Back to Basics: Lessons from Paulo Freire

Few educators have left as profound a mark on teaching and learning as Paulo Freire.

His work continues to shape classrooms worldwide, challenging teachers to move beyond transmission-based education and embrace learning as a process of dialogue, reflection, and transformation.

Freire’s influence on my teaching has been immeasurable. His ideas have guided me in seeing the classroom not just as a space for language instruction but as a space for critical engagement, questioning, and empowerment. Here are some of the key lessons I have taken from his work and how they continue to resonate in English language teaching today.

1. Education is Never Neutral

Freire’s most famous statement—"There is no such thing as neutral education"—reminds us that every classroom carries power, ideology, and potential for change. Teaching is not just about delivering content; it is about shaping how students see themselves, their world, and their capacity to act within it.

In language teaching, this means moving beyond detached, decontextualized materials and instead using texts, discussions, and examples that help learners analyze, reflect, and challenge assumptions. It means recognizing that every interaction—whether correcting a mistake, setting up a group discussion, or selecting a reading—reinforces or disrupts particular ways of thinking.

2. Dialogue Over Deposits

Freire’s critique of the banking model of education—where teachers "deposit" knowledge into passive learners—is another one of his most famous contributions. Instead, he advocated for education as a process of dialogue, where learners and teachers engage in meaningful conversations that foster critical thinking.

For language teachers, this means avoiding one-directional, teacher-centered instruction and instead prioritizing:

• Student-led discussions where learners negotiate meaning and build on each other's ideas.

• Reflective tasks that invite learners to connect their experiences with what they are learning.

• Real-world applications of language that encourage learners to question, analyze, and express themselves authentically.

When students actively shape the learning process, they own their learning—and that is where real growth happens.

3. Literacy is More Than Words

Freire’s concept of critical literacy teaches that reading is not just decoding symbols on a page—it is about understanding and transforming reality. His work with adult literacy in Brazil was not just about helping people read but about empowering them to question the structures that shaped their lives.

In language teaching, this means helping students read the world as well as they read words. Encouraging learners to critically engage with media, textbooks, cultural narratives, and power structures in the language they are learning helps them develop not just linguistic proficiency, but agency and awareness.

4. Teaching is an Act of Hope

Freire believed that education is an act of radical hope. To teach is to believe in the possibility of change—not just in our students but in the world they will shape.

In our own classrooms, this means choosing to:

• Believe in our students’ potential, even when they doubt themselves.

• Encourage questions over compliance.

• Help students see learning as a path to self-expression, critical thinking, and action.

His ideas remind us that teaching is never just about grammar or vocabulary—it is about equipping learners with the tools to navigate and question the world around them. And that is a responsibility we cannot take lightly.

Freire’s work challenges educators to rethink what it means to teach, to learn, and to empower students. His vision of dialogue, critical thinking, and transformative education remains just as relevant today as when Pedagogia do Oprimido was first published.

If you are new to Freire, a great starting point is Pedagogy of Freedom, where he expands on the ethical responsibilities of educators and the role of teaching as an act of liberation. His work is not just theory—it is a call to action. Teaching is never neutral, and as educators, we carry the responsibility of shaping more thoughtful, engaged, and empowered learners.