May Be Used for Non-commercial Purposes in Accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self- Archiving. 2 Reconsidering Emancipatory Education: Staging a Conversation Between

This essay considers emancipation as a purpose for education through considering the theories of Paulo Freire and Jacques Rancière. Both theorists are concerned with the prospect of distinguishing between education that might socialise people into what is taken to be an inherently oppressive society and education with emancipation as a purpose. Galloway reconstructs the theories in parallel examining the assumptions made, the processes of oppression and the movements to emancipation. In so doing she argues that that the two theorists hold a common model for theorising oppression and emancipation as educational processes, distinguished by the differing assumptions they each make about humanity, but with opposing implications for educational practices. Also, that Freire and Rancière raise similar educational problems and concerns, both theorising that the character of the relationships between teachers, students and educational materials is crucial to an emancipatory education. Galloway’s approach allows discussion of some of the criticisms that have been raised historically about Freire’s theory and how these might be addressed to some degree by Rancière. Taking the two theories together, she argues that the possibility of an emancipatory education cannot be ignored if education is to be considered as more than the passing down of skills and knowledge necessary to socialising people into current society.