ABCD-Training-of-Trainers-Tools-July-2013

epeat.”Freire explains that banking education is generally characterized by attitudes and practices, for
example:
• the teacher teaches and the students are taught;
• the teacher knows everything and the students know nothing;
• the teacher thinks and the students are thought about;
• the teacher talks and the students listen-meekly;
• the teacher disciplines and the students are disciplined;
• the teacher chooses and enforces his choice, and the students comply;
• the teacher acts and the students have the illusion of acting through the action of the teacher;
• the teacher chooses the program content, and the students (who are not consulted) adapt to it;
• the teacher confuses the authority of knowledge with his own professional authority, which he
sets in opposition to the freedom of the students;
• the teacher is the Subject of the learning process, while the pupils are mere objects (59)
Paulo Freire (1921-1997) wrote Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970), which contains his famous critique
of the “banking concept of education”because this approach revolves around the actions of teachers
who "deposit" knowledge into their passive students. Such teaching practices position students as
passive receptacles, encouraging rote learning of isolated facts.
Freire embraced conscientization through "problem posing" and dialogic educational practices and
Dewey emphasized the importance of active social learning environments, rather than one-sided
lectures, and argued that learning involves the active construction of knowledge through engagement
with ideas in meaningful contexts, not the passive absorption of isolated bits of information. Just as
Freire maintained that education must engage with the language and experiences of learners, drawing
upon their thematic universes, Dewey also argued that learning takes place within meaningful contexts
that allow students to build upon knowledge they already have.
Both argue that educators need to understand the experiences and world views of their students in
order to successfully further the learning process. Both associate learning with critical reflection and
with actively seeking after truth and applying it to future problems. They also draw a connection
between critical reflection and the fight against oppressive social conditions - linking reflection to
responsible and ethical citizenship.
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