Paulo Freire and his philosophy of education

By Narayan Giri

“Education does not change the world. Education changes people. People change the world. – Paulo Freire

A Brief Biography of Paulo Freire

Paulo Freire was a Brazilian philosopher. He believed in the transformative power of education. He abolished the traditionalist system of education and developed a socialist, democratic and participatory approach. According to him, education will empower learners to engage seriously with the world around them. He made it clear that education is not merely a means of imparting knowledge by one person to another, rather education is a process of individual and social change. What he made clear was that education should enable learners to reflect critically on their experiences and the social structures that shape them, and to actively work towards creating a more just and equitable society.

Paulo Freire was born on 19 September 1921 in Pernambuco, a small town in north-eastern Brazil. His full name is Paulo Reglas Neves Freire. He grew up in poverty and deprivation. The entire philosophy of poverty is seen in his philosophy of education. His early education took place at a school in Recife, but after the financial crisis of 1929, he was unable to attend school regularly. As a result, he fell behind in school. Freire noticed that among his school friends at that time, some were distressed about not having enough to eat and some had enough to eat, wear and drink. At that time a doubt arose in his mind as to why God would make some poor and others rich. What he later concluded was that the existence of the poor and the rich was not God-given but due to social class differences. However, he was still unable to find out what the real reason was. Even in his childhood he was able to understand the different forms of feudal, capitalist, imperialist, racist and capitalistic oppression. Therefore, at the age of eleven, he took a vow to find out the reasons for the lack of food in the world and to find ways to reduce it as much as possible. His childhood experiences inspired him to sympathize with the poor and less fortunate and deeply inspired him to improve their lives.

In 1931, the Freire family moved to Zavatao. His father died in 1933. After that, his life became more difficult. He understood the interrelationship of social class and knowledge from the social status of his time. In 1943, he enrolled in law school at the University of Recife. He also studied philosophy and language psychology here. Despite his difficult circumstances, he entered university and earned a law degree. Although he studied law, he practiced law only one day in his life. He initially taught Portuguese at the secondary level. In 1944 Freire married Ilza Maia. She was a teacher. They had five children. In 1946, Frere worked in the Department of Education and Culture under the Department of Social Services. It was during this time that he made an in-depth study of how people deprived of education are deprived of rights. In 1959, he received his doctorate from the University of Recife and was appointed professor of history of education and philosophy of education at the same university. He then started various literacy programs. Freire’s thinking deeply influenced the revolutionary mass movements of Latin America.

After 1950, mass movements intensified in Brazil. In 1961, he became director of the Department of Cultural Extension at the University of Recife. Freire then traveled to different parts of his country through a national literacy campaign. In 1962, he joined an educational project to eradicate mass illiteracy. He took a close look at and examined various forms of harassment at work and analyzed it. He deeply felt, understood and analyzed the exploitation with this campaign. Considering the people and the ruling class in education, he came to the conclusion that education is also politics and just as politics is class, education is also class. Freire wrote extensively on various aspects of education. In 1964, Brazil was taken over by a group of soldiers. Therefore, Freire’s program of mass awakening could not go ahead. He was arrested and imprisoned. After 75 days in jail, he was deported. After this, Freire’s life became very difficult. He spent almost fifteen years of his life in exile. He went into exile first to Bolivia and later to Chile. There he worked for the Christian Democratic Agrarian Reform Movement and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. He also lived in the United States for some time.

In 1968, Freire’s world-famous book ‘Pedagogy of the Oppressed’ was first published in Portuguese. In 1969, Frere served as a visiting professor at Howard University. Then in 1970 his book ‘Pedagogy of Oppressed’ was also published in English and Spanish. During his exile, he did important work related to education in various Latin American countries, African countries and other countries. During this time, he worked as an academic advisor to the Department of Education in Geneva. He then advised the Portuguese colonies in Africa on educational reforms.

After the end of the military regime in 1979, he returned to Brazil after receiving an amnesty. He visited many places in the world and helped organize literacy programs everywhere. Freire later served as Secretary of Education in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. He was appointed to this position by the Marxist mayor of the city. From 1980 to 1986, he worked as a theoretician of the Education Project in São Paulo. As soon as he returned to Brazil, he built Workers Party with his direct involvement. In 1988, he worked as the Education Secretary after his party won the city elections. He was closely associated with the literacy campaign in his country. Freire’s contribution to public education was significant. After his wife died in 1986, Freire remarried Maria Araujo. Educator and philosopher Paulo Freire died of a heart attack on May 2, 1997 in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. He was awarded the King Baluddin Award for International Development by Belgium in 1980. He was also awarded the 1986 Education for Peace Award by UNESCO. He was awarded the ‘Andres Bello Inter-American’ Award for Education by the Organization of American States (OAS) in 1992.

Paulo Freire’s major books include – ‘Pedagogy of the Oppressed’ (1970), ‘Cultural Action and Freedom’ (1970), ‘Education for Critical Consciousness’ (1973), ‘Education: The Practice and Freedom’ (1976), ‘The Politicus of Education’ (1985), ‘Pedagogy of Hope’ (1994) are the main ones. He has also co-authored several books. With Shore he wrote ‘Pedagogy for Liberation’ (1987), with Antonio Fondez ‘Learning to Question: A Pedagogy of Liberation’ (1989) and with Myles Horton ‘We Make the Road We Walk: Conversations in Education and Social Change’ (1990). , etc. are But among all these his world famous book is Pedagogy of the Oppressed. It has greatly influenced the people of the world not only in the field of education, but also in philosophy, science, economics, sociology, politics, literature, research and criticism, etc.

Paulo Freire’s Philosophy of Education

In Freire’s philosophy of education, it is clear that education is the response of the individual to the environment for the fulfillment of needs. Education is the factor of personal development. Industrial education and personality development are mutually dependent. From childhood we need personality development. To fulfill this need we receive education. After receiving education, our personality develops. Need determines the nature of our education. As the education is, the personality is developed accordingly. In the same way, our needs are formed according to personality development.

Freire admits to a complete change in curriculum. He was initially influenced by religious books but later became more influenced by Karl Marx and his ideas. However, he viewed Marx’s theories with a critical eye. Influenced by Marx, he advised all students to understand social contradictions according to Marx. Paulo Freire wanted to make the ideas of thinkers like Erich, Sarch, Mao, Fromm, Martin Luther King a part of the curriculum. He was greatly influenced by Franz Fennel’s book ‘The Wretched of the Earth’. According to him, since students fail in subjects like mathematics, history and geography, these subjects should be taught in a simple way.

Freire insisted on restructuring the curriculum. According to him, philosophers, art teachers, physical scientists, sociologists are needed for this. Their help is effective in making the syllabus comprehensive and useful. Restructuring of the curriculum should be done in a proper manner by having extensive discussions in various branches of knowledge like education, art, ethics, human rights, sports, social class, language, philosophical ideology, etc. Minority values should also be included in the curriculum. According to Frere, curriculum should not be inert, insensitive and useless. It should be completely useful. Often the curriculum seems to be designed with the benefit of its creators in mind. But the curriculum should always be designed with the learners in mind.

According to Freire, a curriculum that is suitable for the common class may not be useful for the dominant or wealthy class. The ideas of socialism and communism should be given a prominent place in the curriculum. The real nature of democracy should be included in the curriculum. But the current distorted form of democracy should not be included in the curriculum. The real nature of democratic spirit should be made compulsory in the curriculum. When the curriculum is democratic, learners can play an active role in shaping their own learning. A democratic curriculum is therefore important for developing organization, participation and social change. The curriculum should focus on social and economic justice. It should cover the ground reality.

Education should be relevant and meaningful to learners’ lives. For this, the curriculum should be based on the experiences of the learners and should be planned and constructed in such a way as to develop critical reflection and social change. Curriculum should be planned with students to address the social, cultural and economic context. The curriculum should enable learners to critically reflect on their experiences and engage meaningfully with the world around them. Curriculum should be problem-based, where learners are encouraged to identify and solve real-world problems. Problem-based learning is an effective way to develop critical thinking, collaboration and active organization.

According to Freire, teaching methods should be planned in a way that empowers learners and develops critical thinking and social change. Traditional, lecture-based instruction is an ineffective and stifling method for meaningful learning. Freire considered the most important teaching method to be the dialogue method. According to this method, education should be communication between teachers and students instead of one-way dissemination of information. In a dialogic approach, teachers and students engage in a collaborative process of co-construction, where they jointly construct knowledge and meaning. Dialogue methodology is designed to develop critical thinking, collaboration and proactive organization building.

According to Freire, teaching learning should be emotionally engaging. In an effective learning environment, learners can connect with their own feelings and encourage others to develop a sense of empathy. An effective learning environment must be created to develop compassionate cooperation and social change.

Freire was the antithesis of domineering and exploitative. According to him, literacy only makes sense when illiterate people start thinking about their situation, their work and their ability to make a difference in the world. This is consciousness. They must know that the world belongs to us, not to the exploiters and the ruling classes. That is true literacy.

According to Frere, it is well known that the knowledge of the means to satisfy needs comes from society itself. Apart from this, the form of the instrument is also determined by the society itself. For example, we get the knowledge of clothing to cover the body from the society itself. Apart from this, the form of clothes is also determined by the society itself. As in rural society girls start wearing sarees from a young age and in urban society girls wear skirts, jeans pant, etc. for a long time. Every work in society is done from a certain level.

Different types of people with different levels of competence are needed for different functions in society. As in a building plan, one person draws the map, the other executes it. The completion of this plan requires various types of work such as wall building, roofing, wiring, plumbing, painting, etc. A person who is capable of doing one type of work cannot do another type of work with reasonable efficiency. Therefore, not only the construction of buildings, but also the skillful craftsman is more necessary in any project. The level of mental competence of artisans is normal. Because they need more skill than thinking to do their job well. Industrial training institutes have been established with the aim of preparing technicians by imparting training in various trades to persons with such general qualifications. Technical education institutes have developed a lot due to increasing industrialization and will develop more in the future.

According to Freire, hunger and other daily and physical needs must be fulfilled by everyone. Therefore, we should try to make people literate and educated so that they can fulfill their needs well. Education should fulfill the daily needs as well as build a good personality. Humans act out of necessity. All human actions are purposeful. When a need is not fulfilled by one action performed by a person, he performs other actions to fulfill his need. It is through the action that a person does that he gets experience. It is from this experience that his personality develops. Initially our needs are limited because our field of knowledge is limited. But as we evolve, so does the field of information. Diversity comes in our experiences. As knowledge increases, so does the area of our needs. Our experiences grow to meet these growing needs. This results in the development of our personality. As in the beginning we learn alphabet-knowledge. After learning letters, our field of knowledge develops. Then we need to know and understand more. Then we learn linguistics. Similarly, we learn to read simple literature and this sequence continues.

The motivational personality that exists in the form of internal tendencies in a person for the fulfillment of a need is called a need. The nature of the need depends on our internal tendencies. Each person’s individual needs differ. That is why people use different means to fulfill the same needs. The way the tools are used also varies. Therefore, the nature of the need depends on the internal tendencies of the individual.

According to Freire, a person is possessed by petty selfishness and has no qualms about harming others. A person is suffering from many mental tortures and bad situations. Even after scientific progress, man does not have inner peace. He is a slave to self-made things. The concept of social justice has not been developed. Therefore the human perspective has become narrow and isolated. This is why he cannot understand the needs of others for his petty selfishness and becomes unjust. There are many problems of students and teachers in schools. Therefore, there is a lack of humanitarian education here. Through humanistic education, one person will communicate cordiality, love, kindness, respect to another person and peace and brotherhood will be created everywhere. In this way, Freire pays particular attention to humanism. According to him, autocratic states and rich people do not want farmers to be educated. The ideal of education is to make farmers, laborers literate and educated. This is the message of humanism. As the present age is the age of industrialization, man has become like a part of the machine. This caused a feeling of rebellion. As a result of urbanization and industrialization, human misery, suffering and harassment have increased exponentially. Humanism exists in the external world, not in imagination. It overflows with thoughts, wishes and goodwill. Therefore, the aim of education should be based on the development of humanism.

According to Freire, to be human means to relate to others and to the world. Man’s relationship with the world is of various types. Whether struggling against the many different challenges of the environment or any other type of challenge, humans are not one-size-fits-all. People organize themselves, choose the best response, test themselves, act and change. They do all this consciously, like a person using a tool to deal with a problem. Humans relate to their world in critical ways. Through this contemplation one finds one’s objective reality. And, in the act of critical perception, people find their humanity. One of his fundamental discoveries is the discovery of the dimension of time in the history of human culture. The weight of apparently eternal time in an ignorant culture prevented people from coming to the consciousness of their temporality and thus from the realization of their historical form.

Human beings exist in time. They are in and out. They are inherited. People are not trapped in a permanent ‘today’, they come back and attain temporality. As humans come of age they seek worldliness and emancipate themselves, then their relationship with the world becomes consequential. The normal role of people in the world and with the world is not neutral. They are not limited to the natural realm, but can also participate in the creative dimension. So humans can participate in reality to change it. By inheriting acquired knowledge, integrating themselves with their circumstances by creating and recreating them, objectifying themselves by responding to its challenges, rationalizing and intuitive, man enters a field that is entirely his own—that field is the field of history and culture.

A basic premise of Freire’s educational thought is that the learner should be empowered by the knowledge he acquires. According to Freire, the learning method should not be such that the learner is separated from his life experience. A learner should not feel that education prohibits his language, culture and tradition. Thus, Freire spoke of the development of tradition and culture in order to advance the educational philosophy, keeping the humanistic approach in front of all.

According to Freire, the educational process is possible even outside the educational institution. According to him, through the education system, by developing a critical consciousness in the students, exploitation will end with a social justice-centered revolution. According to Freire – the most important problems in education have to be addressed. Curriculum of education should be flexible. A teacher should be insensitive and he should humanize the individual through rationalization. Education should treat the individual as a human entity rather than an object. The teaching process should be enriched with psychology. The learning process should be brought from the illusion of artificiality to the ground of reality. Non-formal educational activities should be made educationally more effective. Social transformation should be done through education.

According to Freire, the teacher’s role is to create a learning environment that empowers learners and promotes social change. As the traditional approach to teaching is repressive and ineffective, teachers should adopt a more participatory and interactive approach to teaching. The teacher should act as a facilitator of learning and not as an authority figure. In problem-solving teaching, the teacher encourages students to question themselves and critically analyze the world around them. Similarly, students should be encouraged to question the teacher instead of just receiving information from them. The teacher’s role is to facilitate the learning process rather than to provide answers. Teachers should encourage students to engage in critical thinking and develop their understanding of the world.

According to Freire, the relationship between teacher and learner is an important aspect of education. The traditional authoritarian relationship between teacher and learner was oppressive and ineffective. Therefore, a more egalitarian and dialogic relationship is needed. The relationship between teacher and student should be egalitarian rather than authoritarian. Teachers and learners should work collaboratively to make the learning environment empowering and democratic. The teacher must value the perspectives and experiences of the learners and work with them to create a problem-solving curriculum. Mutual respect and trust are essential components of the teacher-student relationship. The teacher should respect the learner’s autonomy and organization. Learners must rely on teachers to provide guidance and support and to create a safe and supportive learning environment.

According to Freire, the basis of the concept of education should be in accordance with a broad humanistic goal. Its main objective should be the all-round development of the humane personality. However, today’s education is not knowledge-centered but money-centered. According to Frere, industrial society turns education towards narrow educational goals. Education should have the ability to transform individuals and society. Education has the ability to change the world. Education is a world-changing weapon especially for the oppressed masses. As education is a tool of social change it enables individuals to challenge the status quo and work towards creating a just society.

According to Freire, education is important for achieving individual freedom and social justice. Education empowers individuals to recognize their organization and work towards gaining control over the social and economic structures that limit their freedom. According to him, education works to make people self-aware. According to him, critical literacy should be developed through education, where learners are able to read, understand and interpret the world around them in a critical and reflective manner. Through critical literacy, individuals will be able to challenge social inequalities and work towards creating a just society. Education should enable individuals to recognize their own privilege and work towards dismantling the structures that reinforce social inequalities. Education should enable a person to become fully human and work towards creating a just and equitable society. Education should develop critical evaluation. This enables learners to critically reflect on their experiences and the social structures that shape them.

Knowledge is a dynamic and continuously evolving process, which must be co-created through dialogue between learners and teachers. According to Freire, an education system that encourages students to critically reflect on the world around them and actively engage in problem solving and social change is essential. This approach to education plays a powerful role in making learners active agents of change rather than passive recipients of knowledge. Education must reflect strongly on issues of social justice and inequality. Through dialogue and cooperation through education, learners should be encouraged to work towards creating a more just society by solving their own problems for social problems. Education should be a tool for social change.

According to Paulo Freire, when an oppressed person tries to break free, oppressor hinders him greatly. A large part of the society is controlled by the mind of the exploiter, which gives strength to the dictatorship. According to Freire, education should involve people’s experiences. Communicating with people is essential. Don’t act on dominance. According to him, the banking system of education is the root of injustice and tyranny. Accordingly, learners are viewed by teachers as passive characters filled with information. This approach to education reinforces social inequality and fails to recognize learners’ ability to learn from their institutions and themselves. The function of education is to restore humanity. Oppressed is to beware of new oppressors. According to Freire, a leader or a teacher can be said to be one who will create a new consciousness in society.

Freire referred to the traditionalist teaching system as the “banking concept of education”. In this system, education is seen as a collector of knowledge and the learner as a passive recipient. The teacher gathers information in the learner’s mind and the expectation is that the learner will recall and recollect this information. According to Freire, this approach is oppressive and ineffective. In the banking system of education, the teacher is an authority figure, imparting knowledge to passive learners. The teacher is seen as the expert, who has all the answers and what is expected of the students is that they can easily grasp and remember whatever the teacher tells them. In the banking system the teacher is the source of all knowledge, while the learner is seen as a vessel just waiting to be filled. The teacher is considered to be the only one who has knowledge worth imparting and the learner is expected to accept it without question. In the banking system, the teacher keeps talking and the learner keeps quiet and listens attentively. In this the teacher has the right to speak, while the learner must remain silent and obedient. In this system the teacher decides what is worth learning and the learner accepts it without question. The teacher knows what is important, while the learner is a passive recipient of the teacher’s decisions. According to Frere, this requires a dialogical and problematizing approach. According to Freire, the banking concept of education suppresses the creative power of the learner and negates the questioning process of learning and knowledge. This approach perpetuates existing power structures in society and forces oppressed groups to be marginalized. Therefore, education should be a process of inquiry and dialogue rather than a process of gathering information.

Freire advocates education as a problem-solving approach. According to him, teachers and learners will work collaboratively to create a curriculum, which is based on the experiences and interests of the students. In this approach, teachers and students engage in a dialogue and are respectful and mutually supportive. The teacher encourages students to ask questions, think critically, and learn in a self-directed manner. Problem-solving learning emphasizes critical thinking, active learning, and learner empowerment. According to this approach, the teacher does not simply impart knowledge to passive learners, rather they interact with their learners, asking questions and challenging them to think deeply about the material. According to this approach, the teacher gives students problems to solve rather than simply lecturing them on a topic. These problem-solving questions can take the form of real-world scenarios or other types of challenges, which require learners to think creatively and critically. According to this approach, the teacher and the learner will work together to find solutions to the problems that arise. This collaborative process encourages students to take an active role in their own learning and helps develop their critical thinking and problem-solving skills. According to the problem-solving approach, learners learn best only when they are involved in the learning process and when learners are given opportunities to learn, they build knowledge within their abilities. By working collaboratively to solve problems, learners make themselves participants in the learning process rather than passive recipients of information. Therefore, the problem-solving approach is highly effective in enhancing the development of critical thinking skills in learners. This approach helps learners develop the ability to analyze, evaluate and synthesize information by introducing open-ended questions and encouraging them to think deeply about complex issues.

According to Freire, human education is the way through which men and women can become aware of their presence in the world. It is clear from this that education can help people become aware of their existence and place in the world. This increases personal development and social responsibility. Humane education is not just about acquiring knowledge and skills, it aims to develop critical thinking, empathy and social awareness. It helps people understand their interrelationships with others and with the environment. Due to which they can be empowered to contribute positively to the society.

Thus, based on Paulo Freire’s philosophy of education, what can be said is that the value-based education system he has presented is based on social justice, non-exploitation and humanist values. It is best for establishing a society without exploitation. What can be concluded from Paulo Freire’s educational-philosophical thinking is that he considered education and the quality of a person’s life to be synonymous with each other. What this means is that Freire accepts the universal human innovative value as a tool for the development of the individual’s highest morality. In this way, Paulo Freire made it clear that self-reliant, honest, humble, compassionate, kind, non-exploitative human society can be built with proper education. According to Frere, education is also a politics. Because there can be no political revolution without education. However, its purpose should be how to rationalize and humanize the individual. According to Frere, education should be liberating and empowering, enabling individuals to critically analyze their social and political contexts. According to Freire, the main purpose of education is to develop meaningful communication and creativity. Freire emphasizes that learning is planned with the learner at the center. He gives importance to the concept of rationalization and critical consciousness. Freire wanted a radical change in education. He emphasizes on the need for a revolution to build a society free from exploitation by developing critical consciousness in the learners through the education system and focusing on social justice. In this way, he emphasizes that non-formal educational activities should also be made educationally effective and efforts should be made to bring about social transformation through education. According to Freire, education is not neutral, it either promotes oppression or liberates the oppressed. Therefore, the main purpose of education should be to liberate the oppressed.

Reference Materials

1. Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Freire, Translated by Myra Bergman Ramos With an Introduction by Donaldo Macedo Continuum, New York, London.
2. PAULO FREIRE,  PEDAGOGY OF HOPE, Reliving Pedagogy of the Oppressed With Notes by Ana Maria Araujo Freire, Translated by Robert R. Barr, Thomas J. Bata Library, CONTINUUM • NEW YORK
3. Educational For Critical Consciousness, Paulo Freire, Contimuum, London. New York
4. PEDAGOGY IN PROCESS The Letters to Guinea-Bissau, PAULO FREIRE, TRANSLATED BY C A R M A N ST. J 0 H N H U N T E R, CON TINUUM · NEW YORK
5. The politics of education : culture, power, and liberation, South Hadley, Mass. : Bergin & Garvey
6. Pedagogy of Freedom – Ethics. Democracy. And Civic Courage, Paulo Freire
7. Study and Research of Various website and blogs