Personalist and Liberating Education: Theories & Thinkers
Theories of Personal Education
Introduction
Personal education prioritizes individual development over the collective, rejecting a purely social dimension in education. It focuses on the unique characteristics of each person, understanding that human nature is incomplete and education is a process of continuous personal construction. Diverse trends exist, from Christian to Marxist perspectives. The educational relationship between teacher and student should be based on communication and dialogue. The educator’s role is to foster individual freedom, acting as a guide and facilitator for the student’s full development.
Mounier’s Personality Theory
Emmanuel Mounier, founder of the personalist movement, understood the person as a spiritual being with freely assumed values, living responsibly in an environment of freedom, creativity, and uniqueness. He prioritized human values over material needs and collective mechanisms. Mounier criticized modern systems (bourgeois, individualistic, fascist, and communist) for molding children to their doctrines instead of awakening them to live as individuals. He advocated for freedom of education from state control, while the state should ensure educational security. Mounier agreed with Marx on the need to combine theory and practice to overcome class differences, emphasizing that understanding reality is not enough; it must be transformed for human and social development.
Milani School – Barbiana
Don Lorenzo Milani, from a wealthy and cultured family, became a parish priest in Florence and discovered the cultural and social deprivation of the lower classes. He created a popular school for poor children, focusing on providing access to culture and language skills for their liberation. His work caused controversy, leading him to move to Barbiana, where cultural gaps were even greater. Milani proposed an alternative school, The Culture of the Poor, which aimed to bring disadvantaged children to the expected educational level, fostering intrinsic motivation. The school operated 12 hours daily, prioritizing culture and language as core subjects. Key teaching strategies included:
- Engaging the poor in reading newspapers (political and social reality) and the Constitution.
- Reading the Gospel, not for catechesis, but for critical reflection.
- Empowering individuals to fight for a fairer society.
Milani blamed teachers who ignored social and educational realities, perpetuating inequalities. He criticized the use of language that excluded the poor and the indifference to their lack of understanding. He emphasized the need to believe in one’s work and have clear ideas. Letter to a Teacher, written by Milani and his students, denounced the Italian educational system for maintaining a facade of equality while marginalizing the majority through selective filters. It synthesized educational theory and practice, embodying the principles of the Barbiana school.
Freire’s Pedagogy of Consciousness (20th Century)
Paulo Freire, born in a poor and illiterate area of Brazil, developed his educational theories through his experiences and collaboration with his wife, a teacher. His method began with literacy work in the Popular Education movement, which was interrupted by a coup d’état and Freire’s imprisonment.
He later implemented his literacy program in Chile, which was recognized by UNESCO as a model.
Ideology
1. In Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Freire distinguishes two ways of relating to reality: that of animals (static and adaptive) and that of humans (conscious, critical, and transformative). Humans have the power of speech, dialogue, and freedom, but their progress is limited by illiteracy and oppression.
2. The oppressor class benefits from the illiteracy of the oppressed, maintaining a closed and uncritical society. The first stage of consciousness in an oppressive society is intransitive consciousness, characterized by adherence to the past and a static view of reality.
3. In a society transitioning towards democracy, the masses begin to claim their role in the historical process, recognizing education as a means of change. This transition can lead to cultural invasion, where the dominant class imposes its education and ideology, hindering critical reflection and maintaining the status quo.
4. The third stage is critical consciousness, which emerges with economic and democratic development. It involves openness to dialogue and a demand for freedom for personal development.
5. Freire viewed education not as the transmission of knowledge but as the creation of a permanent critical attitude, enabling individuals to recognize and transform oppressive situations.
6. Educational action must be preceded by reflection on the individuals being educated and their context. Education should empower them to become aware of their reality and commit to changing it.
7. Key concepts in Freire’s pedagogy are awareness, reflection, and action. Education should enable individuals to understand themselves, their world, and their potential for transformation.
8. The educator’s role is to awaken and develop critical consciousness in learners, fostering self-development and liberation.
9. The essence of Freire’s method is literacy and awareness. Literacy is not merely decoding words but understanding one’s situation as a step towards transformation. Awareness involves deciphering lived reality and preparing for its transformation.
Educational Theory of Communication
Education should be a process of communication and dialogue, where individuals collaboratively construct meaning, rather than a mere transfer of knowledge.
Banking Education vs. Liberating Education
Banking Education
In banking education, the teacher is the sole possessor of knowledge, and the student is a passive recipient. This approach stifles critical thinking, dialogue, and creativity, treating individuals as objects to be adapted to the mainstream society.
Liberating Education
Liberating education opposes banking education, aiming to empower the oppressed to transform their reality. It emphasizes dialogue, critical reflection, and collaboration between educators and learners to move from naive to critical consciousness. It uses a critical method and dialogue, exploring generative themes related to human existence. The process involves literacy and post-literacy phases, where themes are coded, analyzed, and decoded to foster critical understanding and action.