SHALU VARGHESE
2019MSW29
The English term “conscientisation” is a
translation of the Portuguese term
‘conscientização ’ .
The term is also translated as “consciousness
raising” and “critical consciousness”.
The term was popularised by Brazilian
educator, activist and theorist Paulo Freire.
The concept of conscientisation is briefly
defined in ‘Pedagogy of the Oppressed’
(Freire, 1972a) as “learning to perceive social,
political, and economic contradictions, and to
take actions against the oppressive elements
of reality”
The theory of Paulo Freire integrated educational
practice with liberation from oppressive
conditions.
Freire’s work emphasized dialogue, praxis, the
grounding of education in lived experiences, and
heightening people’s consciousness to enhance
the belief that they have the power to transform
reality, specifically with respect to addressing
oppression.
According to him, only individuals who are
socially conscious are only able to transform the
world by their action
Conscientisation is the action or process of
making others aware of political and social
conditions, especially as a precursor to
challenge inequalities of treatment or
opportunity.
It is the process of developing people’s
critical awareness of their situation in
relation to the bigger social realities and their
own capacity to transform realities.
It is the education for critical consciousness.
The issues must have importance to the
people
All education and development projects
should start by identifying the issues that the
local people speak with commitment, hope,
fear, anxiety or anger.
It is important to ensure people’s
participation.
Problem solving approach
The whole process is viewed as a common
search for solution to problems with the
people as partner or active participant in all
phases of problem solving.
Problem solving approach is in the contrast to
the banking approach of education where
people are seen as empty vessels needing to
be filled with knowledge.
Dialogue
Education is a mutual learning process.
Community organizers serve as facilitators
whose role is to set up a situation in which
genuine dialogue can take place, where each
shares one’s experiences, listens and learns
from others.
In a community organisation, a social worker
provides a situation in which people critically
reflect on what they are doing.
Social worker identify any new information and
training that people need and plan their action.
By setting a regular cycle of action-reflection-
action in which people are constantly measuring
their success or analysing critically the cause of
mistakes and failures, they can become more
capable of effectively transforming their daily life.
Conscientisation is a dynamic process in which
education and development are totally
interwoven.
The main goal of conscientising education is to
involve the whole community in actively
transforming the quality of each person’s life, the
environment of the community and the whole
society.
Each person has a contribution to make in
transforming the society and process of
conscientisation helps each person become more
capable and committed to the transformation of
society and the whole nation.
https://www.ivaw.org/sites/default/files/documen
ts/Key%20Principles%20of%20Freire.pdf
Paulo Freire, ‘Cultural action for Freedom’ , Boston:
Harvard Educational Review, 2000
