Activity: Freire
Now that you understand Freire’s work, create a new blog in your online portfolio and discuss the following:
Q. In your career as a scholar through school and university, can you identify teachers in your life who taught in a way that was oppositional to Freire’s work?
Yes, unfortunately, I must say the vast majority of my experience as a student involved teachers who taught in opposition to Freire’s work, from my childhood right through to completing high school, was a negative experience. It was not until I was diagnosed with Dyslexia in the first year of my bachelor studies (when I was forty) that I understood why so much of my educational experience had been so bad. The lack of investigation and understanding of my learning difficulties growing up from both teachers and my family resulted in the assumption that I was simply unintelligent and that the saving grace was that I was creative and a hard worker. Growing up in the 80s and 90s, my education was full of rote-style learning which just did not work for me as a visual learner, no one wanted to investigate why I experienced learning difficulties, so I was left in the too-hard basket. Living in a regional remote town I feel also definitely impacted my ability to access a quality education that engaged me in a way that would develop my critical consciousness. I do feel however my negative experiences of being misunderstood as a student and feeling constant shame for not understanding what was being taught, pushed me to be resilient, adapt and develop my own learning strategies and ultimately teach myself. No one knew how to help me, so I had to work out how to help myself which in a way relates to Freire’s theory around critical consciousness (onlydogontheleft, 2020) as I had to become my own saviour and advocate, I knew instinctually that I wasn’t dumb and I needed to fight hard to prove it.
Q. Are their teachers who aligned themselves with Freire’s methods?
Yes, thankfully when I finished high school and moved to Brisbane I had the opportunity to study fashion design at college and this is where I finally engaged with learning in a transformative way as it was visual and practical so I was learning through action which aligned with Freire’s work. Studying fashion design taught me to critically understand and practice the elements and principles of design, push boundaries and question the status quo which was a liberating experience. When I was in my late twenties, I had the privilege of learning the millinery trade from master milliner Waltraud Reiner who was an outstanding teacher and definitely integrated Freire’s work into her teaching style. Waltraud would explain the theory through creative practice in action (praxis), push the boundaries and encourage experimentation so I felt equipped to challenge designs that were the status quo.
Q. Which did you find beneficial or meaningful? What are the pros and cons of each?
I wish I encountered more teachers who aligned with Freire’s work as I feel that I connect and engage more with teachings through this approach, thankfully I still have many more courses to study where I will hopefully experience this. While I understand the idea behind teaching styles that aim to simply deposit information into students’ heads so they can become productive citizens and contribute to society if they cannot make meaningful connections to those learnings through actions then how does it benefit the student and can they really retain it? Rote-style learning aims to ultimately benefit the economy with productive workers and doesn’t consider so much about the individual’s experience throughout that process as they are expected to just fall in line as members of society (onlydogontheleft, 2020). Freire’s work regarding critical consciousness instead aims towards empowering individuals to question the societal status quo and if it works for them or if they should push to change it.
References
onlydogontheleft. (2020, 30 September 2020). Pedagogy of the Oppressed – Paulo Freire | Intro to Critical Pedagogy. only dog on the left. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcEKvBTyMCU&t=403s
