Reimagining Leisure Education Through Freire: A Comprehensive Guide
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Date
2026-07
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Centre for Internationalisation and Strategic Partnership (CISP), University of Ilorin, Nigeria
Abstract
This paper examines Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed as a transformative framework for leisure and recreation education. Traditional pedagogical approaches in leisure studies remain rooted in hierarchical, banking models that reinforce systemic oppression, including Whiteness, monoculturalism, and exclusion. Drawing on Freire's concepts of critical consciousness, dialogical action, and problem-posing education, we argue that leisure educators must move beyond performative inclusion toward genuinely liberatory practices. We analyse how current pedagogies perpetuate oppression through White Institutional Presence and anti-dialogical actions such as conquest, divide and rule, manipulation, and cultural invasion. We then demonstrate how Freirean dialogical actions, cooperation, unity,organisation, and cultural synthesis can address these inequities through cocreation,praxis, and decolonised pedagogy. Practical strategies include codesigned syllabi, community-engaged projects, and integration of Indigenous knowledge systems. By cultivating critical consciousness and embedding
dialogical action, leisure educators can position education as a practice of freedom, challenging dominant ideologies and creating more inclusive, just
learning environments.
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Keywords
Critical Pedagogy, Freirean Dialogical Action, Leisure Studies, Whiteness and Praxis