A Study on Critical Purposes, Principles and Methods of Freire in Teacher Training Pedagogy

The present study is extracted from a qualitative research attempting to emphasize on critical thinking approaches in teacher training pedagogy through descriptive and analytical methods. In the first part, after a brief look over the history of critical thinking in education and educational trends in the world, several approaches in the field are discussed. One of these approaches is the recent attempts made by thinkers in the area of critical thinking and its promotion in teacher training pedagogies based on modern critical education. In the second part, the liberating model of Paulo Freire is investigated in teacher training pedagogy as a critical approach. In this model, the aims, principles and methods of education presented by Freire are introduced in teacher training pedagogy. Finally, it is induced that the emergence of critical thoughts in education, brought about huge improvements in educational methods and pedagogies compiled for teacher training programs. In this regard, the liberating model of Freire, as one of the prominent contemporary educational models, could be considered as an efficient solution for promoting elite teacher training programs all around the globe. Keywords: Critical thinking; Teacher training pedagogy; liberating education; Paulo Freir

A Look over Curriculum from the Point of View of Critical Thinkers: Freire, Giroux and Apple

The present paper investigates the approaches of three major critical thinkers about curriculum. Henry Giroux with his theory of "Border Pedagogy" combining critical, post-modern, feminist and reconceptualist views tries to help educators and learners understand manifests of traditional borders of power, knowledge, decision-making, and sociocultural curriculums could be criticized in their pedagogies and they could even go beyond them. Then borders of existing pedagogies created by imperialism would be challenged and redefined. Freire utilizes the "Emancipatory Concept" from Habermas and Frankfurt school, uses it in the field of education and manages to provide a critical ground in educational system in which critical dialogue does not merely solve the problem but discusses new issues. Michael Apple emphasizes the role of "Hidden Curriculum" in the formation of predefined goals of imperialism and offers new solutions in this regard. Keywords: Critical education; Freire; Giroux; Apple; Curriculu

Comparative Analysis of Paulo Freire & Al-Ghazali’s Pedagogical Comments

The goal of the present research was a comparative-analytic examination of common features existed between Paulo Freire & Al-Ghazali’s pedagogical comments. Such examination is of great importance in the sense that first, the common features between these two scientists in the area of pedagogy has been able to cause some reformation and changes in the field; and secondly, while living in two totally different cultures and eras, their attitudes toward pedagogy issue seem to resemble each other in a particular manner. Among such common ideas, the two scientists’ attention to the role of politics in pedagogy, the congruity between theory and practice, highlighting active teaching, critical pedagogy, anti-superstition during the flow of pedagogy and the importance of teacher training can be pointed out. However, some distinctions are observed between thoughts provoked by these great trainers in areas of adult pedagogy and dialogue-based pedagogy. Keywords: Al-Ghazali, Paulo Freire, active teaching, teacher training, dialogue