Critical Pedagogy and Empowerment Outcomes in Women’s Adult Education in South East Nigeria

This study examines the application of Freirean critical pedagogy in women's adult education programmes in South East Nigeria and its relationship to empowerment outcomes. Critical pedagogy, which centres learner experience, dialogue, and critical consciousness raising in the educational process, has been proposed as a more transformative alternative to banking model literacy instruction for women's empowerment programmes. The extent to which critical pedagogical approaches are applied and their specific empowerment effects in South East Nigeria's cultural context has not been empirically assessed. This study uses a mixed-method design combining a survey of 220 women programme participants in Enugu, Ebonyi, and Imo States with classroom observation sessions and facilitator interviews in 15 adult education centres. Critical pedagogy application is assessed using a validated instructional observation instrument measuring dialogue frequency, learner-generated content, and critical reflection activities. Empowerment outcomes span literacy, economic agency, household decision-making, and community participation dimensions. Hierarchical regression analysis is applied. Findings reveal that critical pedagogy application is significantly and positively associated with economic agency and community participation empowerment outcomes above and beyond literacy skill acquisition. The relationship is mediated by learner self-efficacy, consistent with Freire's consciousness-raising theory. Programmes with facilitators trained in dialogic methods show the strongest empowerment effects. The study concludes that critical pedagogy produces richer empowerment outcomes in South East Nigerian women's programmes. It recommends systematic critical pedagogy training for women's programme facilitators across the Southeast.

Keywords: critical pedagogy, women empowerment, adult education, South East Nigeria, Freire.