Reflection on My Approach to Community-Based Adult Learning: Analysis of The Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Freire

‘education at its best- this profound human transaction called teaching and learning- is not just about getting information or getting a job. Education is about healing and wholeness. It is about empowerment, liberation, transcendence, about renewing the vitality of life. It is about finding and claiming our place in the world’

(Parker, qtd in hooks, 2013:43)

My approach to adult learning is shaped by the discourse of critical pedagogy and the conviction that adult education should contribute to empowerment and liberation. I was awakened to the possibility of a critical education through studying sociology and politics in college. Through discussions of gender and class, I developed a critical understanding of structural inequalities that enabled me situate myself in the world beyond the classroom. I felt that Marxism and feminism provided answers to questions I had but had never been able to articulate. These questions had always been individualised, (‘why is my brother allowed to do this and I’m not?’, ‘why do my parents struggle to make ends meet?’), but became collectivised when I learned that my experience was part of a much bigger struggle. Although this realisation was accompanied by discomfort, anger and frustration, I remember feeling equally empowered and inspired by these subjects in a way that I had not experienced in the traditional ‘banking’ system of education (Freire, 2005:72).

The transformative experience I had during my time at college embodies what Parker (hooks, 2013:43) refers to as the ‘human’ nature of education; the process of ‘finding and claiming [my] place in the world’. The more I studied the effects of structural inequalities for individuals and families like my own, the more urgently I felt I needed to take action. The values and principles of community development and adult learning provide a way for me to combine theory and practice. In this essay I will discuss my radical approach to community-based adult learning (CBAL), which is built upon principles of social justice, empowerment, liberation. For the purposes of my discussion, I will use the following definition of CBAL:

Learning opportunities (mainly targeted at excluded/disadvantaged groups and individuals) provided in local communities, developed substantially in negotiation with participants (both in terms of content and delivery), and which empower them to address relevant issues in their lives, and that of their community (Communities Scotland, 2003: 9)

The Scottish government’s Statement of Ambition for Adult Learning applies a community learning and development (CLD) framework to adult learning, thus adult learning is recognised as ‘a central element of personal and community empowerment’ (Adult Learning Scotland, 6). While personal empowerment through individual learning and development is undoubtedly important, I believe that learning in the community should work to empower the community as a whole. To the above definition of CBAL I would add that an emphasis on the critical engagement ‘with structures and processes of social, political and economic power’ is necessary to achieve social justice and social change (Butcher, 2007:21). If the focus of CBAL is on the most marginalized groups in society, my approach will not only encourage communities to critically ‘address’ issues in their lives but to actively engage with them through participation and action.

My approach to CBAL is greatly informed by the discourse of critical pedagogy; ‘That particular type of pedagogy which is concerned with issues concerning social difference, social justice and social transformation’ (Mayo, 1999: 58). Amsler (2010:20) notes that the term ‘critical pedagogy’ can be applied to a range of approaches depending upon the theoretical perspective, for example, ‘anti-capitalist education, anti-racist pedagogies’ and ‘education for raising consciousness’. It is possible, however, to discern a number of features critical pedagogies share. Critical pedagogy has its foundations in the critique of traditional educational methods and the interests and values they promote (Giroux, 2005:125). Freire’s critical pedagogy is based upon Marxist theory which views society in terms of conflict between the oppressors and the oppressed. For Freire, the classroom and traditional ‘banking’ method of education serves to reproduce this hierarchy in order to maintain profit. In this respect education is not neutral (Freire, 2005).

Freire’s analysis of the politicized nature of education and Gramsci’s analysis of hegemony helped me to understand the ways in which the traditional system of education reproduces ‘the social relations necessary for maintaining a market economy’ (Giroux:2005). Although the method of teaching in the banking system serves the purpose of reproducing an oppressive hierarchy, the language used by teachers is depoliticized; ‘largely a procedure and technique’ (Giroux, 130). This is delivered through the relationship between teacher and student, which is one of ‘Subject’ and ‘listening objects’. In the banking system of education, the teacher as subject delivers their ‘narrative’, talking about reality ‘as if it were motionless, compartmentalized, and predictable’ (2005:71). This reflects Gramsci’s concept of hegemony, which refers to the ways in which political dominance is asserted and ideas are ‘disseminated as common sense’ (Ledwith, 2001:175).

The standardization of education also encourages a capitalist ‘commodification of knowledge’ (Giroux, 2005:103). In the formal school system, students are assessed against their capacity to reproduce knowledge with the aim of getting the grades needed to enter the labour market. In my experience of school, I remember feeling disillusioned and fatigued by constant testing which required me to memorise information. This knowledge was ‘commodified’ for the purpose of a particular assessment and never used again. I want to avoid recreating this transactional relationship with knowledge in my practice. I recognise that those who participate in CBAL may be returning to education in later life after previous negative experiences within the formal system. To do this I will encourage adult learners to apply knowledge to their own lives and avoid any system of formal testing.

Throughout The Pedagogy of the Oppressed Freire identifies the necessity for education to work for those who have been oppressed, to enable them to become ‘fully human’. For Freire, ‘To exist, humanly, is to name the world, to change it’ (2005:88). In order to ‘name’ the world -that is, to be awakened to the reality of an oppressive system- a system of education is required that creates opportunities for critical reflection. Freire discusses the necessity for ‘problem-posing’ education that will begin the process of conscientization, a state which Freire describes as ‘a particular quality of critical awareness which enables people to consider a range of options in the ways they act and enables them to choose a course of action deliberately and with the intention to change some aspect of their reality’ (2005). In opposition to the banking system of education, problem-posing education consists of acts of cognition, not transferrals of information. . . through dialogue . . . the teacher is no longer the‐one‐ who‐teaches but who is himself taught in dialogue with the students (Freire, 2005:79‐80)

According to Freire, dialogue is the process through which the distinction between teacher and student breaks down. Dialogue is critical in the process of conscientization since it is the learners who will communicate their issues, rather than the educator. I recognise the importance of placing dialogue at the centre of my teaching in order to give agency to marginalized groups. When working with communities, I want to avoid positioning myself as the expert in the room. Rather, my role will be to facilitate critical group discussions and to make use of the learners’ contributions.

In order to create a participatory culture, my approach to teaching and learning will recognise the value of learner contributions. A further challenge to the ideology of neoliberal individualism is the principle of building community in the classroom. hooks (2010: 56) discusses the importance of building community in the classroom in order to create an environment which is conducive to critical thinking. Without “community”, it is not possible to engage people in learning experiences that challenge them to move out of their comfort zones. hooks (2010:43) refers to overall experience of communal learning as ‘engaged pedagogy’, whereby aspects of public and private are integrated into the learning experience. In practice, this involves building a supportive environment in which everyone gets to know one another through introductions and sharing personal stories.

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Engaged pedagogy challenges the notion that reality is ‘motionless’ and ‘static’ (Freire: 2005:71) as in traditional formal education. As such, my approach to CBAL views curriculum as praxis, whereby the curriculum itself is not simply a set of plans to be implemented, but rather is constituted through an active process in which planning, acting and evaluating are all reciprocally related and integrated into the process (Grundy, 1987: 115).

One way to to stimulate the active process is through conversation, which for hooks (2013:44) is ‘the central location of pedagogy for the democratic educator’. In other words, learners’ contributions should be viewed as a resource that guides the learning experience (hooks, 2013). Significant in the development of praxis is a curriculum ‘that is based on the real, often contradictory, experience of marginalized individuals and communities’ (Shaw & Crowther, 400:36). The subjective and spontaneous nature of individual experiences requires educators to move away from the ‘curriculum as plan’ (Aoki, 0000:00), which relies on a standardised and time-bound structure, and teach to the ‘lived curriculum’; a relational and situational understanding of curriculum that evolves as people ‘redefine their engagement with curricular knowledge’ (Tilley and Taylor, 2012:408). Aoki’s pedagogical stance is useful to social justice educators because it requires that we

I believe that education is a ‘human’ transaction because it has the potential to broaden our minds beyond our own lived experiences, and to facilitate empathy towards others. Merriam and Bierema (2014) articulate that ‘critical thinking becomes powerful when we understand how our individual experience is not unique to us, but that others may be caught in the same dominant ideology that is hurting them’. This realisation is important in order to challenge conditions -within the classroom and in wider society- that individualise and depoliticise personal experience (Shaw and Crowther, 2013). My experience working in a community women’s group has demonstrated the ability for conversations to facilitate powerful collective bonds. In discussions surrounding gender roles and gendered expectations, the group sessions offered a space for the women to explore their individual experiences and to recognise that their problems were part of an oppressive shared culture. Where the effectiveness of this exercise was compromised was in my failure to transform this collective feeling into practical action. The development of critical consciousness without a clear path for taking action could leave people feeling ultimately disempowered and disillusioned. Freire’s analysis of praxis is useful in understanding the limits of critical reflection when not combined with action. For Freire, it is the combination of action and reflection, or ‘praxis’, that will achieve social and political transformation.

Freire’s emphasis on praxis has wider significance for the theoretical and policy context of adult learning. Indeed, adult learning in Scotland is expected to empower people to ‘participate in their local communities and take social action’ (Adult Learning Scotland, 2014: 8). In turn, I understand that such groups may be reluctant to participate. In the current neoliberal policy context, marginalised groups are often dismissed as ‘hard to reach’ or become recruited for participation in community consultations that are ultimately tokenistic. As such, I recognise that part of my role as a community-based adult educator will be to tackle peoples’ disillusionment with a political climate that often ignores their problems and concerns. In addition, I recognise that adult learners will often have to balance teaching sessions with a range of responsibilities (Adult Learning, 2014). McIntyre ‘participation in learning takes place in the context of broader socio-economic structures that affects adults’ abilities to take up and benefit from opportunities’ (McIntyre, 2012:620).

Finally, I believe in the importance of upholding the principles of diversity and inclusivity in my teaching. For Adams and Bell (2016:4) diversity and social justice are interconnected terms; ‘without truly valuing diversity, we cannot effectively address issues of injustice. Without addressing injustice, we cannot truly value diversity’. They define diversity as, ‘differences among social groups such as ethnic heritage, class, age, gender, sexuality, ability, religion, and nationality’ (2016:3). In order to uphold the principles of social justice, it is necessary for teachers and learners to recognise ‘their own agency as well as a sense of social responsibility toward and with others’ (Adams and Bell, 3). As an educator, this means that I recognise my own social position and pay attention to the power dynamics in the classroom. This has been particularly important in my work with ethnic minority groups in order to avoid what Freire describes as ‘cultural invasion’. It also requires that I continuously assess and change my educational practices and methods to ensure they are inclusive and appropriate for all learners. Moreover, it is important that I encourage learners to recognise their social responsibility towards others. This can be done through addressing discrimination in the classroom and generally making people more aware of cultures outside their own.

For hooks, engaged pedagogy is important because it, ‘makes the classroom a place where wholeness is welcomed and students can be honest, even radically open. They can name their fears, voice their resistance to thinking, speak out […]’ (2010:21). Clearly, radical openness is necessary in a culture of education that silences students’ voices (Giroux, 2005). Through my own experiences of critical education, I am aware that learners’ may find this process difficult and, at times, uncomfortable. hooks describes this process best as ‘pain in giving up old ways of thinking and knowing’ (hooks,1994:44). Freire too acknowledges the discomfort that the oppressed may feel when they become aware of their exploitation. I would argue, however, that Freire’s model of the ‘oppressor’ and ‘oppressed’ does not account for intersecting oppressions and the complexities that exist among marginalized communities and identities. If critical CBAL challenges people to abandon habitual modes of thinking and doing, it is likely that people may also come to realise their complicity in reinforcing oppressive structures. My experience of facilitating sessions on sexual health and gender identity with young people has demonstrated the difficulty in maintaining an open discussion whilst protecting the identity of everyone in the group. Ultimately I believe this reinforces the need to incorporate compassion and empathy in adult learning settings, and in particular, the value of building a communal environment where everyone is valued and respected.

Having outlined the principles that shape my pedagogy, I will now explore teaching methods for use in future practice. Although I have some experience working in community adult learning settings, I recognise that my practice could be improved by incorporating the following explicitly Freirean techniques. As a community development student, an example of teaching that I found critically engaging was the derive method. Popular among Situationalists such as Debord, the derive works to encourage critical reflection on learners’ everyday surroundings and to place them in a wider context. The derive is Freirean in approach as it allows for a shift in power from the educator to the student.

The derive is a flexible and versatile method that can incorporated into a wide range of teaching scenarios that enables students to take control over their own learning. In practice, the learners go out in groups or individually and explore the way space is used in a given area, which could be the communities they live in or an area of their choosing. They will be encouraged to question: ‘Who owns the space?’ Who controls it?’ ‘Are these necessarily the same?’. After the session, I would encourage learners to share their findings with the rest of the group. From this, it would be possible to draw out recurring themes and help them make connections between ideas. Although this exercise makes space the object of focus, it is also useful for generating discussions around social class, power, the allocation of resources, and even the gendered use of space. In other words, the exercise is useful in encouraging students to get to the ‘why’ of the problems they identify, which is at the heart of Freirean dialogue. Following on from this, I would provide a space for reflection on the best course of action to take to further their sense of agency and empowerment.

Like any teaching method, the derive is not without problems. In terms of accessibility, the task of walking around the city or community may not be possible for those with mobility issues. Depending on the group, it may be possible to modify the exercise to suit individual needs, for example, by encouraging people to do the exercise on public transport or keeping it as a classroom exercise with online maps or photos they have collected. Due to the geographical focus of the exercise, the derive may work better among groups with a shared geographical concern.

When working with new groups in previous community learning settings, I recognise that I have not allowed group members to shape the direction of their learning. Although I had listened to participants’ suggestions for topics, those suggestions were always incorporated into a pre-existing structure. This was clearly an easier approach in terms of organisation, but not one which gave the group much agency or power. In future CBAL practice, I will counteract this by identifying ‘generative themes’ with new groups (Freire, 2005:98). For Freire, generative themes represent issues that people in the learning experience care about most strongly and personally. Establishing a generative theme is particularly important in order to avoid imposing an agenda on a group and reinforcing the idea that the educator is the expert in the situation.

In practice, the identification of generative themes is done through talking to members of the community and establishing relationships with them. Once identified, generative themes are then presented as codifications of ‘significant dimensions of an individual’s contextual reality’ (2005:104). In turn, the analysis of these themes will introduce people to a ‘critical form of thinking about their world’ (2005:104). Like the derive, this exercise helps people to situate themselves in the world as political and cultural beings, in order to inspire them to explore options available for taking action.

The principles that guide my approach to teaching and learning reflect my conviction that community-based adult learning should inspire and empower people towards critical reflection and action, in order to achieve social justice. Fundamental to this aim is the full participation of all learners, incorporating their lived experiences into the curriculum. In addition, my approach to teaching and learning is built upon equality and diversity. I believe it is my responsibility to tackle discrimination within and outside the classroom. It is important to acknowledge that many of these principles and techniques are used in educational settings which are not radical. What is necessary to the radical agenda or critical pedagogy is to adjoin critical thinking with action and reflection in order to give power back to the powerless.

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