Education

Education and the StateEducation is and can be used to

– CONTROL …….dissent– MAINTAIN ……status quo– GLORIFY………skilled labour force– ORGANISE…….thought patterns– VISUALISE……a certain lifestyle/success– SUBDUE……….critical thinking

Education……Learning

CONTENT -------------------------PROCESS

“OR”

“AND”

What is so

popular about

Popular Education

(Pop-Ed)?

In a nutshell, Pop-Ed... • critiques conventional modes of thinking• opens itself to critique • restores people's dignity and humanity • poses questions about our very existence • is a venue for "inter subjectivity“• recognizes the equal importance of the non-

rational• engages the intellectual as well as the other

spheres of being human • is creative and reflective • is averse to any totalizing framework

TOOLS USED IN POP-ED ARE

• CREATIVE• VARIED (e.g. MTV, GDA, PHOTOS)• RELATED• PROVOKING• CHALLENGING• EASY TO USE• FUN

POP – ED NEEDS GOOD

FACILITATION

ELEMENTS OF FACILITATION

–OBJECTIVE– INSTRUCTION–ACTIVITY–FEEDBACK (REACTION TO

ACTIVITY)–PROCESSING (LINKING TO

REALITY)–SUMMARY

A GOOD FACILITATOR:

• Keeps the group focused on task and process

• Remains as objective as possible

• Is an informed guide helping the group to chart its course and accomplish its goals

• Listens more than talks

• Adopts various learning styles

• Is able to gauge peoples’ learning ability and adjusts accordingly

Contd.

Contd.

• Encourages everyone to participate while remembering that individuals participate in different ways

• Protects members of the group from attack by others

• Is gender and culturally sensitive

• Energizes a group or slows it down, as needed

• Periodically, does a recap of what has happened in each session and helps the group to make connections between the sessions.

• Summarizes the learning

• Is also a student at all times, learning from others

Popular Education has been used as a tool to raise people's consciousness

to become more aware of how their personal experiences are linked

with larger social problems.

Paulo Freire’s seminal work “The Pedagogy of the Oppressed” about the empowerment of Brazilian peasants

through literacy, illustrates and explains this theory.

Reflections:Rights Based Approach to

Development

• Participation • Accountability• Non-discrimination• Empowerment• Linking to standards