Article/14/11/07
Can Liberation Pedagogy be Implemented in Aceh?
By: Teuku Zulfikar A. Karim | Lecturer at Imam Bonjol Islamic State Institute, Currently, a Ph.D. Candidate in Multicultural Education, Faculty of Education, Monash University Australia
 

The Nature of Liberation Pedagogy        

Observing and experiencing injustice in Brazil, Paulo Freire (1921-1997) constructed the idea of liberation pedagogy; education “that frees a person from domination and oppression”[i]. The essence of liberation pedagogy is to foster students’ self-consciousness as well as awareness about the conditions of their societies. Freire hopes that this consciousness will develop critical awareness of social, political and economic conditions. The whole idea of liberation pedagogy is to free the minorities from being oppressed by the authority. Freire believes that in order to enable education to free the oppressed from the authority, education should be structured based on teachers’ determination, which is free from authority’s interference.

In teaching and learning, liberation pedagogy rejects the idea of mere transferring or lecturing knowledge from teachers to students, known as teachers talk-students listen. Instructional process should take place in a democratic atmosphere through dialogues and mutual understanding.

Liberation pedagogy recognizes two instructional systems: banking and problem posing. Yet liberation pedagogy is in favour of the later than the former because banking system is characterized by teachers’ dominant roles in transferring knowledge; teachers give lecture, which is a little or no time for questioning provided. Problem posing system, on the other hand, is where instructional system is arranged in such a way that permits critical dialogues to solve problems. Teachers and students develop mutual understanding and solve problems through critical dialogues.

Teachers from the stand point of liberation pedagogy should be radical, tough, rigorous as well as humble. Teachers are supposed to be critical toward socioeconomic conditions that affect the continuity of their students’ learning and the longevity of educational institutions. Freire emphasizes that teachers should not be neutral observing political reality that affects education; they should be radical and critique the power of authority.

Teachers who hold liberation pedagogy ideas should have a sense of humility; respect as well as appreciate their students. These humble teachers will not position themselves as the most intelligent figures, which put them on the side of oppressors and make students as the oppressed. When the feeling of mutual appreciation has emerged, dialogical atmosphere will be possible to occur.

However, one may question, isn’t “liberation pedagogy” remain a myth and cliche`? The idea of liberation pedagogy is a marvellous idea. In fact, in theoretical basis, such system may be able to change the world. Yet, the question on how to implement it remains unanswered.  The technique to implement this idea is vague; it is difficult to detach education from the interference of government authority. In many countries, authorities determine and decide the form of education; curriculum is designed centrally; finance is also provided based on authority’s discretion; teachers are recruited based on authority’s selection; and standardized tests, which are designed by the authority are the only forms of test used in education.

The centralization of educational system is a huge barrier to challenge in order to implement liberation pedagogy’s ideas. The status quo that has been in existence for ages is one of the inhibiting factors in implementing the ideas of liberation pedagogy. Educational practitioners in many countries, for example, have had a hard time finding ways to challenge the status quo. The authority is still in power to decide regulations for education ignoring ideas from experts on education. Teachers are forced by regulation to use centralized curriculum and use standardized tests as the mere assessment techniques.

The other factor that may hinder the implementation of liberation pedagogy is the negligence of teachers to share their power and to promote critical dialogue with their students. They regard student as subordinate, and thus knowledge should merely be transferred through lecture and no need for critical dialogue.

 

The Aceh Context
Returning to my original question, can liberation pedagogy be implemented in Aceh? Before answering the question, I would say, it should be implemented. This so called good educational system should be implemented in Aceh as a means to improve the instructional process in schools. Such a system would foster students’ critical thinking, which is the noblest objective of education around the globe. Educational institutions are not in a position to feed students; instead, they should empower students to think critically and to learn to express opinions. This idea is in line with what Charles Kendall Adams stated, “No student ever attains very eminent success by simply doing what is required of him: it is the amount and excellence of what is over and above the required, that determines the greatness of ultimate distinction”. This statement is just very true when we put into our context (Aceh context); students in Aceh in all levels of education should be trained to think beyond what is required. Their learning intention should be shifted from the idea of obtaining passing grade per se to the notion of changing behaviour; learning is a process of changing behaviour, not the process of obtaining high grade (mark). Educational institutions in Aceh should be able to put such idea to all Acehnese students’ heads. Unless such idea is implemented, students in Aceh will be powerless.

However, if implementing such educational system is a must, then how can such system be implemented? This system can be implemented with the commitment and knowledge. As Aceh has gained its autonomy status, the local government and educational policymakers are urged to be more committed to educational issues. The two parties (local government and educational policymakers) need to work cooperatively; they should reunite their intention to work for the sake of Acehnese young generations. Once either of the parties seems to be negligent, the other party need to use transformational resistance or creative mal-adjustments to assure that education in Aceh should drive toward liberating students’ minds. This is the first available way to implement liberation pedagogy in Aceh. Transformational resistance and creative mal-adjustments refer to the humblest way of criticising. For example, if the local government is ignorant or negligent with the future of education in Aceh, educational policymakers should remind the government for their negligence, and vice versa.

The second factor leading to the success of implementing liberation pedagogy is knowledge. It means that teachers should be empowered with more knowledge. Not all teachers are aware of the term liberation pedagogy. Teacher education can be the medium to enhance teachers’ quality in Aceh schools. The rest of this article will elucidate two significant techniques that can be instilled to teachers in Aceh; consideration and self-development.

Teachers are expected not only to be competent in their fields but also to be qualified in teaching methodologies. Without processing qualified teaching skills, teachers will be incapable of delivering their knowledge to students effectively. For this reason, empowering teachers by inserting adequate teaching techniques is considered necessary. Many techniques that can be used to empower pre-service and in-service teachers have been developed by professionals such as Thomas L. Good, a professor at the University of Arizona and Jere E. Brophy from Michigan State University. In their book, Looking into the Classroom, they emphasize that positive teacher attitudes are very powerful tools to educate students successfully. Two important teachers’ positive attitudes are expressing appreciation and balancing the roles of teachers and students in the classroom. To Dr. Good and Dr. Brophy, teachers should be willing to sincerely appreciate their students and are willing to decrease their classroom domination by sharing their roles with students.

Appreciation may come in many forms; different levels of education require different forms of appreciation. For example, teachers teaching in elementary schools may choose to express their appreciation using simple presents such as providing certificate of appreciation, while university professors may express different kinds of appreciation. They may provide personal writing supervision for students who are good in writing, for instance. In addition, in the attempt of sharing their roles in the classroom, teachers regard their students as colleagues. This is because teachers can also learn from their students as can their students learn from them. A good teacher is the one who is willing to learn while teaching because only by doing so he/she is capable of empowering himself/herself. The above nature of teaching is what I call as consideration.

In addition to the above attitudes, qualified teachers are also engaged in self-development. Other teacher educator, Dawn Francis,[ii] a professor in James Cook University of North Queensland, Australia, offer a technique that can be used by teachers in engaging in self-development. According to Dr. Francis, a reflective journal is one of the powerful tools in the attempt to enhance teachers’ awareness toward their classroom’s practices. The reflective journal is a written form of self-reflection on teacher’s practices. Reflective journals can help teachers to state their focus and determine what they are going to attain in their teaching. The other benefit of the reflective journal is that it permits teachers to review and evaluate their teaching experiences and learn from them to revise their ways of teaching and produce better classroom activities in the future.

Teachers may choose to write their reflective journals either prior to their teaching, known as reflection for action or after teaching, known as reflection on action. In writing journals, teachers should first summarize their previous classroom practices. They should be able to note key points of their previous teaching. For example, teachers implement corporal punishment for students who failed to finish their homework. In the second stage of their writing process, teachers talk to themselves by asking questions whether that particular approach was effective or not. From that point, teachers are able to determine whether to continue using that particular strategy or select other options to approach the same problem. Writing the reflective journal is not a new method in enhancing teachers’ teaching skills; it has been widely accepted in the educational sector, at least in the Western world.

Enhancing teachers’ quality through the two techniques would help to the success of the implementation of liberation pedagogy in Aceh Schools. Commitment and knowledge should co-exist to assure that liberation pedagogy takes place in Aceh school settings. If one factor is absent, such fabulous educational system will remain a myth and a cliche`.

 

Closing Remarks

Even though the implementation of liberation pedagogy remains a myth in some society, such system is worth trying in Aceh with two requirements; commitment and knowledge. The local government and educational policymakers in Aceh should be committed to the bright future of education in Aceh. At the same time, teachers are urged to constantly improve their qualification through various means, one of which is self development. I would like to close this article with a proverb “a good beginning makes a good ending.” When we “the Acehnese” in all levels of status start with a genuine intention to rebuild Aceh with all means necessary for the sake of who live today, tomorrow and in the future, the brighter Aceh with dignity will become the reality.(tz.ak - www.acehinstitute.org)

All rights reserved © Copyrights by The Aceh Institute - 2007 | Please quote, refer, download, cite, and spread this website’s content by mentioning name of the authors and “Aceh Institute” as the source along with its link, www.acehinstitute.org