Teacher Opinions on Paulo Freire’s Concept of Banking Education

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate teacher opinions on the concept of banking education, which describes Paulo Freire’s criticism of the education system. In this qualitative research, the data were obtained by utilizing an individual interview form. The study group of the research consisted of 28 teachers who were selected using the maximum diversity sampling method among the teachers working at the secondary school level of public educational institutions in Ankara province. The data of the study were collected in 2021 with the semi-structured interview form developed by researchers in line with expert opinion. The research data were analyzed using the content analysis method. According to the research findings, the participants’ opinions on the dimension of teacher behaviors concerning Freire’s concept of banking education, with relative variation, were that teachers’ “guiding / leading” behavior tended to stand out. Similarly, participants’ opinions regarding the dimension of student roles inclined to offer that student roles have changed from “object” to “subject”. On the other hand, teachers’ opinions on the dimension of education and training processes are that as expressed in the banking education model, the practices of recitation-oriented, rote-learning and summative assessment continue.