He Role of education in the transformation of society Was not raised until, in the decade of the 70s in the 20th century, some publications by the Brazilian educator Paulo Freire opened a debate that is still in force.
Although education is understood as a process that seeks the development of the competencies of individuals to favor their access to opportunities, the question is: what is it for in society?
In this sense there are two clear currents: the first, believes that the role of education is to reproduce a system, a social order; The second, considers that education has the responsibility of resistance and social transformation.
It is possible to mention a third current that considers that it is both: on the one hand, perpetuate aspects of an established order that guarantee equilibrium to society and, on the other, the formation of human beings critical, constructive and capable of Imagine a new future.
The educational processes that seek social transformation are known as popular education. These trends have led to adepts working in processes of building new knowledge in communities through education.
This new vision appeared to downplay the education inherited from modernity in which the role of the individual focused on repeating techniques and methodologies with the purpose of achieving success at an almost personal level.
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Aspects in which society is transformed by education
Education and ethics
From one Ethical dimension , Education seeks to create a reality with justice and equity, allowing the individual to live and build with dignity.
The view of the learner changes when he is educated, because he is no longer formed to achieve personal success but to carry out, in community, the transformations that society requires.
Individuals capable of transforming
Education that seeks the transformation of reality requires training men and women capable of changing not only their reality but that of their community. For this they must develop an organizational capacity against what one wants to change.
In this sense, education has a political dimension, where individuals know the system of organization of their society, know exactly in what instances and in what times they can make transformations and dare to do so.
From this perspective, in the workplace it is possible to recognize an education that transforms the thought of a trained worker to make and reproduce techniques in a mind that thinks and designs a more equitable, just and creative way of transforming the existing.
At the social level, orienting education towards transformation allows changing the paradigm of education as a tool to achieve success for education as a mechanism to take care of one's own community.
In the cultural space this vision fails to see culture as an elite practice in which only some recreate themselves with the spectacle of others, to be understood as a process of expression of knowledge.
Finally at an economic level, education for social transformation places the individual elsewhere.
From a strictly productive function, it begins to recover its nature of construction of meaning in community during the production of goods and services, resorting to its role of caretaker and resource generator in a sustainable way.
Knowledge of reality
Thinking about education for social transformation involves developing pedagogies tailored to those who will be trained. It is about knowing and mastering a language that allows the dialogue between those who guide a process of social organization and organized individuals.
The pedagogical dimension of education implies understanding the reality and identifying in the language of the community the needs and the opportunities to solve them.
Tools for an education that transforms
For decades, popular culture researchers developed multiple methodologies to approach communities and develop educational processes within them.
Creative ways were created as games to recognize, express and document the thinking and feeling of the community and although they were very innovative they did not achieve the goal of educating to transform society.
Thus, the research has been oriented to review contents that help in the formation of critical and analytical minds.
This methodological dimension has made that through participatory research processes a permanent dialogue with the community is established so that they recognize and appropriate their own forms of knowledge.
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State and education
Education policy has to do with other state policies; It is essential to have a policy of finance that recognizes and promotes an education for the transformation of society.
It is important to specify and develop contents for schools and universities, allocate the necessary resources to carry out the necessary processes in the various communities that integrate society and support the teacher training processes.
It is also necessary to establish processes in the medium and long term, which exceed government periods, when thinking about an education for social transformation since each community has its own rhythm for the recognition of its reality, adoption of tools and construction of the new Vision of their needs and solutions.
In addition, education designed to transform reality requires the State to develop a successful job creation policy so that the formation of individuals is not frustrated and exploited by communities.
Education in the knowledge society
The accelerated Development of information and communication technologies Define new challenges for education in its role of transforming reality.
The conversion of data into information and information into knowledge requires individuals who not only master new technological developments but also do so with analytical and critical thinking.
Another aspect is the emergence of a new challenge that consists in learning to learn that is revealed by the accelerated dynamics of information production and technology development.
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References
- Kirkwood, G., & Kirkwood, C. (2011). Living adult education: Freire in Scotland (Vol. 6). Springer Science & Business Media.
- Freire, P. (1985). The politics of education: Culture, power, and liberation . Greenwood Publishing Group.
- Apple, M. W. (2012). Education, politics and social transformation. Researching and teaching social issues: The personal stories and pedagogical efforts of teachers of education , P.p: 7-28.
- Reid, A., Jensen, B., Nickel, J., & Simovska, V. (2008). Participation and learning: developing perspectives on education and the environment, health and sustainability. Participation and Learning , P.p: 1-18.
- Freire, P., & Veiga Coutinho, J. (1970). Cultural action for freedom (Pp. 476-521). Harvard educational review.