Echoes from Freire for a Critically Engaged Pedagogy

In this concise and accessible text, Peter Mayo outlines some of the major concepts in Freire's praxis. In pursuit of a critically engaging pedagogy, Mayo compares Freire's work with a range of other thinkers and educators, including Lorenzo Milani, Antonia Darder, John Dewey, Margaret Ledwith, Antonio Gramsci, and Henry Giroux.

Chapters in the book include discussions of the State's role in education - specifically higher education; a critical analysis of the dominant discourse in education centering on 'competences' and the type of slant this discourse takes; a study of adult education through a Freirean lens; an historical view of Nicaragua's Freire-inspired literacy and popular education campaigns of 1980; a fresh perspective on the role of social movements in the contexts of social transformation; a new analysis of the relevance of Freirean concepts for transformative research, and an exploration of educators as intellectuals and social actors.

The result is a compelling study of how Paulo Freire's writings continue to resonate around the world, and of how we must continue to apply and interpret them anew.

Peter Mayo is Professor of Education and Head of the Faculty of Education at the University of Malta. He is the co-editor of the series Postcolonial Studies in Education (Palgrave).