On pedagogy of the oppressed: An appraisal of Paulo Freire’s philosophy of education

Abstract

Education is critical to human development. Scholars have always been concerned with the appropriate method or pedagogy to adopt for education. Usually two parties are involved in any learning process- the teacher and the learner(s). The contention on pedagogy has always been whether learning ought to be teacher centered or student centered. While the proponents of traditional pedagogue in education emphasize the experience of the teacher; most modern and contemporary scholars like John Dewey and Paulo Freire emphasize the experience of the learner. Paulo Freire rejected the traditional education system tagging it a banking system because it tends to impose the experience of the teacher on the learner; undermining the experience and personal total development of the learner. He proposed a critical pedagogue as an ideal; a pedagogue that is problem-posing with emphasis laid on the experience of the learner. This article studies Paulo Freire’s critical pedagogue using the analytic method. It finds that Paulo Freire’s pedagogue is emancipatory because it promotes freedom of thought, encourages innovation and is capable of molding people into active citizens with the ability to hold their leaders responsible for bad governance. In this sense, the pedagogue can be handy for political participation and nation building. The article also finds that the pedagogue can lead to anarchy in the learning environment with its seeming overemphasis on the freedom of thought of the learners; it can give learners undue control or influence over their teachers.

Keywords: Education, Pedagogy, Experience.