Conscientização

Freire uses the term conscientização to mean a critical understanding or conscious awareness of one's situation.

Contradiction

For Freire, the term contradiction means a situation that is counter to the natural human condition and the human drive to fulfill itself. A contradiction is a situation that negates humanization. The situation of oppression is a contradiction, and so is the traditional teacher-student relationship.

Subject

Freire uses the capitalized term Subject to describe a person who is fully aware of his or her situation and is able to exercise free will to act on the world.

Praxis

Freire uses the term praxis to mean the combination of free thought and action. Praxis is a process, which is the interaction of clear, knowledgeable reflection and the action upon the world that is implicit in cogent human thought.

Banking Education

Freire uses the metaphor of banking to describe traditional...