Banking Model

Banking Education is a term coined by Paulo Freire in Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970) to describe a traditional, authoritarian model of education where students are treated as passive recipients of knowledge rather than active participants in their own learning. In this system, teachers "deposit" information into students' minds as if they were empty accounts to be filled, reinforcing hierarchical control, memorization over critical thinking, and obedience over empowerment.

Educational Models

Educational Models > Assembly Line Model, Banking Model

Related LP Terms

Banking Model >

Non-LP Related Terms

Banking Model >

Notes

Banking education

Promotes passive learning & obedience

• Teaches students to memorize rather than think, making them dependent on authority for knowledge.
• Suppresses curiosity, discouraging students from challenging ideas or engaging in independent exploration.

Reinforces Oppressive Social Structures

• Conditions students to accept inequality and social hierarchy, rather than question or transform it.
• Used as a tool of control, producing obedient workers and citizens rather than empowered changemakers.

Disconnects Learning from Life

• Turns education into a mechanical process, where students simply regurgitate information for tests.
• Fails to prepare students for real-world challenges, leaving them unprepared for creative problem-solving, collaboration, and active civic engagement.

Alternative: The Pathfinder Model

To reject Banking Education, the Pathfinder Educational Model (PEM) emphasizes:

• Student-led, inquiry-driven learning, where students actively engage with knowledge.
• Real-world application of concepts, ensuring learning is meaningful and transformative.
• Decentralized, dialogical education, where knowledge is co-created rather than deposited.

Freire’s critique remains highly relevant, as modern education systems continue to operate on Banking Education principles—reinforcing hierarchy, passivity, and social control rather than critical thinking, empowerment, and transformation.

Readings and Resources

Blum, Susan D. 2020. Ungrading. Morgantown: West Virginia University Press.

Clark, David, and Robert Talbert. 2023. Grading For Growth. Routledge.

Gatto, John Taylor. 2006. Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling. New Society Publishers.

Gray, Peter. 2015. Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life. Basic Books.

Holt, John. 1995. How Children Fail. Balanced.

———. 2017. How Children Learn. Balanced.

Kohn, Alfie. 1986. No Contest: The Case Against Competition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. https://amzn.to/2X8g70l.

RSA, dir. 2010a. Changing Education Paradigms. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U.

———, dir. 2010b. Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mG-hhWL_ug.==Patreon Units==

Lightning Path (2024). Parent/Teacher Training. LP 4.7. https://www.patreon.com/collection/640726

Footnotes

References