Paulo Freire and Jack Mezirow's Educational Theories and Integration into Christian Adult Education

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

In comparison with children and teenagers, adults have accumulated a foundation of knowledge and life experiences. They need to connect to learning to this knowledge and experience base. While adults are autonomous and self-directed, they also need to be free in order to share their stories and direct themselves. However, the traditional approaches to Christian adult education are generally limited to teaching theological principles and doctrines through teacher-centered, lecture-oriented modalities. Freire and Mezirow’s educational theories aim to create an environment that puts the adult learners in great control of their learning situation, by empowering them with the tools and information to make decisions about their own directions based on critical thought and reflection. Their theories address some critical concerns to the churches as approaches for adult education.
This study deals with three concepts that is attributed to Christian adult education. The first of these concepts is that churches are challenged to consider the value of life-related learning, which is the best approach to engage in generative learning because learning and life are two coordinates which start and end together. The second concept that Freire and Mezirow have developed is that of the horizontal teacher-learner relationship, which is seldom valued in the Korean church adult education. Freire and Mezirow view the role of the teacher as a facilitator and see learner as a co-investigator of knowledge, reality, and truth, The teacher, as a facilitator, constantly reform his reflections in the reflection of the learners. The third concept is that of fostering a dialogical learning community in teaching-learning process as an important approach that helps a person grow towards maturity as a Christian in all areas of life. Lecture has been a primary modality in traditional church education. For Freire and Mezirow, however, dialogue that promotes critical reflection and transformation among people replaces lecture as the primary modality. In this sense, this article explores Freire and Mezirow’s educational concepts that impact directions in adult education and discusses how educational philosophy of both theories can be integrated into Christian adult education.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

In comparison with children and teenagers, adults have accumulated a foundation of knowledge and life experiences. They need to connect to learning to this knowledge and experience base. While adults are autonomous and self-directed, they also need to be free in order to share their stories and direct themselves. However, the traditional approaches to Christian adult education are generally limited to teaching theological principles and doctrines through teacher-centered, lecture-oriented modalities. Freire and Mezirow’s educational theories aim to create an environment that puts the adult learners in great control of their learning situation, by empowering them with the tools and information to make decisions about their own directions based on critical thought and reflection. Their theories address some critical concerns to the churches as approaches for adult education.
This study deals with three concepts that is attributed to Christian adult education. The first of these concepts is that churches are challenged to consider the value of life-related learning, which is the best approach to engage in generative learning because learning and life are two coordinates which start and end together. The second concept that Freire and Mezirow have developed is that of the horizontal teacher-learner relationship, which is seldom valued in the Korean church adult education. Freire and Mezirow view the role of the teacher as a facilitator and see learner as a co-investigator of knowledge, reality, and truth, The teacher, as a facilitator, constantly reform his reflections in the reflection of the learners. The third concept is that of fostering a dialogical learning community in teaching-learning process as an important approach that helps a person grow towards maturity as a Christian in all areas of life. Lecture has been a primary modality in traditional church education. For Freire and Mezirow, however, dialogue that promotes critical reflection and transformation among people replaces lecture as the primary modality. In this sense, this article explores Freire and Mezirow’s educational concepts that impact directions in adult education and discusses how educational philosophy of both theories can be integrated into Christian adult education.

참고문헌 (Reference)

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15 Wlodkowski, Raymond J., "Enhancing Adult Motivation to Learn: A comprehensive Guide for teaching all adults" Jossey-Bass Publishers 1999

16 Isaacs, William, "Dialogue: And the art of thinking together" Double day 1999

17 Moore, T. M., "Concientization and Christian education:The process pedagogy of Paulo Freire" 31 (31): 454-464, 1988