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<blockquote class="definition">'''Paulo Freire''' (1921–1997) was a Brazilian educator, philosopher, and one of the most influential figures in critical pedagogy. His work, particularly Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970), challenged traditional, hierarchical education systems and proposed an alternative model based on dialogue, liberation, and critical consciousness (conscientização).

Freire rejected the [[Banking Model]] of education, in which students are treated as passive recipients of knowledge, and instead advocated for problem-posing education, where learning is an active, participatory process that empowers students to critically analyze and transform the world around them. His vision aligns closely with the Pathfinder Educational Model (PEM), which also seeks to undo the damage of industrial schooling, restore agency to learners, and create an education system that is liberatory rather than oppressive.

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==Key Figure Pathfinder Educational Model==

[[Key Figure]] > {{#ask:[[Is a key figure::Pathfinder Educational Model]]}}

==Freire's Terms==

[[Paulo Freire]] > {{#ask:[[Is a term::Freire]]}}

==Related Figure==

[[Pathfinder Educational Model]] > {{#ask:[[Is a related figure::Pathfinder Educational Model]]}}

==Key Ideas==
'''1. Banking Education vs. Problem-Posing Education'''

* Banking Education – A traditional, authoritarian model where knowledge is “deposited” into students, reinforcing passivity, obedience, and hierarchy.
* Problem-Posing Education – A dialogical, participatory approach where students and educators co-create knowledge through critical reflection, inquiry, and action.
* Pathfinder Connection: The PEM rejects standardized, rote-based schooling in favor of learner-driven, self-paced, and mastery-based education.

2. '''Critical Consciousness (Conscientização)'''

* The process of becoming aware of social, political, and economic oppression and developing the ability to challenge and transform it.
* Freirean education is not just about knowledge—it is about awakening individuals to their own power and agency.
* Pathfinder Connection: The PEM fosters critical thinking, sociological literacy, and post-capitalist skills to prepare students not to serve the system, but to transform it.

3. '''Education as a Practice of Freedom'''

* Traditional education socializes students into passivity; liberatory education develops critical thinkers who can reshape society.
* Pathfinder Connection: PEM sees education as a tool for Human Flourishing, healing from Toxic Socialization, and reclaiming one’s full potential.

==Notes==

Freire’s ideas are foundational to Pathfinder’s critique of industrial education and its mission to replace coercive learning with an education system that is healing, empowering, and socially transformative.

1. '''Healing-Centered Pedagogy & Dehumanization'''

Freire describes [[dehumanization]] as the interruption of the natural process of becoming more fully human, caused by oppressive social structures. Pathfinder education, through Healing-Centered Pedagogy, restores agency, confidence, and self-worth, helping learners undo the effects of Toxic Socialization.

2. '''Minimally Invasive Education (MIE) & Problem-Posing Education'''

Freire’s problem-posing education aligns with Pathfinder’s [[Minimally Invasive Education|Minimally Invasive]] approach, where:

* Learning is learner-driven, rather than imposed.
* Facilitators guide, rather than dictate, allowing students to develop their own insights and understandings.
* Critical reflection and dialogue are central, ensuring education is not about memorization, but transformation.

3'''. Learning Pods, Learning Hubs & Community-Based Education'''

Freire’s emphasis on dialogue and collective learning resonates with Pathfinder’s [[Learning Po|Learning Pods]] and [[Learning Hubs]], which create decentralized, cooperative learning environments that:

* Eliminate competitive ranking and grading in favor of collaboration and mastery-based assessment.
* Encourage social and ecological responsibility, reflecting Freire’s belief that education should empower individuals to change their world.

4. '''Post-Capitalist Skills & Critical Consciousness'''

Freire saw education as inseparable from politics—learning is always a tool of either oppression or liberation. Pathfinder integrates critical sociological literacy, teaching [[Post-Capitalist Skills]] and the ability recognize and dismantle exploitative systems while cultivating post-capitalist skills necessary for a new world.

== Quotes ==
📢 "Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of freedom."

📢 "The teacher is of course an artist, but being an artist does not mean that he or she can make the profile, can shape the students. What the educator does in teaching is to make it possible for the students to become themselves."

📢 "Washing one’s hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral."

📢 "Liberating education consists in acts of cognition, not transferrals of information."

📢 "...almost always, during the initial stage of the struggle, the oppressed, instead of striving for liberation, tend themselves to become oppressors, or "sub-oppressors." The very structure of their thought has been conditioned by the contradictions of the concrete, existential situation by which they were shaped. Their ideal is to be men; but for them, to be men is to be oppressors. This is their model of humanity. This phenomenon derives from the fact that the oppressed, at a certain moment of their existential experience, adopt an attitude of "adhesion" to the oppressor."<ref>Paulo Freire, ''Pedagogy of the Oppressed'' (New York: Continuum, 2005). p. 45.</ref> (see [[Master Narrative]], [[Mechanisms of Reproduction]])

📢 "The oppressed, having internalized the image of the oppressor and adopted his guidelines, are fearful of freedom. Freedom would require them to eject this image and replace it with autonomy and responsibility. Freedom is acquired by conquest, not by gift. It must be pursued constantly and responsibly. Freedom is not an ideal located outside of man; nor is it an idea which becomes myth."<ref>Paulo Freire, ''Pedagogy of the Oppressed'' (New York: Continuum, 2005). p. 47.</ref>

📢 "In order for the oppressed to be able to wage the struggle for their liberation, they must perceive the reality of oppression not as a closed world from which there is no exit, but as a limiting situation which they can transform. "<ref>Paulo Freire, ''Pedagogy of the Oppressed'' (New York: Continuum, 2005). p. 49.</ref>

== Tomes ==
📖 ''Pedagogy of the Oppressed'' (1970) – A foundational text in critical pedagogy, arguing that education must be a process of liberation rather than domestication.

📖 ''Education for Critical Consciousness'' (1974) – Further develops the concept of conscientização, showing how education can help people break free from ideological conditioning.

📖 ''Pedagogy of Hope'' (1994) – A reflection on his work, emphasizing that true education must always be rooted in love, hope, and the belief in human potential.

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