Educational Implication of Paulo Freire’s Philosophy
Generative themes are used in third world countries and among teachers of minority groups and adult illiterates of richer nations. Used in needs analysis, planning of program content and curriculum development. As it relates the reality held by men and the perception about the reality held by educationist, policy makers and men.
He advocates building a newer model of relationship between the teacher, student and society. He proposed that the learner in a teacher-student relationship should be treated as a co-creator of knowledge and not as a passive recipient of knowledge.
It is the role of the educator to foster a process of dialogue and liberation that would enable citizens to reach critical consciousness.
According to Freire teachers should be beyond criticism so as to be good role models to their students. Teaching is a very noble profession and those who go into it must be ready to lead by example, thus calling for continued personal reflection to remain worthy of the profession.
Learners should be allowed to participate and also bring out what has been learned from their surroundings and earlier experiences. It is not the job of the teacher to provide answers to the problems, but to help the learners achieve a form of critical thinking about the situation.
The learning circle is a non-hierarchal ‘class’ model where participants can discuss generative themes which have significance within the context of their lives. learning based on group dialogue is liberating for everyone involved in the process
Man is not allowed to understand and transform the reality that encircles him when education is simply a method used to adapt him to this reality. Freire is of the opinion that “dialogicity‟ should be established between teacher and student, since man does not create himself in silence, but through words, actions and reflection.
The problem posing education considers the teacher not as a person that transfers knowledge, but as a person that perceives together with the students. In this process, the students carry out critical research together with the teacher rather than being amenable listeners (Freire, 2011). With the problem posing education, people start perceiving the world not as a stable reality but as a reality in the process of transformation
While explaining any concept real life examples from learner’s environment should be incorporated in teaching learning process. E.g. While introducing the concept of integers in mathematics class example of lift of a building (Ground floor is denoted by zero, below ground floor denoted by negative integers etc) will not be appropriate if learners have not seen lift before.
In regard to learning, literacy and praxis he says: “If learning to read and write is to constitute an act of knowing the learners must assume from the beginning the role of creative subjects. It is not a matter of memorizing and repeating given syllables, words and phrases but rather, reflecting critically on the process of reading and writing itself and on the profound significance of language” (Freire, 1988).
Influence of Freire’s view may be observed on NCF 2005, wherein it is mentioned that teaching is no more an activity of planning a lesson or presenting ready-made knowledge for achieving outcomes that can be measured objectively. Now it has been seen as a process of making children “think and try out what they are learning”. A teacher has to shift away from his/her traditional stance of “informing” to that of “eliciting” and “guiding”. A teacher’s role is one of facilitating construction of knowledge and engaging children by raising the right kind of questions and organizing well-chosen activities and tasks. “Active engagement involves enquiry, exploration, questioning, debates, application and reflection leading to theory building and creation of ideas/positions. Schools must provide opportunities to question, enquire debate, reflect, and arrive at concepts or create new ideas.”