Lastly,

dialogue cannot exist without hope. Hope is rooted in men’s incompletion, from which they move

out in constant search – a search which can be carried out only in communion with others.30

Dialogue in Freire’s thought would lead to another key element which he called

“conscientizacao” or conscientization.

3) Conscientization

The literal meaning of the word “conscientization” is ‘to make aware’ or “awakening of

consciousness” or “critical consciousness”. It is a critical phase, where reality becomes a knowable

object, where person takes an epistemological stance and tries to know. Elaborating further:

The critically transitive consciousness is characterized by depth in

the interpretation of problems; by the substitution of causal
principles for magical explanations; by testing of one’s “findings”
and by openness to revision; by the attempt to avoid distortion when
perceiving problems to avoid preconceived notions when analyzing

26
Ibid., 89.
27
Ibid.
28
Cf. Ibid., 90.
29
Cf. Ibid.
30
Ibid.
 them; by refusing to transfer responsibility; by rejecting passive
positions; by soundness of argumentation; by the practice of
dialogue rather than polemics; by receptivity to the new for reasons
beyond mere novelty and by the good sense not to reject the old just
because it is old – by accepting what is valid in both old and new.31

According to Freire, the more a person conscientizes himself the more he unveils reality.

Critical thinking is important in every dialogue. This critical thinking is capable of discerning an

indivisible solidarity between the world and the people.32 This thinking would lead one to perceive

reality as taking the process of transformation. This thinking is always coincided with action.

Critical consciousness represents “things and facts as they exist empirically, in their causal

and circumstantial correlations”.33 It is integrated with reality. And, only dialogue, which requires

critical thinking, is also capable of generating critical thinking.34 Only in problem-posing

education which exercises dialogue can a student practice critical thinking skills to investigate

problems that exist in the world.

Challenging the Status Quo

The problem-posing model of education proposes that the teacher and the student should

work together in creating variety of contexts. Then, they will have to be in a dialogical relationship

in order that they may generate and address critical questions together. The model works best in

learning environment which offers students a range of activities, sources for study, and

opportunities for interaction.35 The model is characterized by:

 student-centered curricula
 contextualized study of perspective
 facts, beliefs, and questions connected
 diverse, multifarious texts

31
Paulo Freire, Education for Critical Consciousness, Reprint Edition (New York: Continuum International
Publishing Group Inc., 2005), 14.
32
Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 92.
33
Freire, Education for Critical Consciousness, 39.
34
Ibid.
35
Freire, Education as the Practice for Freedom, 96.
  asking students to reflect critically on who has access to what kinds
of knowledge, why, and how
 an emphasis on exploration and application
 pedagogical approaches which include discussion, group work,
alternative assessment
 multiple answers, multiple ways to get them
 challenging the status quo.36

In a Nutshell

First, Freire’s theory of education emphasizes “human growth” in a society. Human growth

is different from other creatures. Growing for man is more than the growing of trees or animals

that, unlike them, cannot take their own growth as a subject of their preoccupation.37 Human

growth is always seen in relation with the society. As the society provides education for every

individual, it is then the role of the society to direct the individual to humanization.

Second, Freire’s model sets the goal to create critical awareness among students so that

they become active members of the society. When the students are able to see themselves having

the equal right to transform the world with other people, they become more human. To become

more human means to actively participate in the universal vocation to name the world.

Third, Freire’s theory suggests that knowledge is gained or constructed through dialogue.

As Freire puts it, “to know, which is always a process, implies a dialogical situation”.38 No human

being deserves to acclaim: “I am the sole treasury of knowledge”. There is no such thing as “I

think” but “we think”. It is “we think” that makes it possible for one to think.39

Fourth, Freire asserts that learning is not simply a process of passing on the knowledge that

is gained from the earlier generations. For him, learning takes place more effectively when the

student receives the knowledge and criticize it through understanding, discussion, and reflection.

36
Ibid.
37
Ibid., 45.
38
Ibid., 34.
39
Ibid.
 Fifth, Freire argues that teaching is a democratic process. The teacher is a subject who,

with other subjects (the students), has the drive to know more, to learn more. Since knowledge is

shared and constructed together, the teacher must learn from and with the students. The teacher is

an “inductive presence” in a group of inquirers who leads to the synthesis: educator-educatee and

educatee-educator.40

Lastly, Freire advocates for a liberating, democratic, and social justice-based pedagogy.

This is the reason why he suggests that the society should give emphasis on the education of the

less privileged people. There is an equal right to education. There is an equal right to exercise

critical awareness. There is an equal right to transform the world. There is an equal right to be free.

40
Paulo Freire, Cultural Action for Freedom (Cambridge: Bergin and Garvey Publisher, 1985), 34.
Conclusion

Critical pedagogy as presented in Freire’s philosophy is noble for the reason that it drives

for humanization. By capacitating students to be critically conscious of social phenomena, they

would be able to see that things like inequality and discrimination are not necessary. They will

realize that these phenomena come as results of man-made social processes, hence, can be altered

and totally eradicated. Upon becoming aware of such reality, they will be able to affirm their being

as subjects and so they will no longer feel like manipulable objects. Hence, there is the affirmation

of their humanity.

Critical pedagogy makes us realize that education should not only aim to cultivate the

intellect but to promote as well emancipatory change. It must be able not only to produce

competent citizens but more importantly transformative leaders whose actions are contained in a

praxis towards social change. These transformational leaders should be capable of engaging in the

cycle of reflection, theory, practice, and evaluation.

Finally, critical pedagogy makes us aware of the truth that education always is inherently

political. Thus, education should be geared towards the realization of the ideals of social justice

and equality. In social justice and equality, every citizen in the community will realize that social

problems are to be solved together and transforming the world would only be possible through

dialogue and communion. With this, education will be able to become truly an instrument of

emancipation or liberation from oppression and human suffering. It is through this that nation is

able to actualize its vision and aspiration for progress and development.
References

Freire, Paulo. Cultural Action for Freedom. Cambridge: Bergin and Garvey Publisher, 1985.

___________. Education as the Practice for Freedom, trans. by Myra Bergman Ramos. New
York: Seabury Press, 1973.

___________. Education for Critical Consciousness, Reprint Edition. New York: Continuum
International Publishing Group Inc., 2005.

___________. Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 30th Anniversary Edition. trans. by Myra Bergman
Ramos. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group Inc., 2005.

Irwin, Jones. Paulo Freire’s Philosophy of Education: Origins, Developments, Impacts and
Legacies. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2012.

Roberts, Peter. Education, Literacy, and Humanization: Exploring the Work of Paulo Freire
(Westport: Bergin and Garvey, 2000

Smith, Mark K. “Paulo Freire: Dialogue, Praxis and Education” by Mark K. Smith found on the
webpage: http://infed.org/mobi/paulo-freire-dialogue-praxis-and-education/ (accessed on
June 25, 2019).