The Popular Education Spiral
Popular education can provide a model to help you think about how to plan a session with girls, as well as how to plan an entire program. It is not a template, but a way of thinking about education for social change.
The spiral model of popular education looks like this:
In this spiral model of popular education, there are a number of aspects, or guiding principles, to incorporate. These aspects include:
• Starting with the experiences of the participants
• Identifying patterns
• Adding new information
• Strategizing and planning for action
• Taking action
They do not need to be followed in that order, but each should be taken into account in your programming.
For example, a popular education inspired girls’ program using the spiral model would focus on working with girls to figure out, and then work with, what is important in their lives. The root purpose is to help girls improve their lives; so naturally, the starting point is the girls' lives.
This can be accomplished by having girls name the issues they face, find common ground with other girls, learn new things to improve their analyses, and act together for change that affects their lives. By incorporating these aspects into your program, popular education offers valuable guiding principles for inspiring collective learning and action.
