Pedagogy and politics in the work of Paulo Freire

The Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire, has exerted a considerable influence on the field of adult education not only in Latin America but worldwide. The reaction to his adult educational theory has been varied. It has often been considered as "reformist" (eg. La Belle, 1986) and "populist" (Youngman, 1986). Other writers have, on the contrary, underscored the radical nature of Freire's pedagogy (eg. Torres, 1982) and the process of "conscientization" with which it is closely identified, a process regarded by Connolly (1981) as being "essentially geared to the radical transformation of social reality". (p. 71) This paper provides a critical exposition of Freire's adult educational theory, outlining its basic tenets and examining the extent to which it can be successful in contributing to a general process of social transformation. The paper emphasizes the radical nature of Freire's alternative pedagogical theory.peer-reviewe