We explore Freire’s (2005; 2011) pedagogical love as an instructional model capable of deeper and more meaningful learning; through the development of critical thinking and inventive 21-century knowledge-creation skills.  This education is not just cognitively uplifting, but is socio-politically transformative and humanizing to learners of all ages—in higher education and P-12 settings.  Audiences include educators at all levels and others in the field of teaching and learning.  We introduce a theoretical point-of-reference that juxtaposes Freire’s ideas alongside Dewey’s (1900; 1918; 1926; 1930; 1997; 2014).  The pairing of Freire and Dewey’s ideas is not new, and facilitates application of Freire’s to P-12 U.S. settings.  We offer insights into “deeper transformative learning,” and a theory to practice application in authors’ narratives of experiences as learners, teachers, and parents.  Questions include ones related to elements of Freirean pedagogical love; how these apply to U.S. realities in authentic and meaningful ways; what would this look like in instruction; comparisons to other similar approaches—like Dewey’s for example; transformative/cognitive benefits; and what serves as evidence of educational success? 

KEYWORDS—Love/ Lovelessness, Sociopolitical and Cognitive Transformations, Dialogic, Problem-Posing, Problem-Solving, Criticality, Knowledge Creation, Student-Centered, Teacher-as-Student, Student-as-Teacher, Reflective Practice, Conscientization, Praxis, Empowering, Possibilities, Hope/Hopelessness, Humanization, Banking Model

This roundtable discussion explores Freire’s (2005; 2011) pedagogical love as a means of deeper and more meaningful instruction, that encourages critical thinking and inventive 21-century knowledge creation in learners.  This education is cognitively uplifting, socio-politically transformative, and humanizing to learners of all ages—as Freire and Dewey (1885; 1936; 1937; 2014) indicate.  Other writers like Calleja (2014), Dirkx, (1998), Kitchenham (2008), Mezirow (1978), and Taylor (2008) also support this view.  Skills learned in this approach allows learners of all ages opportunities at success, in what Friedman (2005) describes as Flat World realities, where technology is the mover, shaker, and shaper of almost all—if not all aspects of human living.  Audiences for this discussion are educators at all levels especially teacher education faculty, curriculum specialists, P-12 instructors, scholars, researchers, and others in the field of teaching and learning.  We will begin by introducing a theoretical point-of-reference that juxtaposes Freire’s (2005; 2011) ideas alongside Dewey’s (1900; 1918; 1926; 1930; 1997; 2014).  The idea of pairing Freire and Dewey is not new, as evident in Stinson (2016), Glassman and Patton (2014), Shyman (2011), Darwish (2009), Hedeen (2005), Vinson (1999), and Betz, (1992) and others.  Pairing with Dewey and Freire facilitates application of Freire’s ideas in P-12 U.S. settings.  We will next offer insights into our concept of “deeper transformative learning;” before presenting theory to practice applications grounded in authors’ narratives of real-life experiences as learners, teachers, and parents.  There are other theory to practice research on Freire’s pedagogical love that include Nieto (2016), Darder (2017), Schoder (2010) Barrett (2003), Kennedy and Grinter (2015), Smith-Campbell and Littles (2016), and Smith-Campbell, Littles, and West (2015).  These works mostly reflect teacher’s voices.  We take this one-step further and use Dewey’s ideas as a bridge to the application of Freire’s ideas on pedagogical love to P-12 settings.  We also offer narratives reflective of perspectives from learners and parents—in addition to those of teachers, based on our model of Freirean pedagogical love.  We hope to engage in discussions on questions related to instructional and learning elements of Freirean pedagogical love in diverse educational settings; of how these elements apply to U.S. realities in authentic and meaningful ways—what would this look like in instructional settings—what are its transformative and cognitive benefits?  Why are these ideas valuable?  How does it compare to other similar approaches—like those of Dewey’s for example?  What serves as evidence of educational success under this approach?  How are these ideas productive of deeper transformative learning applicable to 21-century realities? 

KEYWORDS: Transformative Learning, Love/ Lovelessness, Dialogic, Problem-Posing, Problem-Solving, Criticality, Knowledge Creation, Reflective Practice, Conscientization, Praxis, Student-Centered, Teacher-as-Student, Student-as-Teacher, Sociopolitical and Cognitive Transformations, Empowering, Possibilities, Humanization, Banking Model

Barrett, S. W. (2003).  Liberatory education in the 21st century: Learning from Paulo Freire (Doctoral dissertation).  Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses http://proxy-s.mercer.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.proxy-s.mercer.edu/docview/305309072?accountid=12381 (Order No. 3115522).

Betz, J. (1992).  John Dewey and Paulo Freire.  Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society, 28 (1), 107-126. 

Calleja, C. (2014).  Jack Mezirow's conceptualisation of adult transformative learning: A review.  Journal of Adult and Continuing Education, 20(1), 117-136.

Darder, A.  (2017). Reinventing Paulo Freire: A pedagogy of love (2^nd. ed.).  New York, NY:  Routledge, Taylor and Francis.  Retrieved from https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.proxy-s.mercer.edu/lib/merceru/reader.action?docID=4877632

Darwish, B. (2009).  Education as a political act: Dewey, Freire, and the (international baccalaureate) theory of knowledge (Dissertation).  Retrieved from https://qspace.library.queensu.ca/bitstream/handle/1974/2579/Darwish_Babor_200908_M.Ed.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Dewey, J. (1885).  Education and the Health of Women.  Science, 6(141), 341-342.Dewey, J. (1903).  Democracy in education.  Elementary School Teacher, 4(4), 193-204.

Dewey, J. (1900).  The school and society.  Chicago, IL:  The University of Chicago Press. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/schoolsociety00deweiala

Dewey, J. (1918).  How we think.  New York, NY: D.C. Heath & Co., Publishers.

Dewey, J. (1926).  My pedagogic creed.  Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/mypedagogiccree00dewegoog

Dewey, J.  (1930). Democracy and education: An introduction to the philosophy of education.  New York, NY:  The Macmillan Company.  (Original publication 1916).  Retrieved from https://ia700409.us.archive.org/1/items/democracyandeduc00deweuoft/democracyandeduc00deweuoft.pdf 

Dewey, J. (1936).  Education and new social ideals.  Vital Speeches of the Day, 2(11), 327-328.

Dewey, J. (1963).  Liberalism and social action.  New York, NY: Capricorn Books.  (Originally Published, 1935).

Dewey, J., (1990).  The school and society.  The child and the curriculum. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Dewey, J. (1997).  Experience and education.  NewYork, NY: Simon & Schuster.  (Original publication, 1938).

Dewey, J. (2014).  The Democratic faith and education.  The Antioch Review, (4), 783- doi:10.7723/antiochreview.72.4.0783

Dirkx, J. M. (1998).  Transformative learning theory in the practice of adult education: An overview.  PAACE Journal of Lifelong Learning, 7, 1-14.

Freire, P. (2005).  Pedagogy of the oppressed: 30^th anniversary edition.  (M.B. Ramos, Trans.).  New York, NY: Continuum.  (Original work published 1970). 

Freire, P. (2011).  Education for critical consciousness.  New York: The Seabury Press.  (Original work published 1974).

Friedman, T. L. (2005).  The world is flat: A brief history of the globalized world in the twenty-first century. London, UK: Allen Lane.

Glassman, M., & Patton, R. (2014).  Capability through participatory democracy: Sen, Freire, and Dewey.  Educational Philosophy & Theory, 46(12), 1353-1365.  doi:10.1080/00131857.2013.828582

Hedeen, T.  (2005). Dialogue and democracy, community and capacity: Lessons for conflict resolution education from Montessori, Dewey, and Freire.  Conflict Resolution Quarterly 23, (2), 185-202.

Kitchenham, A. (2008).  The evolution of John Mezirow's transformative learning theory.  Journal of Transformative Education, 6(2), 104-123.

Kennedy, J. L., & Grinter, T. (2015).  A pedagogy of radical love: Biblical, theological, and philosophical foundations.  International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, 6(1), 42-57.

Mezirow, J. (1978).  Perspective transformation.  Adult Education, 28, 100-110.

Morris, D., & Shapiro, I. (Eds.).  (1993). John Dewey: The political writings.  Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Company Inc.

Nieto, S. (Ed.).  (2016).  Dear Paulo: Letters from Those Who Dare Teach. New York, NY: Routledge Taylor and Francis.  (Originally published 2008).  Retrieved from https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.proxy-s.mercer.edu/lib/merceru/reader.action?docID=

Schoder, E. M.  (2010). Paulo Freire’s pedagogy of love (Doctoral dissertation).  doi:10.7282/T33R0SZ  Retrieved from http://proxy-s.mercer.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/741024930?accountid=12381   (Order No. 3409997). 

Shyman,  E. (2011).  A comparison of the concepts of Democracy and Experience in a sample of major works by Dewey and Freire.  Educational Philosophy & Theory, 43(10), 1035. doi:10.1111/j.1469-5812.2009.00625.x

Smith-Campbell, C. J., & Littles, S.  (2016). Freire’s Pedagogy of Love and a Ph.D. student’s experience.  Praxis: A Writing Center Journal, 14 (1).  Retrieved from http://www.praxisuwc.com/smithcampbell-et-al-141

Smith-Campbell, C. J., Littles, S., & West, J.  (2015). Transformative education and Freire's pedagogy of love: A PhD graduate's experience.  In J. D. Sims, & E. Cunliff, E.  (Eds.).  Transformative learning conference proceedings.  Journal of Transformative Learning.  University of Central Oklahoma.  Retrieved from http://jotl.uco.edu/index.php/jotl/issue/view/18/showToc

Stinson, D. W. (2016).  Dewey, Freire, and Foucault and an ever-evolving philosophy of (mathematics) education.  Journal of Research in Curriculum & Instruction, 20 (2), 70–78.  Retrieved from http://jrci.jams.or.kr/jams/download/KCI_FI002102986.pdf

Taylor, E. W. (2008).  Transformative learning theory.  New Directions for Adult & Continuing Education, 2008(119), 5-15.

Vinson, K. D. (1999).  National curriculum standards and social studies education: Dewey, Freire, Foucault, and the construction of a radical critique.  Theory & Research in Social Education, 27(3), 296-328.

30-Minute Roundtable Session

Launching Transformative Learning