The pedagogy of Paulo Freire and adult education in Malta

Abstract

Although Malta has achieved its independence from foreign colonizers, the -decolonization- process is still not complete and many colonial-induced behaviours, including prescription, still govern Maltese social relations. In presenting the history of the last two centuries of the Maltese Islands, this dissertation tries to identify the power-groups which fostered compliant behaviour in the local population. especially in the labouring classes. The Brazilian Paulo Freire proposes a critical pedagogy, mainly based on a dialogical horizontal relation between educator and educattee, which can counter the effects of prescription existing in Maltese society. Freire-s life, theory and pedagogy, and the relevance of his ideas to the Maltese context, are analysed in the first two chapters of this dissertation. For Freire adult education is the major vehicle in the process of social transformation. For this reason formal and non-formal adult education efforts are analysed in the final chapters of this study.