THE 3rd INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC CONFERENCE ON SOCIAL SCIENCES
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The Banking Concept of Education and the Use of Technology in Tertiary Instructional Delivery for Relevance at the Global Scene 2
Adamu Isah, Anne E. Omori
Institute of Education, University of Calabar, NIgeria
[email protected] [email protected] Abstract: Paulo Freire was a famous Brazilian educationist who strongly advocated for an educational system that empowers the masses. He condemned what he termed as “banking concept of education”, where students/learners are treated as if they are nothing more than storage banks. They are provided with information which they store in their memories so that they might regurgitate the information at later date. This at the end produces students who are passive member of society, who can hardly withstand the challenges of global competitiveness. Therefore, this paper has made a theoretical attempt to discuss the Paulo Freire’s banking concept of education and the Nigerian university method of instructional delivery. The study adopts the descriptive research method. Data used in the study were mainly obtained from secondary sources, such as related books, web – sites, journals, conference papers and other texts. The paper exposed the “banking concept of education” and tertiary instructional method, pragmatising the contents and techniques of teaching and instructional delivery method using technology for relevance at the global scene. The paper finally recommends among others for the liberation of education to enable both youths and adults to tremendously explore their potentialities so as to believe in themselves, to think creatively and to be progressively productive. Introduction The banking concept of education was an idea perceived and conceptualised by Paulo Freire, a Brazilian educationist of the 19th century who aimed at conscientising the people particularly the underprivileged, through engendering awareness and consciousness about the social conditions which oppressed them. He described the banking concept of education as similar to depositing money in the banks. In this case education becomes an art of depositing in which students are the ‘depositories’ and the teacher is the depositor. The teacher issues communiqué instead of communicating, he makes deposit which students patiently receive, memorise and regurgitate during examination. Amukowa [2] exposed that Freire (1969) observed that the more completely the majority adapt to the purposes which the dominant minority prescribe for them (thereby depriving them of the right to their own purposes), the more easily the minority can continue to prescribe. The theory and practice of banking education serve this end quite efficiently. Verbalistic lessons, reading requirements (dictation of lecture notes), the methods for evaluating "knowledge," the distance between the teacher and the taught, the criteria for promotion, everything in this ready-to-wear approach serves to obviate thinking. The bank-
clerk educator does not realize that there is no true security in his hypertrophied role that one must seek to live with others in solidarity. Solidarity requires true communication, and the concept by which such an educator is guided fears and proscribes communication. Yet only through communication can human life hold meaning. The teacher’s thinking is authenticated only by the authenticity of the students thinking. The teacher cannot think for his students, nor can he impose his thought on them. Authentic thinking, thinking that is concerned about reality, does not take place in ivory tower isolation, but only in communication. If it is true that thought has meaning only when generated by action upon the world, the subordination of students to teachers becomes meaningless. In this regard, (Freire, 1969 held that: “Because banking education begins with a false understanding of men and women as objects, it cannot promote the development of what Fromm calls "biophily," but instead produces its opposite: "necrophily." While life is characterized by growth in a structured, functional manner, the necrophilous person loves all that does not grow, all that is mechanical. The necrophilous person is driven by the desire to transform the organic into the inorganic, to approach life mechanically, as if all living persons were things (…) Memory, rather than experience; having, rather than being, is what
THE 3rd INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC CONFERENCE ON SOCIAL SCIENCES
counts. The necrophilous person can relate to an object—a flower or a person—only if he possesses it; hence a threat to his possession is a threat to himself; if he loses possession he loses contact with the world (…) He loves control, and in the act of controlling he kills life”. Looking at the implication of the oppression and the banking approach to education, Freire in Amukowa [2] discussed that oppression— overwhelming control—is necrophilic; The banking concept of education, which serves the interests of oppression, is also necrophilic. Based on a mechanistic, static, naturalistic, spatialized view of consciousness, it transforms students into receiving objects. It attempts to control thinking and action, leads women and men to adjust to the world, and inhibits their creative power. In this regard, Freire held that the teacher has authority but does not become an authoritarian. He intervenes in order to help the learner reflect on aspects of his/her cultural, social and gender constructs and help the learner to think critically. His view of the teacher and the learner promotes human relations. The failure by the teachers and the learners to communicate has always resulted in strikes and demonstrations in our learning institutions. From this position, Freire urged both students and teachers to unlearn their race, class, and gender privileges and to engage in a dialogue with those whose experiences are very different from their own. Thus, he did not uncritically affirm student or teacher experiences but provided the conceptual tools with which to critically interrogate them so as to minimize their politically domesticating influences [10]. This therefore can promote an educational system that is functionally oriented whereby selection, organization and impartation of knowledge is concrete, practicable and usable rather than abstract and theoretical. This will to a great extent help to mould and produce individuals with talents and skills that they can withstand and perform even at the global scene. This paper therefore discussed the implications of Paulo Freire’s “banking concept of education” and the use of technology in tertiary instructional delivery for relevance at the global scene under the following headings; the “banking concept of education” and tertiary instructional method, practicalising the contents and techniques of teaching
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and using technology in instructional delivery method at the tertiary level. 2. The “Banking Concept Of Education” And Tertiary Instructional Method The concept of banking education is simply an idea that calls for a paradigm shift from teachercentred instructional delivery method to a learnercentred method. It can be easily observed that education in any society which employs the technique of pedagogy (Kabuga (1982) whether African, European or any other- is more or less a teacher-centred instructional method. This is because of the one way nature of the traditional African education, most at times is glorifying the teacher whose wisdom could not be challenged or questioned. Hiemstra & Sisco (1990) supported that there is little doubt that the most dominant form of instruction in Europe and America is pedagogy, or what some people refer to as didactic, traditional or teacher-directed approaches. Kabuga explained that such an education might have produce men with great memories, but not so many men with develop thinking faculties. He further added that, people who remember most may not necessarily be the ones who think more. While remembering is a backward-looking activity, thinking is a forward looking one, and any dynamic society needs more of such futurelooking citizens. Although Tijani [13] identified pedagogy as a concept that embraces critical thinking in the classroom both on the part of the teacher and his students, it assists in knowledge synthesis, learning and evaluation of students' performance. He however, (discouraged banking education) because he admonished that lecturers should engaged students in activities that embrace interactive techniques, dialogue, testing and culminate in the development of partnerships with students in order to enhance both teaching and learning. By integrating local examples, and methodologies with global best practices, promote innovation and creativity in the dispensing of knowledge. Biao [3] wrote this about pedagogy that “from Greece to Rome through Macedonia, pedagogues peddled their wares and taught their art. A pedagogue is a proponent of pedagogy. Pedagogy is the art of leading the youth through teaching. Pedagogy assumes first and foremost that
THE 3rd INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC CONFERENCE ON SOCIAL SCIENCES
education is a formal activity; secondly, it promotes rigid safeguards (school environment, educational curriculum, time-tabling etc.) within which education must take place; thirdly, it promotes the idea that the teacher detains all of the knowledge that is to be dispensed at school; fourthly, it arrogates to the teacher some amount of intimidating and monitoring roles even outside the school environment; sixthly, it considers its clientele to be persons possessing knowledge that would need to be unlearned before education can take place through teaching. Freire (1962) clearly pointed out in his most popular writing “pedagogy of the oppressed” the oppressive nature of the banking concept of education. Freire believed that many teachers employ within their instruction an element of education or method of teaching which is responsible for ignorance within students and ultimately oppression of the said students. He explained that the “banking concept” is when students are treated as if they are nothing more than storage banks. They are provided with information which they store in their memories so that they might regurgitate the information at a later date. Students are taught to accept everything the teacher says as true, they are not taught to question or to think creatively about the subject at hand. The student who is brought up in this environment becomes a passive member of the society. According to Freire the purpose of education is that teachers and learners should “learn to read reality so that they can write their own history”. This presupposes the ability to interpret the world critically and to change it in accordance with “viable unknown”. By taking action and reflecting through dialogue, learners and teachers take control of their lives. In contrast to the banking concept of education, Freire regards knowing about reality not as an individual or merely intellectual act. But knowing the world is a collective, practical process involving different kinds of knowledge, consciousness, feeling, desire, will and physicality. Every educational practice must recognize what learners and teachers know about the topic, and must generate collective, dialogical experiences so that both sites develop new knowledge. The celebrated statement by Freire that “No one knows everything and no one knows nothing, no one educate anyone, no one educates himself alone,
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people educate each other mediated by the world” needs to be read in this constructivist sense; whoever teaches learns and whoever learns teaches”. By looking at some of the characteristics of banking education analysed by Freire, one can easily point out some traces of such attributes in most of what goes on in the instructional method of delivery of most tertiary institutions in the third world countries. For instance, a teacher follows text or curriculum guided by grade level and date. Most of the time, all the students work on the same task, teachers expect learning results to occur in a normal curve A-F, teachers teach by “activities” suggested in the text or curriculum guide, the current instructional program may be isolated from what happened the year before or will happen after this year. Instruction is based on “things to teach in this grade”, the students grade is determined by testing done at the end of a sequence of learning. Paper and pencil are the major modes of testing, and primarily only language skills and mathematics are subjected to rigorous attention and evaluation (at some educational levels), lessons are usually designed to produce only one level of learning outcome, teaching to achieve independent learners with a zest for learning is incidental. Teachers focus on a one year view of students’ progress. The major record of students’ progress is the teachers’ grade book. Teachers assume major responsibility for what students do to learn. Students judge their achievement by comparison with others in the class. Students assume that if they are younger than the majority of the group, they are superior; if they are older they have failed. Students feel little pressure for being responsible for their own learning. “it is the teacher’s job to teach me”. Students feel little responsibility for self – direction. Students accept that they will “pass or fail”. [4] The banking concept of education allows the ‘oppressors’ to control the actions, thoughts and realities of people. It promotes a facet by which the elites can dominate and promote a “culture of silence” Cesaire [5]. Students are not allowed to question and when they do it complies with the limited ‘content’ the lecture allows. Take an example of a typical banking concept in the numerous seminars and workshops where the lecturer walked in, opened a folder, taught, closed the folder and left; 50 minutes deposit- transaction complete.
THE 3rd INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC CONFERENCE ON SOCIAL SCIENCES
3. Pragmatising the Contents and Techniques of Learning Learning at any level that is devoid of practical, but basically compounded on theory hardly produces any industrious outcome. Such students become full of theories, which can hardly be applied to solve their personal problems let alone that of the society in which they live. Education is never a neutral phenomenon and education alone according to Paulo Freire does not usher in changes, but it is such a fundamental strategy for change that is often neglected that makes it really impossible to transform learning into practice. Cesaire [5] further asserted that, it is no secret that we inhabit a post colonial space, how are we as future generation expected to recreate, develop, change, agitate dominant hegemony, if the very foundation that should engender the desire to do so, continually and consistently deposit enough asinine information to ensure we remained oppressed. According to Kabuga (1982) stated that, in Africa, (or rather some African countries) we should be unhappy about this education not only at the level of contents but also at the level of techniques. Unfortunately, because our education is alien, we seem to have concentrated more on content modifycation than on the modification of techniques. For example, we have been very anxious to include in our curriculum subjects like agriculture, as if it is possible to turn out farmers from school gardens. At some other times it is the changing of course titles or course codes. If we wish to rid our education of its crippling characteristics, we must show equal concern for both the content and the techniques. He further lamented that Africanizing the syllabus does not liberate the learner as long as the techniques used carry with them the banking concept characteristics. Any content transmitted pedagogically is incapable of being useful or of functioning or of liberating. It is incapable because such contents of education merely gets stored in the heads of learners and awaits recollection at an appropriate moment. Such contents may be likened to undigested food. Just as food builds our bodies when we have digested it and made it part of us, the educational content we acquire becomes useful when it helps us solve the problems we meet through our processes of growth and development. Pedagogy with its
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techniques is narrating, receiving, memorizing and repeating, prevents the digestion of the contents particularly the alien contents, so that it is not used. We need new techniques. Nevertheless, before thinking about such new techniques, we have to be absolutely clear about what we want out of education. It will be only then that we shall look for technique that will give us what we want. The new techniques have to be premised both on the dynamic nature of society and on that of the students and teachers, all of whom are in a constant process of maturation. These techniques must lead the learner to the realization of the most important thing education can give. Kabuga further articulated that life is an endless research problem that no student can ever come out of any educational institution with readymade solutions to it. The best that a student can hope to come out with are the techniques of learning and thinking about any problem life might present. With such technique the student will have been prepared to manage life on his own, and to discover new knowledge for himself. This will enable him to see the relationship of things and facts that were otherwise isolated and meaningless. These techniques will be his master key both to the doors of life and to the rooms of ignorance wherever the light of knowledge must shine. Therefore, pragmatising the contents and technique of our learning is an attempt to explain the need to endorse an approach that is generally aimed at producing individual who can transform themselves as well as the society. Unlike the pedagogical system of many formal schooling which Ingalla [11] stated that “It is becoming increasingly clear that formal school in our society generally aim at creating sameness and not difference. The members of a class for example are graded on the basis of how well they each acquire the same information presented in the same way to all. While this process appears necessary in order to produce doctors, engineers, lawyers, and teachers and so forth. It does not necessarily produce individuals who are different. In order words, it produces a person who can fill social and work roles, which is obviously important, but it does not tend to produce individuals who can transform society itself”.
THE 3rd INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC CONFERENCE ON SOCIAL SCIENCES
It was in this regard that Freire and Shor [8] further emphasized that the pursuit of critical education through anti-colonial perspectives require that learning promotes and sustains new perspective, create and originate ideas about what constitute schooling and education. Therefore, for this to take place, critical educators will have to ground themselves in a firm knowledge of the importance of educational transformation that links schooling and education to the broader socio-economic transformation of society for the benefit of all learners. Education should be seen as a social good in itself that should not necessarily be dominated by the needs of a particular sector of the society. Whether the content is academic or not, consciousness-raising through critical issues requires a deep level of engagement both from students and the teachers. It is crucial that the content be immediate and meaningful to students so that they become aware of both the reproductive nature and the possibility of resistance to problematic contents. Such content should be remodeled and reoriented through effective and well directed teaching as pointed out by Freire [7] supported this view thus “using teaching as a vehicle for social change, we tell ourselves that we need to teach our students to think critically so that they can detect the manipulations of advertising, analyse the fallacious rhetoric of politicians, expose their ideologies, resist the stereotypes of class, race and gender or depending on where you are coming from, hold the line against secular humanism and stop canon busting before it goes too far. Therefore, for this to be achieved teachers should put all efforts to teach students by and prepare them into real and practical social change agents.
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asserts that technology can be an enhancement to instructional delivery. “It can make good teaching even better, but it cannot make bad teaching good. Consequently, technology using by teachers [Professors] never can be a force for improved education unless they are first and foremost informed, knowledgeable shapers of their craft.” It almost goes without saying that without adequate knowledge or skills in technology, the professor is in peril when it comes to preparation for utilizing today’s “smart classroom.”
4. Instructional delivery using technology for Relevance at the Global Scene
The use of technology to enhance and reinforce concept formation during classroom instruction is fast becoming the rule rather than the exception in colleges and universities across (some African) nations. As technology in its various forms proliferate colleges and universities, findings from recent research studies on technology in the higher education arena reveal a mixed bag of both positive and negative impact. (Larson et al., 2002; Tomei, 2002; Valmont, 2003; Roblyer, 2006). This is because the use of standard tools of technology such as accessing Hyper-links, interactive board, Blackboard shells, platforms, web Boards, e-attachments, and public folders can become formidable challenges for even the most diligent Professor. [17]. Especially when one takes an average look at the daily routine in aca-demia which is fraught with course loads, committee work, advising of majors, departmental and university-wide responsibilities. University life, with the hectic daily grind, leaves little time for another set of skills to learn, moreover to develop the level of competence that allows for inclusion of these skills into teaching strategies. Clearly, this cannot be accomplished without spending adequate time and effort to learn tech-nologybased methods and to gain competence in the subsequent technology-related skills.[17].
Instructional delivery is a process in which teachers apply a repertoire of instructional strategies to communicate and interact with students around academic content, and to support student engagement. The teacher effectively engages students in learning by using a variety of instructional strategies in order to meet individual learning needs. Using technology in delivering instruction will to some extent reduce the impact or the effect of the banking concept of education. This is true considering the assertion of Roblyer [17] who views technology as a channel for helping teachers communicate better with students and
The engine of growth that fuels our education industry is linked firmly to our ability to develop and educate the most competent and adaptable workforce in our society. This is the only measure that can warrant our strength and chances to withstanding global challenges, display the outcome of our rigorous academic training and the impact of its relevance in all ramifications of human endeavours. It is expected that university graduates must be able to acquire knowledge and training so as to show case their potentialities and intellectual skills at the global scene. These institutions must have the wherewithal to bear the
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responsibility to training the future workforce of the global economy. The toughest part is that these institutions are no longer competing domestically; with globalization, they are now bench marked against education levels all around the world. Perhaps this increased competition and challenges will take education to the next level in preparing young students for the complexities of working in today’s globalised business and educational climate. In another development, Schuavelli [18] reve-aled recent studies by the American Association for the advancement of science and reported that the U.S science and engineering labour pool is getting older and that interest in these fields among younger people has waned. In order to keep that labour force strong and globally com-petitive, it is essential to recruit and cultivate future scientist and engineers into the pool of talents. He continued that, engineers in global economy, value college graduates who brought a combination of specialized technical aptitudes, adaptability and business skills to the workforce. This will require new approaches to higher education and new thinking about traditional undergraduates’ degree programs. Pennusi [16] aptly put it that no matter where you are in the world, the sustainability of almost every economy depends largely on one critical idea, young and highly educated workers must be able to fill the void created by an aging population leaving the workforce. In the competitive global economic landscape of today, even highly developed countries cannot afford to slide into downward educational trends. One can obtain great foresight into the future outcome of the global economy by simply comparing international education across industrialized economies. The only way tertiary institutions in West Africa and particularly Nigeria would be able to stand high and meet up with challenges at the global scene is by general upgrading and overhauling of the system, the curriculum, techniques and methods of teaching, examination and inventing new educational approaches that recognize our cultural and environmental context. Modes and methods of instruction should be constantly renewed and upgraded in relation to rapid global and technological changes.
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The highly inequitable and complex world that is emerging as a result of globalization and of the new economic and social order demands new, wider and more diversed competencies to be able to understand, anticipate, analyse and deal with such realities [15]. Most of the instructional method that goes on in our universities nowadays takes the form of lectures, discussions, presen-tations, assignments, tests and exams all of which do not always afford the students opportunity to challenge, think, explicate, hypothesize or interrogate, instead, the main goal is to cover enough chapter or enough information provided by the teacher so as to rehash the exact information in an examination in order to score an A. It can be easily observed that the new challenges posed by this national and international trend present a major opportunity to rethink teaching and learning system in higher institutions, in such a way that it becomes a means for personal, family and community development, for active citizenship building, for improving the lives of people and for active participation at the global scene. Therefore, instructional method must be explicitly framed and oriented especially at the tertiary level towards social transformation and human development that can withstand global challenges at all level. Today’s Nigeria is confronted with many challenges particularly the effects of globalization, with the emergence of newly industrialized and highly comparative countries. We have our demographic and educational trends with ageing population and high population of people who live at the mercy of the fast technological developments. Conclusion Based on the above discussion banking concept of education in its entirety must be abandoned adopting, instead an instructional delivery method that can withstand the taste of time. Teachers must acquire skills of passing information using modern technological gadgets, such as interactive white boards, clickers, GPS receivers, MP3 players, document cameras etc. They must abandon the educational goal of deposit making and replace it with the posing of the problems of individuals in their relation with the world. Then and only then will we have a transition not only from college to university but from student to critical thinker, from a stagnant nation to a progressive
THE 3rd INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC CONFERENCE ON SOCIAL SCIENCES
one and from desultory and uncompetitive pattern to a competitive one. 6. Recommendations All the platforms that create hindrances to university academic staff in becoming technologically competent must be removed. There should be adequate professional development opportunities over-time for all staff; workshops, seminars, and incentives provided at the college/university that foster technology literacy and usage in instructional delivery. Leadership that recognizes and values the role of technology as an enhancement to teaching and learning must assert more influence in changing the traditional teaching ethos. References [1] Alfonso, T.C. (2007) Paulo Freire and Educacio`n Popular. 10th Anniversary of Paulo Freire in Adult education & development, Vol 69. [2] Amukowa, W. (2013) Against Narration Sickness in Higher Education: Implications of Paulo Freire’s Banking Concept of Education on Achievement of University Education Objectives in Kenya in the light of the University act 2012 in Journal of Educational and Social Research, Vol 3(2) May. [3] Biao, I. (2006) Pedagogical and Andragogical Warfare and the Psycho-Sociology Of Andra-gogizing In Nigeria. Calabar. Unical Printing Press [4] Carlous, Nunes Hurtado (2005). Contribution to the Latin America debate on the Present and Future Relevance of Popular Education in Adult Education & Development IIZDVV, Institute for International Cooperation of the German Adult Education Association Vol 64 [5] Cesaire, A. (2000) Discourse on Colonialism. New York; Monthly Review Press. [6] Freire Paulo (2005). Pedagogy of the Oppressed (30th Anniversary Edition: Translated by Myra Bergman Ramos With an Introduction by Donaldo Macedo).The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc. New York. [7] Freire, P. (1998) Teachers as Cultural Workers. New York .West view press
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[8] Freire, P & Shor, I. (1987) A pedagogy for liberation; Dialogue on transforming education, New York. Bergin & gawey Publishers. [9] Hiemstra, R & Sisco, B (1990) Moving from Pedagogy to Andragogy: Individualizing Instruction; San Francisco. Jossey-Bass. [10] Hooks, B. (1994) Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. New York. Routledge publishers [11] Ingalla, J. D. (1976) Human energy- the critical factor for individuals and organization. Addison. Wesley publishing coy.inc.phillippine [12] Larson, D., Dutt-Doner, K.M. and Broyles, I. (2002) Don’t ask, Don’t Tell: A Flawed approach to technology standards in higher education. Journal of Information Technology. 11 (2), 123141. [13] Tijani, H (2012) Teaching Pedagogy and Methodology Across Discipline presented at 2-day workshop on Improved Teaching Methods in Tertiary Institutions organized by Afe Babalola University (ABUAD) Ado Ekiti on 6th – 7th June [14] Tomei, L.A. (2002) The Technology Façade. Boston: Allyn & Bacon Pub. [15] Torres, M. R. (2003) Lifelong Learning: A new momentum and a new opportunity for adult basic learning and education (ABLE) in the south. A study commissioned by SIDA (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. Institute for International Cooperation of the German Adult Education Association,No 60. [16] Pennusi, E. (2013) Education in an increasing global age. Retrieved from global-edge. msu.edu/blog/post/1499/education [17] Roblyer, M.D. (2006) Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall Publishers. [18] Schuavelli, M. D. (2006) “Brain Gain” Education Models are key to Nation’s global competitiveness. Retrieved from www.harrisburgu.net/news/article. aA [19] Valmont, W.J. (2003) Technology for Literacy Teaching and Learning. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Publishers.
