Learning Cycles: A Community-Based Approach to Emancipatory Action Research

• In Event: Is Emancipatory Action Research in Schools Possible? Continuing the Conversation

Abstract

This paper discusses the Brazilian model of escolas cicladas (Learning Cycles). Learning Cycles do not limit the acquisition of a specific body of knowledge to one academic year. They move students through three cycles of three years each and students who are at the same point in their learning are placed together, regardless of age.
The researcher worked with one local community in a favela (shantytown) in Porto Alegre, Brazil, to understand how to use Freire’s notion of generative themes to develop an integrated curriculum and choose learning outcomes that grow out of the needs of the students' local communities (Freire, 1980). The paper provides examples of how these schools develop emancipatory pedagogical practices and how action research can aid in this process.
This school was part of a participatory experiment in Porto Alegre during the 1990s called the citizen schools. These schools challenged top-down neoliberal models by engaging in democratic practices such as, the election of school leaders by students and the community, participatory budgeting, authentic assessments, and having the school open to the community all day and evening. These practices provided a context that enabled more emancipatory practices.
In this particular school, the curriculum was integrated with a community-based project, a recycling center developed to create jobs for the community. Classroom discussions and activities promoted students' awareness of their social condition and prompted them to read and write about their lives, and question their reality. Students used skills in math, language, and social studies they acquired in class in their work at the recycling center: They identified, counted, and sorted materials to recycle, organized lists, created spreadsheets, communicated with city agencies, local industries, and contacted potential donors. This kind of locally relevant work empowers learners and creates a strong connection among schools, families, and communities. It also provides the venue for families and communities to participate actively in the school administration and curriculum planning, so that everyone understands the needs, expectations and learning goals for each cycle.
Organizing schools into learning cycles requires structural changes that ultimately result in more democratic pedagogical practices. Learning cycles cultivate a different understanding of school time and space. Students advance sequentially through objectives as they master content, but any individual's progress is dictated by the individual, not the system. This paper will discuss particular structures that facilitated the cycles of inquiry in which we engaged.
Learning cycles prompt us to think about education differently. Changing underlying dimensions of curriculum, space and time can have radical effects on pedagogy. They also remind us of the purpose of education in a democratic society by creating a truly humanistic model of teaching and learning which provides a space for emancipation and citizenship.

Author

• Fernando Naiditch, Montclair State University