Paulo Freire

Paulo Freire – educator and philosopher, including visiting professor Harvard University

Freire wrote Pedagogy of the Oppressed and he argues there are two approaches, the banking form of teaching (depositing facts) and the problem-solving form. He argues against Hirsch, that the banking form creates passive learners and unequal student/teacher relationship. Rather than students memorising facts they should be encouraged to enter a dialogue with their teacher as critical thinkers. Freire believes teaching a prescribed set of knowledge is merely a form of oppression and stops children thinking.

People have criticised Freire’s argument as a political one, not an educational one. They also argue that students cannot think critically without a base level of knowledge to argue from.