Paulo Freire

Paulo Reglus Neves Freire (pronunciation in Portuguese:/^pawlu ^f noticeei thresholdi/( listen)(Recife, Pernambuco, September 1921-São Paulo, May 2, 1997) was a Brazilian pedagogue and philosopher of Marxist orientation, a prominent defender of critical pedagogy. He's known for his influential work. Pedagogy of the oppressedwhich is generally considered one of the fundamental texts of the movement of critical pedagogy. In addition, among other ideas, Freire proposed autonomy as a pedagogical foundation in the school.

Biography

The son of a poor middle-class family in Recife, Brazil, he was born on September 19, 1921. Freire experienced poverty and hunger during the Great Depression of 1929, an experience that shaped his concerns for the poor and gave him It would help shape your educational outlook.

Freire entered the University of Recife in 1943, at the Faculty of Law, where he studied philosophy and psychology of language at the same time. He joined the state bureaucracy, but never practiced law, preferring instead to teach Portuguese in high school. In 1944 he married Elza Maia Costa de Oliveira, who was a primary school teacher. They had five children and collaborated for the rest of their lives.

In 1946 he was appointed director of the Department of Education and Culture of the Social Service in the State of Pernambuco. Working mainly among the poor who could not read or write, Freire began to adopt an unorthodox method of what can be considered a variation on liberation theology. At that time, reading and writing were requirements to vote in the Brazilian presidential elections.

Paulo Freire, 1963.

In 1961 he was appointed director of the Department of Cultural Extension of the University of Recife, and in 1962 he had the first opportunity to apply his theories in a significant way, when they were taught to read and write to 300 sugarcane plantation workers in just 45 days. In response to these good results, the Brazilian government approved the creation of thousands of cultural circles throughout the country.

In 1964 a military coup put an end to the project: Freire was imprisoned as a traitor for 70 days. After a brief exile in Bolivia, he worked in Chile for five years for the Christian Democratic Movement for Agrarian Reform and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

In 1967 Freire published his first book, Education as a practice of freedom. The book was well received and he was offered a visiting professorship at Harvard University in 1969. The previous year he had written his famous book Pedagogy of the Oppressed, which was published in English and Spanish in 1970. Due to the political conflict between successive authoritarian military dictatorships and Christian Socialist Freire, the book was not published in Brazil until 1974, when General Ernesto Geisel took control of Brazil and began his process of cultural liberation.

In 1997, on May 2, at the age of 75, Paulo Freire died; days before his death, he himself was still debating about the new perspectives of education in the world. His pedagogical thinking continues to this day. It is considered that his contributions on emancipatory critical literacy are an obligatory reference in the new sociocultural approaches to reading and writing in the contemporary world. Thus, for example, the critical theories and the New Literacy Studies recover a good part of the Freirean legacy.

Critical pedagogy is a field of teaching and research that has had Freire as its main promoter. In this line of work are the studios of Giroux, McLaren, Apple, Macedo, Pierre Furter and Ernani Fiori. According to Giroux: "Freire is not only a man of his time, but he is a man who belongs to the future, because he is a visionary and supporter of its essence."

Critical pedagogy

Critical pedagogy has currently been considered as the new path of pedagogy, one in which both parties involved are invited to build society from the awareness of the social problems that are experienced daily and that affect directly and indirectly to the classroom. One of the representatives of this pedagogy was Paulo Freire, former Minister of Education of his country, Brazil. Freire stated that education in each country must become a political process, each subject makes politics from any space where he is and the classroom cannot be indifferent to this process; For this critic of education, knowledge must be built from the different realities that affect the two political subjects in action, apprentice and teacher.

The teacher must be the entity that leads the apprentices to think about the society in which they are developing their learning process, they must build from the previous knowledge that they bring to the classroom, since they are a visible and reliable of social realities. For his part, the apprentice must build knowledge as a political act, from the relationship with the teacher and the other apprentices in the classroom, to go from being passive social beings to active, critical and thinking social beings of the society in which they are. submerged. Critical thinking in the classroom cannot lead its entities to be negative beings, on the contrary, negativism must be totally removed from critical thinking so as not to bias the gaze towards the positive that is being experienced and to be able to continue building from reality.

It is precisely from the critical pedagogy proposed by Freire that Critical Literacy has emerged, one of its main authors being the Spanish Daniel Cassany, among others. Understood as everything that is related to the management of the ideology of discourses, when reading and writing, it encompasses all the knowledge, skills and attitudes and values derived from the generalized, historical, individual and social use of the written code. However, We find other authors who, like Cassany, have had their main foundation in Master Freire to talk about critical literacy. The reason is that the teacher believes in awakening students' awareness of the possibilities that exist in the world so that instead of settling, they can take action to transform their lives. Critical literacy as a component of critical pedagogy focuses on language. Shor defines critical literacy as “the use of language that questions the social construction of the individual” (1999:4)”.

Finally, for Freire there is no teaching practice without curiosity, without incompleteness, without being able to intervene in reality, without being able to be makers of history and at the same time being made by history. Having to elaborate a critical pedagogy that gives us instruments to assume ourselves as subjects of history. Practice that should be based on solidarity.

Critical Literacy

Critical literacy, also known as liberating or conscientizing literacy, is Freire's pedagogical thought, as well as his proposal for adult literacy, which would inspire the main literacy programs in Brazil at the beginning of the 1960s. Freire elaborated a literacy proposal whose basic principle was "A leitura do mundo precedes a leitura da palavra" (Reading the world precedes reading the word). Its objective is, even before starting the literacy process, to lead the student to assume himself as a subject of learning, as being capable and responsible; as well as surpassing the magical understanding of reality and demystifying the literate culture, which the student is starting. During this process, the student develops a critical vision that will allow him to become an agent of change and/or cultural production, in opposition to the model of cultural reproduction that prevails in the school.

In his reflections on the act of reading, Freire explains how in his early childhood the first thing he learned to read was his immediate world which, although small, offered a great wealth of sensory experiences. Sounds, smells, colors and textures represent the “texts”, “words” and “letters” in this context. This first reading is also enriched by the universe of the language of the elderly who, in their conversations, to which the children are exposed, express their beliefs, tastes, misgivings and values. For Freire, his parents and his childhood teacher, Eunice Vasconcelos, played an important role in this process; he highlights the importance of that first experience with reading, where the adult can have a significant role, promoting or hindering it. Already in his adolescence, together with his Portuguese language teacher, José Pessoa, Freire constitutes critical understanding, through the exercise of critical perception of the texts read, texts that were offered to his restless search. Shortly after, at the age of twenty, Freire began his work as a teacher in the first years of secondary school and that is when he began to put his proposal into practice by allowing curious students to discover academic content in a dynamic and live way. in the body of the texts. The mechanical memorization of the description of an object did not prevail in daily tasks, on the contrary, priority was given to learning its deep significance; in this way, memorization and subsequent fixation were achieved.

In the 1980s, Freire together with Macedo analyzed the different approaches to traditional literacy and proposed the liberating literacy approach as a solution within the framework of literacy campaigns in the Portuguese colonies in Africa. This analysis shows the shortcomings of traditional models by teaching reading and writing as simple decoding techniques (academic approach and utilitarian approach), likewise these approaches fail by ignoring the cultural heritage of students (cognitive approach and romantic approach), silencing their voices. Freire and Macedo highlight the importance of language in literacy and the expressions of said language outside the classroom in vernacular practices. To do this, it is necessary to establish a dialogue with the student, where talking to the student differs from talking to the student. Authors such as Giroux critical pedagogy and Cassany new studies of literacy among others, subscribe to Freire's approaches. Cassany, for example, in her studies on the new ways of reading and writing in the new century, emphasizes the importance of the vernacular, referring to the use of new digital technologies both in the classroom and outside of it.

Banking Education

Paulo Freire in his book Pedagogy of the Oppressed criticizes education that takes students as containers in which knowledge will be deposited. He called this type of education banking or traditional pedagogy of the oppressors since the educator is the only possessor of knowledge and it is he who will transmit the knowledge to the educated, in such a way that they become passive subjects and therefore in oppressed subjects. Instead of communicating, the educator makes announcements, mere incidents, while the students patiently receive, memorize and repeat.

Freire refers to one of the activities that teachers commonly develop, narration. He tells us that & # 34; The narration, whose subject is the educator, leads the students to the mechanical memorization of the narrated content. Furthermore, the narration transforms them into "vessels", into containers that must be "filled" by the educator. The more you fill the containers with your deposits, the better educator you will be. The more they allow themselves to be "filled" docilely, the better students they will be."

In the banking conception of education, knowledge is a donation from those who consider themselves wise to those who they judge to be ignorant; the educator knows, the student does not know. Liberating education means that the educator is also educated by the student, so that both become educator-student, we humans educate ourselves in common. Liberating education assumes knowledge of reality as a process of mutual and community awareness, of a dialogical and creative nature.

Freire considered that banking education should change to an education with a critical vision of the world in which we live, since it does not allow the awareness of reality and the liberation of students and only serves the ruling or oppressing class.

Pedagogy of the question

Another of the proposals made by this pedagogue is called the pedagogy of the question, which he proposes in his book Towards a pedagogy of the question. This pedagogy is based on the creation of knowledge through questions, where students as well as the teacher can learn from them and cause reciprocal enrichment.

Freire considers that knowledge stems from curiosity, the questions being purely curiosity, the desire to explore. The answers that are considered the only truth are a block to educational progress, and for this reason, this pedagogue considered it essential to teach to ask questions in the school environment and not focus on looking for a single answer, but rather consider the search process as it was. really educational.

Legacy and Impact

Since the publication of the English edition in 1970, Pedagogy of the Oppressed has had a great impact on education and pedagogy around the world, especially as a defining work of critical pedagogy. According to Israeli writer and educational reform theorist Sol Stern, it has "achieved almost iconic status in US teacher training programs". Connections have also been made between non-dualism theory de Freire in pedagogy and Eastern philosophical traditions such as Advaita Vedanta.

In 1977, the Adult Learning Project, based on Freire's work, was established in the Gorgie-Dalry neighborhood of Edinburgh, Scotland. This project involved approximately 200 people in the early years, and had among its goals to provide affordable and relevant local learning opportunities and build a network of local tutors. In Scotland, Freire's ideas on popular education influenced activist movements, not only in Edinburgh but also in Glasgow.

The main exponents of Freire in North America are Henry Giroux, Peter McLaren, Donaldo Macedo, Antonia Darder, Joe L. Kincheloe, Carlos Alberto Torres, Ira Shor and Shirley R. Steinberg. One of McLaren's edited texts, Paulo Freire: A Critical Encounter, exposes Freire's impact on the field of critical pedagogy. McLaren has also provided a comparative study on Paulo Freire and the Argentine revolutionary icon Che Guevara. Freire's work influenced the radical mathematics movement in the United States, which emphasized issues of social justice and critical pedagogy as components of mathematics curricula.

In South Africa, Freire's ideas and methods were central to the Black Consciousness Movement of the 1970s, often associated with Steve Biko, as well as the trade union movement in the 1970s and 1980s, and the United Democratic Front in the 1980s. There is a Paulo Freire project at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Pietermaritzburg.

In 1991, the Paulo Freire Institute was established in São Paulo to broaden and develop its theories of popular education. The institute has initiated projects in many countries and is based at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, where it actively maintains the Freire archives. Its director is UCLA professor Carlos Torres, author of several Freirean works, including A praxis educativa de Paulo Freire from 1978.

In 1999 PAULO, a national training organization named after Freire, was established in the UK. This agency was approved by the New Labor Government to represent some 300,000 community education professionals working across the UK. PAULO was given the formal responsibility of setting occupational training standards for people working in this field.

The Paulo and Nita Freire Project for International Critical Pedagogy was founded at McGill University. Here Joe L. Kincheloe and Shirley R. Steinberg worked to create a dialogic forum for critical scholars from around the world to promote research and recreate a Freirean pedagogy in a multinational domain. After Kincheloe's death, the project became a virtual global resource.

Shortly before his death, Freire was working on a book on eco-pedagogy, a platform of work carried out by many of the Freire Institutes and Freirean Associations around the world today. He has been influential in helping develop planetary education projects like the Earth Charter, as well as countless international grassroots campaigns in the spirit of Freirean popular education in general.

Freirean literacy methods have been adopted throughout the developing world. In the Philippines, Catholic Base Ecclesial Communities adopted Freire's methods in community education. In Papua New Guinea, Freirean literacy methods were used as part of the World Bank-funded Southern Highlands Rural Development Program Literacy Campaign.

Tributes

Mural in Campus La Castilla de la Universidad del Bío-Bío, Chile

As an educator, he obtained innumerable recognitions in various parts of the world. Among them stands out, in the commemoration number 92 of the educator's birth in 2013, the inauguration of the first statue of Paulo Freire unveiled by Education International in his hometown, Recife, carried out by his personal friend Abelardo Da Hora. More than 700 educators from all over the world gathered in Brazil in the framework of the II Meeting Towards a Latin American Pedagogical Movement, organized by the Federation of International Education Unions.

On the occasion of the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of his birth, Google dedicated a doodle to him on September 19, 2021, visible in Brazil and some Latin American countries.

Work

• Education and Brazilian Reality. Recife: Federal University of Recife, 139p. (Thesis of tendering for the chair of History of Education and Philosophy of Fine Arts of Pernambuco) (1959) / Mexico: 21st Century Editors, (1st century)^a ed. 2001), 208 p.

• The purpose of an administration. Recife: University Press, 90p. (1961)

• Literacy and awareness. Porto Alegre: Editora Emma. (1963)

• Education as a practice of freedom. Introduction Francis C. Weffort. Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra, (19 a ed, 1989, 150 p.) (1967) / Mexico: 21st Century Editors, (3^a ed. 2022), 150 p.

• Education and awareness-raising: rural. Cuernavaca (Mexico): CIDOC / Cuaderno 25, 320 p. (1968)

• Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Herder and Herder, 1970 (manuscript in Portuguese 1968). Published with the preface of Ernani Maria Fiori. Rio de Janeiro, Continuum, 218 p. (1970)/ Mexico: 21st Century Editors, (3^a ed. 2022), 243 p.
• Extension or communication? Rio de Janeiro: Continuum, 1971 93 p. (1971)/ Mexico: 21st Century Editors, (2nd century)^a ed. 2005). 112p.

• Cultural action for freedom and other writings. Translation Claudia Schilling, Buenos Aires: New Earth, 1975.

• Letters to Guinea-Bissau. Record an experiment in the process. Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra, (4.a ed, 1984.), 173 p. 1977.
• Letters to Guinea-Bissau. Apuntes de una experiencia pedagógica en proceso. Mexico: 21st Century Editors, 2^a ed. 1998).

• Christians and the release of the oppressed. Lisbon: BASE Issues, 49 p., 1978.

• Consciousness and history: the educational praxis of Paulo Freire (anthology). Sao Paulo: Loyola. 1979:

• Multinational and workers in Brazil. Sao Paulo: Brasiliense, 226 p. (1979)

• Four cards to artists and cultural animators. Ministry of Education and Sports, Sao Tome and Principe, 1980.

• Awareness: the theory and practice of liberation; an introduction to the thought of Paulo Freire (anthology). Sao Paulo: Moraes, 102 p. 1980.

• Ideology and Education: Reflections on the Non-Neutrality of Education. Rio de Janeiro: Continuum. (1981)

• Education and change. Rio de Janeiro: Continuum. (1981)

• The importance of reading and the liberation process. Mexico: 21st Century Editors, 2^a ed. 2022), 152 p.

• About Education (Dialogues)Vol. 1 Rio de Janeiro: Continuum. (1982)

• Popular education. Lins (SP): All Brothers. (1982)

• Popular culture, popular education(1983)

• Towards a pedagogy of research. (1985)

• Learning from history itself. Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra, 168 p. (1987)

• At school we do: an interdisciplinary reflection on popular education. (1988)

• What to do: theory and practice of popular education(1989)

• Talking to educators. Montevideo. Roca Viva, (1990)

• Literacy - Reading the world and reading the word. Rio de Janeiro: Continuum. (1990)

• Education in the city. Sao Paulo: Cortez, 144 p, (1991)./ Mexico: 21st Century Editors, (1^a ed. 1997), 176 p.

• Pedagogy of hope: a reunion with the Pedagogy of the oppressed. Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra, 245 p. (1992) / Mexico: 21st Century Editors.
• Teacher yes, no aunt: letters to those who dare to teach. Sao Paulo: Ojo de Agua, 127 p. (1993)

• Policy and education: essays. Sao Paulo: Cortez, 119 p. (1993)

• Letters to Cristina. Prologue by S. Adriano Nogueira; notes by Ana Maria Araújo Freire. New York: Continuum. 334 p. (1994)

• School is called life. Sao Paulo: Ática, 1985; 8. Edition. (1994)

• In the shadow of this hose. Sao Paulo: Ojo de Agua, 120 p. (1995)

• Pedagogy: dialogue and conflict. Sao Paulo: Editora Cortez. (1995)

• Fear and audacity(with Ira Shor). Prologue Ana María Saul; Rio de Janeiro: Continuum, 1987. (1996)

• Application of autonomy. Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra, 138 p. (1996)/ Mexico: 21st Century Editors, (3^a ed. 2022), 136 p.

• Pedagogy of indignation. Pedagogical Letters in a Scrambled World. Sao Paulo: UNESP, 134 p. Last work by Freire, in which he worked at the time of his death. (2000)/ Mexico: 21st Century Editors (1st century)^a ed. 2016).
• The meek scream. 1". ed. 2" reimp.-Buenos Aires: 21st Century Editors Argentina, 2006.

• For a pedagogy of the question (with Antonio Faundez). Editions of the CREC, 196 p. (2010)

• Reinventing Paulo Freire in the 21st Century (Instituto Paulo Freire). Octaedro Editorial, 108 p. (2021)
• Letters to those who intend to teach. Mexico: 21st Century Editors, 2^a ed. 2010), 160 p.
• The teacher without prescriptions. The challenge of teaching in a changing world. Mexico: 21st Century Editors, 1^a ed. 2016), 192 p.
• Pedagogy of possible dreams. Why teachers and students need to reinvent themselves at every moment of history. Mexico: 21st Century Editors, 1^a ed. 2016), 192 p.
• Politics and education. Tests to reinvent the world. Mexico: 21st Century Editors, 2^a ed. 2022), 121 p.