Born: September 19, 1921 Recife, Brazil Died: May 2, 1997 São Paulo, Brazil Nationality: Brazilian Occupation: Educator, Author Known for: Theories of Education

Paulo Freire Fr e i r e a n P h i l o s o p h y

o King Baudouin International Development Prize 1980

o First person to receive this prize

o Prize for Outstanding Christian Educators with his wife Elza

o UNESCO 1986 Prize for Education for Peace

o UNESCO is a specialized agency of the United Nations

established to contribute to peace and security by promoting

international collaboration through education, science, and culture.

o Several Institutes have been established practicing his Pedagogy:

o The Paulo and Nita Freire International Project for Critical

Pedagogy

o The Paulo Freire Institute at UCLA

o The Paulo Freire Institute of South Africa

o Instituto Paulo Freire of Spain

o Instituto Paulo Freire, Brazil

o Paulo Freire Institute, Malta

“It seems fundamental to me to clarify at the beginning that a neutral, uncommitted, and apolitical education practice does not exist.”

- Paulo Freire

B i o g r a p h i c a l I n f o r m a t i o n

1921-1997

In Freire's view of education, learning to take control and

achieving power are not individual objectives. For poor and

dispossessed people, strength is in numbers and social change is

accomplished in unity. Power is shared by the many who find

strength and purpose in a common vision. Liberation achieved by

individuals at the expense of others is an act of oppression.

Personal freedom and the development of individuals can only

occur in mutuality with others.

Shared power in learning is exercised in control over the

curriculum, its contents and methods, and over the coordination

of all learning activities. Education for liberation provides a

forum open to the imaginings and free exercise of control by

learners, teachers, and the community. Empowerment is both the

means and the outcome of his pedagogy which has come to be

called "liberatory education."

The content of liberatory education is both critical consciousness

and the development of appropriate skills and competencies

related to liberatory praxis. Its process is dialogical, affirming the

mutual and coequal roles of teachers and learners.

L i f e A c h i e v em e n t s

o World economic crisis forced Freire to know hunger and poverty at a young

age

o Entered University of Recife

o Enrolled in Faculty of Law

o Studied Philosophy and Psychology of Language

o Marx and Catholic Intellectuals such as Maritain, Bernanos, and Mounier

strongly influenced his educational philosophy

o Married Elza Maia Costa Oliveira and had three daughters and two sons

o Served as Director of the Department of Education and Culture of the

Social Service in the State of Pernambuco, Brazil

o Doctoral Degree Earned in 1959 from University of Recife

o In 1963 became first Director of the University of Recife’s Cultural

Extension Service

o Brought literacy programs to thousands of peasants

o Peasant passivity and fatalism waned as literacy became attainable

and valued

o Overthrow of government sent Freire into jail for his subversive activities

o Exiled to Chile for five years

o Visiting professor at Harvard in 1969

o Consultant and Assistant Secretary of Education for the World Council of

Churches in Switzerland

o Chair of the Institute for Cultural Action in Geneva

o Brazilian government invited him back in 1979 and became faculty at

University of Sao Paulo

o Appointed Minister of Education for the City of Sao Paulo

o Guided reform in two-thirds of the nation’s schools

o Legacy of commitment, love, and hope for oppressed peoples throughout

the world

A B r i e f O v e r v i e w o f F r e i r e ’ s L i f e Works by Freire

o Emphasis on Dialogue

o Against “banking from the educator”

o Concern for Praxis

o Informed action

o Developing Consciousness – Conscientization

o Consciousness understood to have the power to transform reality

o Insistence on educational activity in the “lived experience” of educators

o Transcendence of teacher and learners

o Student-Centered Approach to Learning

Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, NY: Herder and Herder. Freire, P. (1972). Cultural action for freedom. Boston, MA: Harvard Educational Review. Freire, P. (1973). Education for critical consciousness. New York: Seabury Press. Freire, P. (1976). Education, the practice of freedom. London: Writers and Readers Publishing Cooperative. Freire, P. (1978). Pedagogy in process : the letters to Guinea-Bissau. New York: Seabury Press. Freire, P. (1980). A day with Paulo Freire. Delhi: I.S.P.C.K.. Freire, P. (1983). Pedagogy in process: the letters to Guinea-Bissau. New York: Continuum. Freire, P. (1985). The politics of education: culture, power, and liberation. South Hadley, MA: Bergin & Garvey. Freire, Paulo, and Donaldo P. Macedo. Literacy : reading the word & the world Critical studies in education series. South Hadley, Mass.: Bergin & Garvey Publishers, 1987. Freire, P., & Faundez, A. (1989). Learning to question: a pedagogy of liberation. New York: Continuum. Freire, P. (1993). Pedagogy of the city. New York: Continuum. Freire, P., & Freire A. A. (1994). Pedagogy of hope: reliving Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum. Freire, P., & Macedo, D. P. (1996). Letters to Cristina: reflections on my life and work. New York: Routledge. Freire, P., & Freire A. A. (1997). Pedagogy of the heart. New York: Continuum. Freire, P. (1998). Teachers as cultural workers: letters to those who dare teach. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Freire, P., Freire, A. A., & Macedo, D. P. (1998). The Paulo Freire reader. New York: Continuum. Freire, P. (1998). Pedagogy of freedom : ethics, democracy, and civic courage. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Brian J. Patchcoski

Introduction to Student Affairs

October 2008

Sources:

Lownd, P. (2000). Paulo Freire Institute: UCLA. Retrieved October 4, 2008,

from http://www.paulofreireinstitute.org/.

Heaney, Tom. (1999). Paulo Freire. Retrieved October 4, 2008, from http://www.

education.miami.edu/ep/contemporaryed/Paulo_Freire/paulo_freire.html.

O ve r a l l C o n t r i b u t i o n s