PAULO FREIRE’S

PEDAGOGY
of the
OPPRESSED
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Paulo Freire
• (1921 - 1997), the Brazilian
educationalist, has left a significant
mark on thinking about progressive
practice. His Pedagogy of the
Oppressed is currently one of the
most quoted educational texts
(especially in Latin America, Africa
and Asia). 
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Freire’s perception of th
e world
 • Dehumanizing and humanizing
forces
• Violence
• Struggle of the oppressed
• Historical vocation of the oppressed
to be part of humanized condition
• Liberation
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Paulo Freire's Pedagogy
of the Oppressed 
• a combination of
philosophical, political,
and educational theory. 

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Pedagogy
•Perception is not enough.
•Dialectical process of action and reflection
is required.
•Developing a new consciousness for both
oppressor and oppressed having a solidarity.
•Concrete situation should be objectively
verifiable needing solution, as opposed to
subjectivism.
•Critical and realistic thinking

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Humanist and liberating pedag
ogy has two stages
• First, the oppressed unveil the
world of oppression and through
the praxis commit themselves to
transformation.
• In the second stage, this stage
ceases to belong to the oppressed
but taken up by all men and women
for permanent liberation.
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Three levels of con
sciousness
• Naïve consciousness
• Critical consciousness
• Transformational
consciousness

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Human condition 
• Oppressed and oppressor

• Dehumanized condition

• Culture of silence
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 Banking system of education
• The teacher teaches and the students are taught;
• the teacher knows everything and the students know nothing;
• the teacher thinks and the students are thought about; the teacher talks and the
students listen -- meekly;
• the teacher disciplines and the students are disciplined;
• the teacher chooses and enforces his choice, and the students comply;
• the teacher acts and the students have the illusion of acting through the action
of the teacher;
• the teacher chooses the program content, and the students (who were not
consulted) adapt to it;
• 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;
• the teacher is the Subject of the learning process, while the pupils are mere
objects.

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Two types of education 
Banking education Problem posing
education
• Myths • Non-myth
• Resistance for dialogue • Promoting dialogue
• Treating students as • Students are critical
objects of teaching thinkers
• Domestication of the • Ontological vocation to
students become human
• Immobilizing and fixating • Historical and liberating

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 Dialogue 
• Dialogue of words
• Dialogue of works (action)
• Dialogue of disposition : profound love for the world,
humility, intense faith in humanity, mutual trust,
sense of hope, discerning and critical thinking,
• Equal balance to dialectic of reflection – action-
reflection
• Dialogue is an existential necessity: creative beings
and Banking system of education denies dialogue

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Dialogue of what 

• Each era or period is

characterized by a complex of
ideas, concepts, hopes, doubts,
values, and challenges in
dialectical interaction with their
opposites, striving towards
fulfillment.
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Cultural action for transformation 
• Revolution: action of revolution will come about
with a good theory. Leadership

Cultural action for transformation 

• Conquest, Divide & rule, Manipulation, Cultural

invasion, Cooperation, Unity for liberation, and
Cultural synthesis

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 Contribution : dialogue 
Five aspects of Paulo Freire's work
• First, his emphasis on dialogue has struck a very strong chord with those
concerned with popular and informal education. Given that informal education is a
dialogical (or conversational) rather than a curricula form this is hardly surprising.
• Second, (Praxis) Paulo Freire was concerned with praxis- action that is informed
(and linked to certain values).
• Third, (Conscientization) Freire's attention to naming the world has been of great
significance to those educators who have traditionally worked with those who do
not have a voice, and who are oppressed.
• Fourth, (Experience) Paulo Freire's insistence on situating educational activity in
the lives of participants has opened up a series of possibilities for the way informal
educators can approach practice.
• (Transcendence) The divide between teachers and learners can be transcended.
In this part, this occur as learners develop their consciousness, but mainly it
comes through the 'class suicide' or ‘transcendence experience' of the teacher.

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“Leaders who do not act dialogically,
but insist on imposing their
decisions, do not organize the
people--they manipulate them. They
do not liberate, nor are they liberated:
they oppress.”
― Paulo Freire, 
Pedagogy of the Oppressed

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• Freire's pedagogical model aims to
liberate human beings, enabling us to
help build a world in which it is easier to
work together and care for one another.
• Using Freire's methods, educators and
participants (students) teach each other
through respectful dialogue. All
viewpoints are respected equally, and
everyone learns at the same pace.

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• Pedagogy of the Oppressed is Freire's
attempt to help the oppressed fight
back to regain their lost humanity
and achieve full humanization. Freire
outlines steps with which the
oppressed can regain their humanity,
starting with acquiring knowledge
about the concept of humanization
itself.
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 PREPARED BY:

JENCRISTY B. DE
MESA
MEM-A
Student
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