Critical Literacy and Paulo Freire

1. FREIRE ANDYOUTH
DEVELOPMENT

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

3. PAULO FREIRE: EDUCATIONAL
THINKER, EDUCATIONAL ACTIVIST
 1921-1997
 South American theorist
 Marxist tradition
 Political activist
 Critical pedagogy aimed at the
grass roots

4. FREIRE AND EDUCATION
 Interest in the reproduction of inequalities
 Education and the ‘banking concept’
 Education and ‘ako’ (a term from Rose Pere)
 Conscientization – literacy, critical literacy, and reading the
world
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoxHpNYFg5E

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. CRITICAL PEDAGOGY: PROCESS
 Inquiry – Looking at issues or
topics of importance
 Examination – Looking at the
social aspects of words and
positions
 Problematization – Critical
challenge of world which
leads to change
 It is a process of unlearning
and recreating
 https://www.youtube.com/wa
tch?v=Q2v-WcOVAfg
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pablo_Freire_Method)

7. WHAT FREIRETEACHES US
 Praxis
 Dialogue
 Contestation
 Critique
 The basics and …
 Thinking beyond the
basics
 Hope

8. PRAXIS IN ACTION:
CONSCIENTIZATION
 Adult education
 Community education
 Alternative Schools
 Afterschool Programs
 YouthWork

9. WHATWEWOULD EXPECTTO
SEE…
 Effective agency
 Paulo Freire
 Conscientization
 Education
 Literacy
 A challenging of structural
inequalities
 A focus on literacy

10. CRITICAL PEDAGOGY EXAMPLES

12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDq9o9j3-CU

13. COMMUNITY LITERACY
 Reading the world through collaboration and inquiry
(negotiating meaning)
 Aimed at social change
 These changes are often in the immediate social world
 The fear of youth
 Allow young people to negotiate a position for
themselves in their worlds
 Example EducationalVideo Centre
 https://vimeo.com/202791400

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

17. RAW LITERACY
 From the street
 Hip Hop Culture – graffiti and dance
 Krump/HyphyStorytelling through dance
 Hip Hop straight off the streets

20. CONSCIOUSNESS RAISING
INITIATIVES
 Votes forYOUth
 YouthWeek
 Hoodie Day
 “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.”