Freire on free space

Abstract

Paulo Freire, an education consultant for the World Council of Churches, led two seminars in Auckland and Wellington during his short visit to New Zealand. He described himself as a “very home-loving person” who would rather be with his wife and children, but the purpose of his visit was to share his ideas on education, known to some New Zealanders through his books *Pedagogy of the Oppressed* and *Cultural Action for Freedom*. He explained that he wrote *Pedagogy of the Oppressed* expecting it to be read only by Latin American students and teachers who could understand its sophisticated language, and initially planned to print just 5,000 copies. However, an American theologian friend encouraged its translation, and in 1970 the first edition was published in the United States. It has since been translated into ten languages, including Greek and Swahili.