Freirean Dialogue: An Effective Pedagogy for Critical Peace Education

Abstract

Dialogue promises fundamental opportunities for peace education pedagogy even in the hidden culture of war and violence in varying educational settings. However, despite remarkable theoretical literature focusing on critical dialogue, there is a need for reconceptualizing dialogue in the light of Paulo Freire’s ideas. This paper discusses dialogue as an effective pedagogy for critical peace education. Towards this goal, it first presents an overview of the concept of dialogue. The second part of the paper provides a discussion of dialogue in critical peace education. In the concluding section, it is suggested that Freirean dialogue is a powerful pedagogy to fulfill the aims of critical peace education. It is also highlighted that research and practice regarding employing dialogue as a transformative pedagogy should be investigated and cultivated by peace educators in ways relevant to various contexts.