A brief introduction into critial pedagogy and the work of Paulo Friere

2. Education as Praxis
0 Knowledge which leads to action
0 “All social life is practical” (Marx, 1845)
0 Praxis brings theory and practice together
0 Praxis leads to creativity
0 Praxis starts with a question
0 The importance of ‘lived experience’

3. Paulo Freire: Educational thinker,
educational activist
0 1921-1997
0 South American theorist
0 Marxist tradition
0 Political activist
0 Critical pedagogy aimed at the
grass roots

4. Freire and education
0 Interest in the reproduction of inequalities
0 Education and the ‘banking concept’
0 Education and ‘ako’ (a term from Rose Pere)
0 Conscientization – literacy, critical literacy, and
reading the world

5. “Conscientization means breaking through
prevailing mythologies to reach new levels of
awareness—in particular, awareness of oppression,
being an ‘object’ of others’ will rather than a self-
determining ‘subject.’ The process of
conscientization involves identifying contradictions
in experience through dialogue and becoming part
of the process of changing the world”
(Goldbard, cited on Conscientization, 2007, para.3)

6. Process
0Inquiry – Looking at
issues or topics of
importance
0Examination – Looking
at the social aspects of
words and positions
0Problematization –
Critical challenge of
world which leads to
change
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pablo_Freire_Method)

7. What Freire Teaches Us
0 Praxis
0 Dialogue
0 Contestation
0 Critique
0 The basics and …
0 Thinking beyond the
basics
0 Hope

8. Praxis in action:
Conscientization
0 Adult education
0 Community education
0 Alternative Schools
0 Afterschool Programs
0 Youth Work

9. What we would expect to see…
0 Effective agency
0 Paulo Freire
0 Conscientization
0 Education
0 Literacy
0 A challenging of structural
inequalities
0 A focus on literacy

10. Community literacy
0Reading the world through collaboration and
inquiry (“negotiated meaning” (p.213))
0Aimed at social change
0These changes are often in the immediate
social world
0The fear of youth
0Allow young people to negotiate a position for
themselves in their worlds

11. Fresh literacies
0Literacies that arise from popular culture
0Literacies that arise from technology
0DUSTY: Powerful and Lyfe in Rhyme
0 What inequalities and issues are these young
people resisting?
0 How are these young people asserting a positive
identity?
0 How are these interventions more sociological in
nature than psychological?

12. Raw literacy
0From the street
0Hip Hop Culture – graffiti and dance
0Hyphy Storytelling through dance
0 What inequalities and issues are these young
people resisting?
0 How are these young people asserting a positive
identity?
0 How are these interventions more sociological in
nature than psychological?

13. Consciousness raising initiatives
0 Votes for YOUth
0 Youth Week
0 Hoodie Day
0 “Hoodies, like young people,
often get a bad rap. But given
a chance, a hoodie can be your
best friend - stylish, warm,
and cosy. Wearing a hoodie on
the 30th of May means you
care about the youth of
Aotearoa.”