Paulo Freire was a Brazilian educator and philosopher known for his influential work on critical pedagogy. He was born in 1921 in Brazil and worked as a teacher and school director early in his career, developing his theories on liberating education for the oppressed. In 1964, a military coup imprisoned him for 70 days due to his leftist views. He went on to publish influential books like Pedagogy of the Oppressed and Pedagogy of Freedom. Freire worked internationally as an advisor and advocate for education reform focused on empowering marginalized groups until his death in 1997.

1. Paulo Frierre Resource pack. Helena O’Nions,Katie Penn, Eve Obayoriade and Leah Mulhern.

9. Letters to Christina Reflections on My Life and Work. >A book written in the form of letters to his niece Christina. >Through his letters Freire revisits his childhood providing an intimate account of his life and how he grew to become an educator with such commitment in his life and work as a teacher working to liberate the oppressed. He spoke very truly of his experiences growing up there was no efforts to idealize or romanticize his memories-he described them because those were the years that fed his critical thought in adulthood.(p192) He also described his open reminiscing by saying “For me to return to my distant childhood is a necessary act of curiosity ”(p13) >Throughout these letters we are reminded of the importance memory plays and how they enable us to generate change for the future. >The close relationship of the letters to Paulo's life make the points he is arguing more intense. They translate real moments of the objectivity of Brazilian history, a history that he participated in as a subject.(p192) >His letters invite fellow teachers to deepen their convictions for a pedagogy for liberation and to broaden our conceptions of how we address ourselves and those with whom we struggle. His words strengthen and work towards a critical action.

10. Teachers as cultural workers: Letters to those who dare teach Freire's last book. Teachers as Cultural Workers. Letters to Those Who Dare Teach, focuses on Paulo Freire's ideas about culture, education and social change. He also explores the possibilities of interpretation in language, and hidden explicit intentions. Freire claims that the job of a teacher is a joyful and rigorous career, and that they themselves are also learners. Freire proclaimed that he would never feel ashamed of being a teacher. Freire states that teachers must not act as parents to their students. This book is written in the context of the infant democracy in Brazil. However the ideas that Freire presents should be influential on teacher education in other social contexts. Freire's inspirational vision of a democratic teaching force provides teachers with practical strategies and philosophical foundations for pursuing their careers in education. These are points that are still used to inspire in teacher training courses today.