Graduate Defence – Yaying Zhong

ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study is to identify the assumptions of China’s civiceducation and compare these assumptions to the key concepts involved in PauloFreire’s critical pedagogy, particularly his ideas of (1) critical consciousness, (2)humanization, and (3) dialogue. Based on the specific social and political contexts inwhich each of these pedagogies arose, the thesis will explore the limitations andpotential of applying Freire’s critical pedagogy to enhance university students’critical and civic consciousness in China.

To this end, the thesis will present a comparative study of Freirean criticalpedagogy and the Chinese culture of pedagogy in order to explore the followingquestions: What are the key concepts that support Freire’s conception oftransformative education? What are the key concepts of China’s civic education?How do Freire’s and China’s concepts relate or compare to each other? How mightFreirean ideas of critical consciousness and social transformation be informed orextended in relation to the challenges posed by China’s conception of civiceducation? What challenges or implications arise when attempting to use orimplement Freire’s ideas of critical pedagogy within China’s higher education system(e.g., to teach for transformation)?
These questions will be answered by exploring the points of commonality anddifference between the worldviews framing the civic education in China’s highereducation institutions and Freire’s critical pedagogy.