[Reading-hall-of-fame] Message for ILD

[tsticht at znet.com]

A Message for International Literacy Day September 8th, 2005

International Literacy Day and The Legacy of Paulo Freire (1921-1997)

Tom Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Education

>From 1987 through 1995 I had the honor and privilege of working with Paulo
Freire for one week each year when we both served as members of UNESCO’s
International Jury that selects the literacy prize winners recognized by
UNESCO yearly on International Literacy Day

Already an international giant of adult literacy education when he joined
the Jury in 1987, Paulo brought his philosophy of literacy for liberation
and freedom to the evaluation of candidatures for literacy prizes from
countries where millions of adults were oppressed. He brought a passion to
the evaluation of candidatures often expressed by clenching his hands in a
fist, clutching his chest and saying, "I love this program!" He was also
quick to provide a critical commentary when he thought that a program had
mistakenly claimed that it followed "the Freirean method", and he
admonished the Jury that there was no such method.

During the Jury’s deliberations regarding candidatures, and on our breaks
when we would take tea or coffee, I had occasions to listen to him and to 
talk informally with him about his philosophy of education and literacy,
and how he had worked early on in his career with the poor and oppressed
peasants of Brazil.

Still today, millions of adults and their families around the world live in
constant fear that they will not have adequate water, food, health care and
security for their very lives. Many live in conditions of economic and
political oppression, and they may perceive that they have little chance in
changing their lives in any significant manner. For this reason they may
elect to stay away from literacy classes. They see no use for literacy in
their lives. In these circumstances Freire’s approach to adult literacy
education, if not a method, as he would claim, is nonetheless an approach
that can instill a feeling of confidence in adult learners and motivate
them to engage in literacy learning.

In his work, Freire developed an approach to education aimed at helping
adults liberate themselves from the oppression of others. To do this he
first concentrated on  teaching adults to "read the world" so they could
then "read the word."  By "reading the world" he meant helping adults
understand the differences between the world of nature and the world of
culture. Nature is made by natural forces and is not subject to change by
humans. Culture on the other hand is made by humans and can be changed by
humans. We "read the world" to know what is nature and what is culture.
Oppressive conditions are cultural and hence capable of being changed by
humans.

Literacy is a technology for helping humans change the cultural contexts in
which they live so that they can achieve social justice and is hence
worthwhile learning. This line of reasoning was to motivate adults to learn
to read and write. To start the process, Freire introduced the use of
"multiple literacies," though he did not call his practice that. He used
pictures that adult literacy students "read" to distinguish what in the
picture was due to nature and what was due to culture, i.e., human actions.
In discussing the pictures, the adults demonstrated that they possessed a
lot of knowledge about the world, including both nature and culture. This
knowledge was drawn on in teaching reading.
Freire listened to the adult learners discuss pictures depicting various
situations and then chose words that the students used to start the process
of teaching literacy. Words with a lot of emotional meaning, such as
"favela" (slum) were selected to teaching decoding of the written language.
The word was first discussed, along with a picture of a situation denoted by
the word. Then the word was broken into syllables –FA-VE-LA. This was
continued until the word could be read (decoded) fluently. This method of
"reading the world" and then "reading the word" was used extensively to
build on the knowledge that adults possessed  and to teach them to read the
language that they used to express their knowledge. Then new knowledge was
introduced to stimulate adults to take actions to change their oppressive
situations.

Freire contrasted this learner-centered, participatory approach in which the
adults helped determine the content and direction of their own education
with the more traditional, school-centered education in which policymakers,
administrators or teachers determine the content and direction of education
and attempt to deposit and "bank" knowledge in learner’s minds even if they
do not understand the value of the new knowledge.

In 1975 Paulo Freire was awarded a UNESCO Literacy Prize for his work on the
pedagogy of the oppressed. Over a quarter century later, in 2003, a
non-governmental organization called the International Reflect Circle
(CIRAC) was awarded a UNESCO literacy prize for its work which built upon
the work of Freire. The acronym REFLECT stands for Regenerated Freirean
Literacy through Empowering Community Techniques.

The REFLECT approach to adult literacy development makes use of "multiple
literacies", much as did Freire in using pictures and other graphic tools
to help adults "read the world."  To assist adults in capturing their own
knowledge the REFLECT teachers show them how to make maps of their
communities, construct matrices, flow charts, and other graphics to analyze
their needs and assist them in arguing for needed services and social
justice.

REFLECT makes use of internet technologies and has formed an international
network of some 350 organizations and individuals in 60 nations to
facilitate sustainable community development using a participatory and
democratic process of reflection by adults in the development of their own
literacy education.

Through the work of REFLECT and numerous other groups around the world,
Paulo Freire’s learner-centered, participatory approach to adult literacy
education continues to help marginalized, socially excluded adults develop
the confidence and abilities they need to not just "read the world," but to
change it. This is an enduring legacy of the work of Paulo Freire.

This year celebrate Paulo Freire’s work and the work of tens of thousands of
adult literacy educators and their students around the world on September
8th, International Literacy Day.

Thomas G. Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Education
2062 Valley View Blvd.
El Cajon, CA 92019-2059
Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133
Email: tsticht at aznet.net