Tonight is Thursday and tomorrow is the preliminary assessment of my portfolio and not a child in the house washed. I have just put a representation of me on my blog and comforted by the fact that it worked I am now going to attempt to put a picture of Paulo Freire onto my blog along with a website which explains his educational method in simple terms. Here goes...........

http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-freir.htm

Hi, it's me cramming it in before the preliminary assessment.
I should have said, on reflection, that what makes Friere's method of education different from the norm is, basically, that it is relevant to the everyday lives of people. I also want to say at this point that I will be concluding my blog by asserting that community work isn't about work but is a way of life, an attitude. It's not something that you can switch off or compartmentalise. Although it is admirable for people to 'give back' to the community, in reality that is their agenda and this initially may be at odds with the needs of the community. With much listening and checking out common ground on which progress can be made, a common agenda can be found. Also there is no need to leave the College to find a community - the College is a community, as is the group of each year.
To get back to my group. I don't know if I mentioned that they were a group of middle aged women. Having agreed on confidentiality we then brainstormed what was seen as the main issues for women of their age group within their community. Issues identified were: financial, given the current climate; health, the older body, changes, obesity and fitness; family, children and grandchildren. The women got quite animated through having a platform to air concerns. I found that the final point about children/grandchildren was the issue most of the group felt strongly about. The meeting ended and given the length of time the group would be together decided to take this one issue to pursue it further using a Frierian method. That is for next week. Night Night all.

Back on line after my modem died last week. I wanted to talk about Paulo Friere. He was an educator in Brazil, where he was born into a middle class family. The great depression in 1929 saw his family lose everything. Friere learned many lessons in the 'university of life' after that. He discovered that many people couldn't read or write and became conscious of the fact that with literacy being a requirement for voting, these people could not be involved in any political decisions being made in their country. When Friere's family's misfortunes turned around he went to University and over time developed a method of learning. I don't want to go on about it but he was imprisoned as a traitor during a coup in 1964. He later published a book Education and the Practice of Freedom and his famour Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Don't rush out and buy these books as they are very difficult to read. As with Joyce's Ulysses, there are reading circles who meet to discuss Frieres writing. Anyway, I discovered Friere while studying for my social work qualification and being aware that I would avoid becoming merely an agent for the State, was delighted to find Friere. I completed my final practical placement in Edinburgh where I intended learning more about the practice of his learning. While there I discovered a project, The Adult Learning Project, who used Friere's method in their project. I began to use it myself and was hooked. It is so simple and yet the most powerful way of raising people's consciousness. Friere's method is chiefly about consciousness raising and the use of 'praxes' i.e. reflecting on an issue, taking action to improve the situation and reflecting on the outcome, moving on to take further action and reflecting on that etc etc. Have you all gone to sleep after that rant? My next blog will see me use Friere's method within a group. Cheers for now.