1.
Introduction
Sport is a popular expression of both individual feelings and people’s culture
in a specific region, ethnicity, or religion. Arts and sports in general have
been converted into a vehicle for natural expression of society. Freire (2000)
said that people have an inherent talent which can be expressed in many forms as
well as in artistic and sportive forms. Therefore, anyone can be an artist or
athlete, perhaps with just different degrees of ability.
Based on this principle and with a correct technique, passive spectators can
become actors and players. In this way, Freire’s philosophy of education is
put into practice with an immense impact. This transition from spectators to “players”
can improve learning and collective empowerment. Educators can explore this
technique and transform theory in action because of the social relevance and
adaptability of sport, and arts, and by exploring issues ranging from racism,
sexism, and social exclusion. As a result, sports and arts reflect self or
collective consciousness and people become part of a cultural context by
empowering their vocations.
Freire introduced the anthropological concept of culture that distinguishes
between nature and culture. He believed that discussing this distinction would
lead illiterate people to discover that they are makers of culture as much as
literate people are. He used to draw pictures to stimulate discussion. People
could relate from their background and realize that they could be part of that
picture. Sport could be a picture to stimulate education through adding the
physical action or expression promoted by sport.
School must be connected to students’ local culture in order to develop a
universal culture. Freire (1994) explains, when children get to school, they may
bring with them an understanding of their world in many different dimensions.
Their origins and their culture are the beginning of the knowledge they get from
the world as time goes by.
According to Freire (1970), people are oppressed due to their lack of knowledge.
He proposes that education should be a means of freedom, and through education
one may develop the conscientização (consciousness with action). This
is an ongoing process by which a learner moves toward a critical consciousness
process as the spirit of liberatory education, making sense of the world in a
critical context.
Conscientização means breaking through prevailing mythologies to reach new
levels of awareness, in particular, awareness of oppression, being an
"object" in a world where only "subjects" have power. The
process of conscientização involves identifying contradictions in
experience through dialogue and becoming a "subject" with other
oppressed subjects, becoming part of the process of changing the world
(Instituto Paulo Freire, 2004).
Another connection between education and sport would be possible through the
Paulo Freire Method for adults’ literacy. According to this method, illiterate
people make use of words that are related to their daily lives to learn how to
read and write and especially, to be able to be engaged in political issues
under a critical perception. These words, which are called generators, can be
linked to sport and have the same objective of teaching the alphabet to
children. Freire (1970) comments, the pedagogy of the oppressed, as a humanist
and liberator pedagogy, is no longer the oppressed pedagogy, but is transformed
into pedagogy of the men in a permanent process of liberation. Sports promote
this liberation, where both children and adults become free through their action
and expression by making use of techniques and body language. The rules of a
specific sport narrow this freedom. However, they do not limit the power of
creativity, style and decision-making that sport supplies. Freire defines (1970)
“Freedom to create and construct, to admire and adventure.”
These programs, although no longer based on principles put forward by Freire in
the previous decade, nonetheless are frequently more effective in reaching and
retaining hard-core illiterate adults. They are closer to the problems of the
neighborhood, they less resemble the more formal schools with which previous
"failure" has been identified, and they evidence care and respect for
their neighbors which leads to mutual trust and perseverance.
For sport to have a connection with schools and society, it must be within a
vast universe. As the regional comes from the local, the national comes from the
regional, and the continental from national. In the same way, the worldly comes
from the continental as the dimensions of an individual’s contextual reality
to recognize the interaction and achieve a clearer perception of the whole
(Freire, 1970). Therefore, it is wrong to stay “stuck” to the local because
we may lose a more global vision. This cannot be obtained only through technical
training, which is characterized by sports, but according to the understanding
of our context as historical, political, social and cultural beings (Freire,
1994).
2.
Pedagogy of Desire
School should promote the knowledge related to the culture and desire of its
students and thus, become a pleasant place. According to Lacan, (cited by
Rossatto, 2001), the pedagogy of desire focuses on the relationship between the
symbolic (curriculum) and the real (students’ world). Children express great
interest in playing, so the implemented curriculum is designed around outdoor
field trips (sports).
Through the entertainment provided by sports, there can be evolution in their
learning. If they enjoy the subject, they will at least theoretically be
learning as well as having an open mind for new knowledge. Freire (1998)
suggests, “What students discover by themselves is usually retained for life.”
Sports are fun, enjoyable and emotional. Their didactics must be constructive in
education. Teachers have to attune themselves to the joy, fun, pain, humor and
metaphor of their students. In its denial of pleasure, schools promote a regime
of discipline and devotion to the transference of play into labor. One can
discover a lot about students’ classroom behavior by observing and
investigating playground socialization, sports participation, or after-school
activities. The understanding of the use of pleasure in the social construction
of individuals, our psychological insight into the personality formation,
learning styles and motivational dynamics of young people will be deep at best
(Kincheloe, Slattery, and Steinberg, 2000).
One of the applications of this idea is the respect by the kinderculture
approach to the popular culture. According to Kincheloe et al., (2000) “Kinderculture
and popular culture exert specific influences, affecting maps that emerge in the
social context in which children encounter these cultural expressions.” In a
phenomenological perspective we, as teacher or coaches, must understand the
students’ cultural reality to connect it to curriculum in order to produce a
new positive meaning and knowledge in the classroom, gym, and sports field.
Adults must understand the connection between sports and students’ culture,
perception, and desire, which can promote the schools’ transformation. The
insights into the hidden cultural rules of the school can be surprising and even
profound, and the acting on an accepting of such cultural dynamics can transform
schools (Kincheloe, et al., 2000).
Curriculum has the potential to transform students’ reality. Curriculum
theorizing is critical to the development of programs, which are receptive to
social and cultural changes in society. Sport in school become part of the
required curriculum via physical education classes, and of course, sports are
major extracurricular activities (Curry & Jiobu, 1984).
Schools, through physical education classes and interschool sports programs,
serve as significant socializing agents for youth people. During late childhood,
adolescence, and early adulthood, it is peers, rather than the family, who serve
as the most powerful socializing agents for sport involvement (Seefeldt &
Vogel, 1986).
3.
Projeto Axé: Sport for Street Children
One of the very important connections between culture and popular education has
been used in Salvador, Bahia. Projeto Axé, a nonprofit organization, takes
credit for removing thousands of children from the streets through emancipatory
education. The project reinvents curriculum to incorporate a variety of
activities closely related to the customs and traditions of local life and
culture (Rossatto, 2001). One may include a good example of the sport-education
relation, where the Capoeira (Brazilian martial art which combine music and
rhythms) was incorporated into the school curriculum. Freire got the idea from
the popular culture and used it as a means to stimulate children to study. In
other terms, he observed kids playing Capoeira in the streets instead of being
at school. Then, he suggested introducing this practice inside the schools, so
that the kids could play within their regular classroom schedule.
It should be relevant to point out that those kids were street kids, and,
therefore, did not attend schools. Through his project Freire could bring them
back to school. His philosophy of self-reliance that involves the cultivation of
ethics through aesthetic, I can translate in sport, with the purpose of giving
back to the children their dignity and equipping them with tools they need to
positively transform their lives. Axé thus focuses on what the children know
and enjoy, music, dance, and sports, rather than assuming what they need (Morin,
2000). This kind of program must be adopted inside of public schools in Brazil.
It is obvious that by this program participants are re-integrated into society
as functional and dignified citizens. The program content is based on
self-motivation, creativity, critical thinking, and dialogue about real issues
associated with life on the streets. The children establish their learning pace
as they gain knowledge through collective engagement activities, which
incorporate percussion, dance, art, culture, entertainment, and literacy
classes. This kind of schooling has enormous importance for children. They learn
to transform their personal life stories into an evolving educational experience
that contains new life possibilities. This positive educational experience
exposes issues related to community organization, and provides opportunities for
upward mobility to those most in need (Rossatto, 2001).
The main problem is that although sports can promote culture, we cannot take
full advantage of this quality. Our focus is more related to entertainment and
health, than it is related to its academic importance. Thus, we do not notice
and explore the sports universe in an adequate way.
When Freire’s principles are associated with regional sports, as well as arts
and folklore, they have a great potential to improve the development of students’
learning ability. Moreover, they can promote and foment interest in education in
unmotivated communities, where students do not perceive the importance and
relevance of school because it represents a different world to the reality they
live day-to-day. Incorporating these updated pedagogic techniques, we may be
able to stimulate and reach out to these students. This cause and effect
relationship can be correlated to the regional characteristics, which evolve
from social and religious values and beliefs. The cause and effect result in the
same manner as one is influenced by the music one listens to and in the sports
in which one follows or participates.
4.
Interdisciplinary approach through sport
Freire (1970) explains that human beings socialize through dialog. Through
dialog people explain their ideas and awareness of their world. Sports promote
socialization and, therefore, can promote consciousness. As well as in dialog,
people can express their feelings and attitudes through sports. Sports are a
thematic topic included in the students’ context. It also should be included
in the curriculum through interdisciplinary studies, where each discipline
explores the same topic but in a different area of interest
As it was mentioned above, through the Paulo Freire Method, sports would be
included in the same generator words category. However, it does not have a word,
but a cultural generator characteristic to stimulate learning.
For example, soccer can be used to explain historical, geographical, or
economical aspects for students in Brazil, in geography, history, or math
classes. Using a local culture and what students enjoy in their daily practices
outside the school helps in the learning process inside the school.
The interdisciplinary technique aims at relating sports to the other subjects.
In each of them, one may say that the connection is very attractive, as stated
below:
-
Sciences
– Studies physical education and the human body; physiology, anatomy and
human biology.
-
Languages
(English, Spanish, Portuguese) – Expressions related to sports,
compositions having sports as a main theme, dictation using sports issues,
grammar exercises within the topic of sports.
-
Foreign
Language
– Expressions, words,
other countries’ grammar.
-
Mathematics
– Games and athletes’ statistics; ball velocity, time, length and speed
calculation.
-
Geography
– Geographical characteristics of the world and locality; localization and
climate, temperature, races, ethnicities; economical and political aspects
of sports; influences of sports related to the cultural and social context;
Olympics; world, continental and national championships
-
History
– Mythology, history of the Olympics, historic context of sports in a
specific country; history of the sport related to the political and social
contexts.
-
Arts
–
Beauty of sports, mythology,
sports influences on arts, music, anthems.
-
Religion
– Respect to religious culture in sport, in different regions through
examples set by athletes from different religions.
5.
Criticizing Freire
Freire’s ideas and concepts are important and powerful; therefore, they
generate controversies, critiques, and provocative viewpoints. His theories are
helping to deconstruct the school as a reproduction of the status quo and helps
promote social justice. As Dewey (1964) explains, schools today present
tendencies that fortify social inequalities. Exactly for this reason,
difficulties in schooling appear disconnected to Freire’s optimism and
theoretical dreams that education is an element of transformation and teachers
are cultural workers. His terms of student-centered instruction where a teacher
learn and a learner teaches is losing power because of the accountability system
based on test and the deficient teaching defeating his/her authority in
classrooms.
Freire’s philosophical background was based on Greek philosophers, Marxist
social theory and the Christian model. It is very hard to understand Freire if
readers did not suffer or are not suffering the oppression as he fought in
Brazil in poor countries in Africa and Latin America. His theory of conscientização
depends on some sort of transcendent view of reality of each individual coming
to see what is real and authentic (Elias & Merriam, 1980). To understand the
oppression we must be inside of it, not outside of it, therefore, oppressed
people can find hope, liberation, and love in his words as the same as
oppressors can find revolutionary ideas that can generate violence.
Another critique is the fact that Freire created a vacuum in addressing his
ideas of revolution specifically in terms of men and women, black and white, or
to a particular society and economic context. As readers, we can understand
social change and possibilities, but without identifying who is the oppressor we
cannot promote revolution. If we know the enemy, we can better destroy him/her.
Criticizing Freire is an exercise of my own conscientização. Perhaps to
some degree, my plans and dreams are based on his revolutionary points. However,
they are not manipulated by him. Most importantly, through Freire’s theories I
deconstruct my own discriminatory and oppressive identity. I am now critical of
my own existence, my identity, and my future.
6.
Critical Pedagogy and Sport
Critical pedagogy is a way that education should provide an education for
liberation since the critical-thinking or problem-solving process does not
happen without critical learning or, again, critical pedagogy. Maybe critical
pedagogy is a deconstruction of regular pedagogy in a critical theory. I can
understand that critical pedagogy is a different methodology of conscientização
Freire defines as where men and women use a critical form of thinking about
their world and become part of a democratic world. But, again, how about sport?
Freire calls on students to be active participants, to link awareness with
practice (hooks, 1994). Critical pedagogy must emphasize wholeness, a union of
mind, body, and spirit. Sport in correlation with critical pedagogy can be a
very useful instrument to educate people. The idea is to understand how sport
connected with critical pedagogy can be used to improve education.
Many researchers have found that sport, when presented and organized properly,
makes a significant contribution to the social and moral education of young
people and is an effective way of producing benefits for both the individual and
the society. Sport-education is used on regular basis in schools in different
countries with the objective to provide integral and complete development
through physical-cognitive connections. However, its connection with critical
pedagogy is not very well recognized or explored by authors and
teachers/coaches. Since there is a gap in actual literature, it is very hard to
explain critical pedagogy related to sport.
Decision-making is common in sports. Especially in team sports, students or
athletes need to make decisions almost every second during the practice or game.
For example, a volleyball hitter will have a successful attack if he/she reads
the game situation. Depending on what kind of setting, opposite block position,
his/her relation between the ball and his/her approach, etc., will define the
player’s best decision. This decision-making process is a critical part of the
game which coaches call tactical intelligence.
Freire says education must be democratic, dialogical, anti-bias, emancipatory,
and dialectical, must produce knowledge, and must promote conscientização.
Let’s try to connect each one of these with sports:
– Sports participation is one of the most democratic activities. People
with some exceptions, with or without talent, from every social economic
status, even with physical limitations can participate and enjoy sports.
Today, however, competitive sports are very exclusive, especially in
schools.
Dialogical
– In sports, students have a unique opportunity to have an experimental
trial in the development of cooperation, unity, and organization with respect
to cultural synthesis. These concepts can be used to define teamwork.
Moreover, cooperation and unity are essential to be successful in sports.
Organization can be the way that a coach prepares his/her team for practice.
Cultural synthesis can be people’s appreciation of a particular sport
according to their cultural, historical, and regional heritage.
Anti-bias
– Sport is a method that invokes a type of conversation that provides
participants with a group-therapy space for praising one another. Through
sports, participants have the possibility of developing a consciousness of
their own historical realities and learn to exercise them. In this, humans are
self-educated through their interactions with their work and life experiences.
Emancipatory
– People on a sports team fight for the same purpose. Sports can promote
emancipation as a common goal where they must seek to live with others in
solidarity. Moreover, underprivileged students can use sport to promote a
better quality of life. Students who participate successfully in sports
usually receive more respect in school. Participation in sports may also open
doors of opportunity by helping students earn a scholarship for college, or by
preparing them to become professional athletes. Thus, sports are a way in
which people can climb into higher economical or educational levels.
Dialectical
– In contrast to most regular classes, the teaching approach in sports is
based on practice. Frequent practice helps develop the knowledge of the game.
As Freire said, “a person learns how to swim in the water, not in a library”
(1970, p.137). This is a very dynamic, spiral, and infinite process where
students can develop theory in practice because in every game or practice,
they are confronted with new and different situations.
Knowledge
Production
– Understanding the rules
and techniques of the game and learning to respect partners, opponents,
coaches, and referees can be effective ways to prepare students to become
positive and productive members in their society. Children are excited to
play, and this can promote a perfect environment to produce knowledge. On the
other hand, educators may not need to test students in sport fields to
evaluate them, because their knowledge and skills are demonstrated in real
ways.
Conscientização
– In sport people show their feelings by body language or gestures. It is a
true communication in an individual moment. This is a learning process converted
in “body dialogue” with coaches, parents, and teammates. Sport is a
celebration of life in a unique expression of feelings where people develop
their own identity and experience problems, history, and culture. It is an
overdose of critical pedagogy.
7.
Conclusion
Sports can be an instrument to promote conscientização and help people
change their history in many alienated and oppressed societies. Sports can be an
agent to transform society, since some successful athletes who came from
deprived minorities can become role models of hope against oppression in their
communities. The great challenge is to increase the opportunity for all young
people to develop and enrich their lives through sport while in school. Teachers
need to have a sound sociological understanding of how race, ethnicity and
racism operate within society, school and in the curriculum. Critical pedagogy
must be used to decrease discrimination and promote ethnic integration in
society and issues of race and racism must be discussed in schools
Sports can provide the connection between culture and a true democracy and can
promote critical pedagogy in the form of an altruist activity. Sports can be
used as a tool to transform schools and the world into what Freire dreamt about
and all of us must seeking a world less ugly, more beautiful, less
discriminatory, more democratic, less dehumanized, and more humane.
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J., & Merriam, S. (1980). Philosophical foundations of adult
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