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Autonomy Pedagogy – Educators Gallery

Pedagogy for autonomy is a non-directive pedagogy that is based on learning circles, mediated by the teacher in a formal educational context, or in an informal context in the communities.

This Gallery of Educators for Autonomy is an effort to bring together biographies of educators who influence this pedagogical current in order to make a chronological movement on critical pedagogical thinking.

Approaches to pedagogy of autonomy, of libertarian influence, usually distinguish educational objectives in three categories:

The pedagogies of emancipation, which are concerned with the development of individuals and or transformation of society. Which constitutes the objective of the defending pedagogical practices;

Education as a reproduction of knowledge, techniques and values, which correspond to authoritarian process practices aimed at the uncritical reproduction of knowledge, and is therefore criticized.

and the “pedagogy of redemption”. The latter case, of the pedagogy of redemption, is little used in the design of formal education systems, referring to other social, correction and / or adult education institutions. It is also criticized for the pedagogy of autonomy.

The pedagogy of the autonomy of libertarian influence fits into the lines of transformation of individuals and society, emphasizing the libertarian, nonviolent and self-managed dimension of processes.

As an educational practice, part of the students’ participation in groups values ​​decision-making processes for participatory democracy. Libertarian pedagogy has several points of convergence with some pedagogical proposals, such as the Modern Method, The MEM, Peace Education, Freedom Education.

The pedagogical experience involves the production of relevant group knowledge, the reflection of the lived experiences and the proposal to develop a self-managed action process. The educational process is always anti-authoritarian, non-violent non-directive.
The role of the teacher is in this sense a mediator who helps and advises in the development of activities, and can perform some non-directive tutoring, starting from the identification that each student makes of their needs.

Based on group work, each individual is free to choose to participate. But the group should discuss all issues, and should develop multi-member integration activity.
Autonomy pedagogy seeks to develop relevant knowledge. For this reason, the process evaluation measure is its suitability to social practice and its potential use.
Alexander Neill and Carl Rogers are major influencers of the Pedagogy of Autonomy. We must not forget the proposals of the Catalan libertarians in the early twentieth century, such as Francisco Ferrer. In South America we can see the influence of Michel Lobrot, Paulo Freire and Fals Borda.

In Europe sometimes refers to the influence of the work of Célestin Freinet, and of the Modern School Movement. Some schools “Paideia” Free School; Paul Robin Orphanage Cempuis (1880 – 1894), The Movement of the Modern Schools (1901 – 1953), started by Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia, The Hive (1904 – 1917), by Sébastien Faure. Summerhill (1921 – present), by Alexander Neill.

Pedagogy for autonomy is a non-directive pedagogy. It seeks to recognize cultural diversity, and to assume difference as a meaningful experience of the construction of reality. The awareness of reality, in the pedagogy of autonomy, starts from the need to recognize the relation of self and the other in context, to understand the relationship of collective identities with differences. Reality awareness implies the recognition of action as a transformative process. Reality can be transformed by action, but it also implies awareness of reality as something unfinished, in process, which is constantly under construction.

The purpose of this issue of Informal Museology Studies is to contribute to the constitution of a gallery of educators that influence this pedagogical current. We will not make your critical analysis which will be the subject of a later publication, that this work is a preparatory element. So we will make a chronological movement on critical pedagogical thinking, and in the end we will discuss various experiences, both in Europe and in South America. Unfortunately we did not find experiences of pedagogy for autonomy in African countries. We will continue to research this issue.