Freire’s Christian Pedagogy in the Professional Narrative of UK Youth Work

Abstract

This article celebrates the 50th anniversary of Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed. It responds to the current youth work environment within the UK by examining the differing attitudes and treatment of Freire and his pedagogy within this melded arena. It reveals youth ministry’s and Christian faith-based youth work’s limited engagement with Freire and explains the secularisation of his ideas within the wider youth work field, how they were isolated from his faith, subjugated to the work of Carl Rogers and latterly rebranded as secular Marxist. In contrast, this piece suggests that Paulo Freire’s work should be recognised as a pedagogy drawn from his Christian faith. It concludes by relating his work to Liberation Theology and introduces an interpretation of conscientização as a Christian pedagogy. While Anglo-centric it aims to motivate a discussion amongst Christian faith-based youth workers around the globe, particularly those who contend with the secularisation of Freire’s work.