Reinventing Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy in Finnish Non-Formal Education: the Case of ‘Life Skills for All’ Model

Abstract

The article contributes to the academic discussion on Paulo Freire’s pedagogical thinking as a basis for reinventing contemporary non-formaleducation. In Finland, Freire’s transformational/liberatory theory of adultlearning was applied as a framework for developing an adult educationalmodel called Life Skills for All. The pilot project’s case studies were carriedout with different groups of people during the model’s developmentphase. We describe these cases and discuss what can be learned fromthem for offering basic and life skills education for adult groups at riskof social disenfranchisement. Our case study analysis highlights somenew practices and challenges based on the model’s different applications.We argue that even for basic capacity building of employment skills, itis essential to develop a non-instrumental, holistic, and societal educational approach. Elements for such an approach can be derived fromboth the Nordic and Freirean traditions of adult education. Also, wesuggest that the Life Skills for All model benefits learners’ agency andempowerment by putting the learner at the center, combining the learning of different basic skills, and emphasizing the central role of the localcommunity in participants’ learning activities.