Engaging Paulo Freire on deliberative democracy: Dialogical pedagogy, deliberation and inclusion in a transformative higher education online education space

Abstract

An effective education system is an environment where students feel cared for, included and are able to deliver critical dialogical input in their learnings on Learning Management Systems (LMS) platforms. The article aims to epitomizes quality education where skills, values and equal distribution of resources can be accessed by all. This includes effectively trained lecturers who manages diversity and teach effectively, to foster success, and to provide a safe and friendly classroom environment for students. This article comes from a larger work done on how to administer clear dialogical and caring aims (policy) in higher online education spaces where students grow holistically and critically. The paper focuses on the kind of space lecturers need to create online in-order to provide students the opportunity to be part of a caring teaching and learning process in order to form part of an active citizenry beyond their immediate context. This article employed a qualitative research methodology, where a questionnaire was used for lecturers at the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of the Free State. These questionnaires covered 30 lecturers who made use of the University’s LMS’ platform. The data was analyzed through the interpretivist paradigm. The finding in this article reveal that the little to no cultivation of critical pedagogical action vis-à-vis the enactment of activism and justice in and through higher education in the context of real pedagogical action in online (LMS) higher education spaces are important. The study is significant because it emphasizes a topic that are helpful in understanding how critical pedagogical action through Freire’s dialogical theory in the online (LMS) higher education platforms ought to be engaged.Contribution: The contribution in this article is an amendment to Freire’s pedagogy frame work framed with the Faculty of Theology and Religion and extending his notion of dialogical engagement to deliberative action in the online (LMS) higher education space is critical tenant for student wholistic growth.

Freirean Utopian Didactic: A Retrospective View of Education in the South African Education Environment

“…The true definition of commitment is not in standing by what is most familiar and comfortable, but in being prepared to act in a world that is always shifting and unpredictable. According to Freire, pursuing political clarity is crucial, but this is not the same as sticking steadfastly to a stance when circumstances call for a subtle and nuanced re-evaluation of the options available to us (Pietersen, 2022). This has never been truer than now in the light of the educational crisis facing South Africa.…”

“…This love seeks to create a more open society, a society that serves the interests of the always unprotected and devalued subordinate classes and not only the interests of the rich, the fortunate, the so-called well-born (Freire, 1993b, p.140). Pietersen (2022) further alludes to the fact that the foundation of Freire's epistemology is human interaction, which has a significant impact on his educational theory and his dialectical understanding of reality. According to Freire, understanding is a uniquely human process that involves engaging in conversation with people and interacting with a dynamic environment, which can be compared to a utopian educational universe.…”

Techno-Rationalism and Higher Educational Law: Examining Legal Frameworks in Southern African Universities from a Freirean Critical Pedagogy Perspective

“…The critical pedagogy of Freire has foregrounded this work. This theory is applicable because it advocates for an emancipatory theoretical framework that questions educational spaces, such as higher education institutions, where people can be politically, socially and economically empowered or disempowered (Pietersen, 2022;Ross, 2018;Sant, 2021). Furthermore, what Freire does in his theory is to encourage dialectic engagement, which is to say, he implores any disenchanted community of society to be liberated.…”

Geslagsgelykheid in opvoedkundige ruimtes en praktyke: ’n feministies-pedagogiese ondersoek

“…Volgens Young, Marshall en Edwards (2017) moet vroue gereeld patriargie in die onderwys konfronteer, want soms is diskriminasie, sosiale en kulturele beperkings (Vanner, Holloway en Almanssori 2022) en beperkte toegang tot hulpbronne diep ingebed in opvoedkundige praktyke en ruimtes (Griffiths 2022). Daar is 'n aantal deurslaggewende stappe wat gedoen kan word om hierdie kwessies aan te spreek sodat feministiese en getransformeerde prosesse en praktyke meer transformerend binne die Afrika-en Suid-Afrikaanse konteks kan wees (Pereira 2012;Pietersen 2022). Volgens Collins (2009) moet swart vroue se ervarings toegeëien word:…”