The work of Brazilian educationalist Paolo Freire has resounded for decades; his "popular education" approach seeks to liberate the oppressed, to open dialogue between the teacher (or facilitator) and students, to create a space for questioning and empowerment, and to eradicate formalized structures which seek to "bank" knowledge from the teacher to the students. Freire saw formalized education as further regimenting the oppressor-oppressed structures of society, as disparaging creativity and critical thinking. Freire talked of "education as the practice of freedom."
A "Simple Solution" to Refugee Education
Thus, there are many practical ramifications and implications for popular education, for educationalists in the formalized arena, as well as NGO's seeking community dialogue and a participative approach. One interesting area of application is in the immediate response to refugee crises (a topic that I have recently written about for coursework here at The LSE), as popular education can, in my theoretical argument, most effectively fill the gap between crisis and formalization of educational services in these complex emergency situations, playing a vital role in psychological protection and empowerment, simplification of teacher training, and in providing educational services that are not highly administratively and financially dependent.
However, practical deployment in mainstream pedagogy is neither widespread nor appreciated by many educators, especially in the developing world, in which formalized educational structures are one of the lasting colonial legacies. Popular education requires training and empowerment of teachers, which, in many cases, is beyond the writ of limited administrative structures.
A "Simple Solution" To Progressive Teacher Training:
Despite these limitations, I will argue that the popular education approach has been mimicked by progressive educationalists throughout the world (acknowledged or not), and is a critical component of engaging critical thinking and progressive, project-based evaluations of students. And, the lessons and components are not administratively difficult nor difficult to train teachers to implement. Foremost, the approach aligns with individual teacher incentives. Limited additional training provides teachers with a tool that can take the burden off of their "chalk and talk" burden for class periods, provide autonomy and self-learning for students, and not be resource-dependent (the key failing of educational technology initiatives that mimic the popular education approach, though with technology as the medium/go between).
Thus, popular education approaches need to be integrated into school curriculum in LDC's, as a compliment to the formalized structure that has burdened these systems, overwhelmed teachers, and led to extremely limited educational outcomes for many primary and secondary school students. New strategies do not need to be complicated; complication breeds failure in resource starved environments where individual incentives of teachers and administrators are not aligned with educational outputs. Tools need to be simple, effective, non-threatening to authority, and ease the burden on teachers.
Thus, there are many practical ramifications and implications for popular education, for educationalists in the formalized arena, as well as NGO's seeking community dialogue and a participative approach. One interesting area of application is in the immediate response to refugee crises (a topic that I have recently written about for coursework here at The LSE), as popular education can, in my theoretical argument, most effectively fill the gap between crisis and formalization of educational services in these complex emergency situations, playing a vital role in psychological protection and empowerment, simplification of teacher training, and in providing educational services that are not highly administratively and financially dependent.
However, practical deployment in mainstream pedagogy is neither widespread nor appreciated by many educators, especially in the developing world, in which formalized educational structures are one of the lasting colonial legacies. Popular education requires training and empowerment of teachers, which, in many cases, is beyond the writ of limited administrative structures.
A "Simple Solution" To Progressive Teacher Training:
Despite these limitations, I will argue that the popular education approach has been mimicked by progressive educationalists throughout the world (acknowledged or not), and is a critical component of engaging critical thinking and progressive, project-based evaluations of students. And, the lessons and components are not administratively difficult nor difficult to train teachers to implement. Foremost, the approach aligns with individual teacher incentives. Limited additional training provides teachers with a tool that can take the burden off of their "chalk and talk" burden for class periods, provide autonomy and self-learning for students, and not be resource-dependent (the key failing of educational technology initiatives that mimic the popular education approach, though with technology as the medium/go between).
Thus, popular education approaches need to be integrated into school curriculum in LDC's, as a compliment to the formalized structure that has burdened these systems, overwhelmed teachers, and led to extremely limited educational outcomes for many primary and secondary school students. New strategies do not need to be complicated; complication breeds failure in resource starved environments where individual incentives of teachers and administrators are not aligned with educational outputs. Tools need to be simple, effective, non-threatening to authority, and ease the burden on teachers.
