THE PAULO

FREIRE METHOD
OF COMBATING
ILLITERACY
JOMAR M. TEOFILO, EMT, RN
Paulo Freire was one of the
most influential philosophers
of education of the twentieth
century.
BIOGRAPHY
•Freire was born September 19, 1921 to
a middle-class family in Recife, Brazil.
•Freire became familiar with poverty and
hunger during the Great Depression of
the 1930s.
•On October 31, 1934 his father died.
• Moacir Gadotti’s Book:

“I didn't understand anything because of

my hunger. I wasn't dumb. It wasn't lack of
interest. My social condition didn't allow
me to have an education”.
•Freire enrolled in law school at
the University of Recife in 1943. He also
studied philosophy, more
specifically phenomenology, and
the psychology of language.
•In 1946, Freire was appointed Director of the
Department of Education and Culture of the
Social Service in the state of Pernambuco.
•In 1961, he was appointed director of the
Department of Cultural Extension of Recife
University.
- 300 sugarcane workers were taught to read and
write in just 45 days.
- Freire decided to use the name “cultural circles”
instead of literacy classes.
•In 1964, a military coup put an end to Freire's
literacy effort. He was imprisoned as a traitor for
70 days.

- “EDUCATION AS THE PRACTICE OF FREEDOM”

- “PEDAGOGY OF THE OPPRESSED”

•Based on the positive reception of his
work, Freire was offered a visiting
professorship at Harvard University in
1969.
•After a year in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, USA, Freire moved to
Geneva, Switzerland to work as a
special education advisor to
the World Council of Churches.
•In 1979, he was able to return to Brazil and
moved back in 1980. Freire joined
the Workers' Party (PT) in the city of São
Paulo and acted as a supervisor for its adult
literacy project from 1980 to 1986. When the
PT prevailed in the municipal elections in
1988, Freire was appointed Secretary of
Education for São Paulo.
•Freire died of heart failure on May 2,
1997 in São Paulo.
INFLUENCES
ON FRIERE
• HISTORY OF BRAZIL AND HIS OWN EXPERIENCES
• EARLY AND LASTING EXPERIENCES (PARENTS,
PRESCHOOL TEACHER, PRINCIPAL OF OSWALDO
CRUZ SECONDARY SCHOOL)
• KARL MARX (CONSCIOUSNESS, CONCEPT OF
LABOR)
• JOHN DEWEY (CLASSROOM DYNAMICS, DYNAMIC
BETWEEN THE TEACHER AND STUDENTS)
• EXISTENSIALISM
• CHRISTIANITY
PAULO FREIRE
WORKS AND
PHILOSOPHY
 DEMOCRACY AND
CITIZENSHIP TRAINING
Paulo Freire Structure
of the Method
1. The language, culture and
problems of the illiterates
themselves.
2. The philosophies of knowledge,
human nature and history.
3. The analysis of underdevelopment
that began to have an impact on Latin
American after World War II.
 FREIRE’S
PEDAGOGY
 CRITICAL
VISION OF THE
WORLD
CONCEPT OF
CULTURE
 VALUE
ASSUMPTIONS
 THANK YOU
FOR
LISTENING 