Reinventing Freire in the 21st century:

This year we remember three centennials that inspire many progressive educators around the world. First, 2021 marks the 100th anniversary of the creation of Summerhill, one of the first experiments (if not the first) on school democracy in the world. Second, this year we celebrate the 100th birthday of Edgar Morin, a French sociologist and philosopher who dedicated his life to the pursuit of social justice and made insightful contributions to the role of education to promote democracy, equality, social transformation, and sustainability (see, for instance, Morin 2002). Third, this year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Paulo Freire (1921-1997), one of the most influential educational thinkers of the second half of the 20th century. Given space constraints and the theme of this special issue of CICE, in this paper we will focus on the connections between some of Paulo Freire’s ideas (particularly those related to citizenship education and school democracy) and a process known as School Participatory Budgeting. “I don't want to be followed; I want to be reinvented”, Paulo Freire said on several occasions. It is in this spirit that we approach this paper. Inspired by Freire’s ideas, and especially by his practice as an educator in Brazil (both before his exile and after his return), in this paper we discuss the recent development and expansion of a process known as School Participatory Budgeting (School PB). This model emanates from Freire’s project of Escola Cidadã, which constitutes an interesting school- or district-wide experience from the global south that can be adapted to many contexts. Since its modest origins in Brazil, School PB has now been taken up in other cities and states across the US (e.g. Chicago, New York) and in many other countries across the globe, from Argentina and Mexico to Colombia, Spain, Russia, France, Italy, Zambia, South Korea, and Portugal. We argue that School PB aligns well with Freire’s ideas on dialogue, participation, collaboration, creativity, student agency, and change. In this paper we focus on the experience of School PB in Arizona, not only because it was in Arizona where the first School PB process in the U.S. was designed and implemented, but also because it has been a place for continuous experimentation and innovation.

Formação de professores em uma perspectiva democrática: encontros sobre o Poder Escolar

Resumo: No presente artigo tem-se como propósito apresentar e discutir a respeito de um projeto de formação continuada de professores da educação básica que ocorre na Cidade de Pelotas, RS, Brasil, desde 2001 chamado Encontros sobre o Poder Escolar. Tomamos como referência nossa experiência de participação em diferentes etapas da organização e do desenvolvimento do Projeto e uma entrevista com a primeira coordenadora. Entendemos que dar visibilidade a essa ação de formação potencializa a ideia de aproximação e diálogo entre os saberes acadêmicos e os saberes construídos nos cotidianos da docência na escola, engendrando e fortalecendo processos de autonomia e vivência democrática.Palavras-chave: Formação continuada. Democracia escolar. Educação básica.Teacher training in a democratic perspective: Meeting about School Power Abstract: The purpose of this article is to present and discuss a continuing education project of primary school teachers in the city of Pelotas, RS, since 2001 called Meeting about School Power. We take as reference our experience of participating in different stages of the organization and development of the project and an interview with the first coordinator. We understand that giving visibility to this training action enhances the idea of approach and dialogue between the academic knowledge and the knowledge built in the daily teaching of the school, engendering and strengthening processes of autonomy and democratic living.Keywords: Continuing education. School democracy. Primary education. Formación de profesores desde una perspectiva democrática: Encuentros sobre el Poder EscolarResumen: El artículo tiene como propósito presentar y discutir um proyecto de formación continua de profesores de la educación básica que ocurre em la ciudad de Pelotas, RS, desde 2001 llamado Encuentros sobre el Poder Escolar. Tomamos como referencia nuestra experiencia de participación en diferentes etapas de la organización y del desarrollo del proyecto y una entrevista con la primera coordinadora. Entendemos que dar visibilidad a esta acción de formación potencia la idea de acercamiento y diálogo entre los saberes académicos y los saberes construídos en los cotidianos de la docência en la escuela, engendrando y fortaleciendo procesos de autonomía y vivencia democrática.Palabras clave: Formación continua. Democracia escolar. Educación básica.

Formação de professores em uma perspectiva democrática: encontros sobre o Poder Escolar

Resumo: No presente artigo tem-se como propósito apresentar e discutir a respeito de um projeto de formação continuada de professores da educação básica que ocorre na Cidade de Pelotas, RS, Brasil, desde 2001 chamado Encontros sobre o Poder Escolar. Tomamos como referência nossa experiência de participação em diferentes etapas da organização e do desenvolvimento do Projeto e uma entrevista com a primeira coordenadora. Entendemos que dar visibilidade a essa ação de formação potencializa a ideia de aproximação e diálogo entre os saberes acadêmicos e os saberes construídos nos cotidianos da docência na escola, engendrando e fortalecendo processos de autonomia e vivência democrática.Palavras-chave: Formação continuada. Democracia escolar. Educação básica.Teacher training in a democratic perspective: Meeting about School Power Abstract: The purpose of this article is to present and discuss a continuing education project of primary school teachers in the city of Pelotas, RS, since 2001 called Meeting about School Power. We take as reference our experience of participating in different stages of the organization and development of the project and an interview with the first coordinator. We understand that giving visibility to this training action enhances the idea of approach and dialogue between the academic knowledge and the knowledge built in the daily teaching of the school, engendering and strengthening processes of autonomy and democratic living.Keywords: Continuing education. School democracy. Primary education. Formación de profesores desde una perspectiva democrática: Encuentros sobre el Poder EscolarResumen: El artículo tiene como propósito presentar y discutir um proyecto de formación continua de profesores de la educación básica que ocurre em la ciudad de Pelotas, RS, desde 2001 llamado Encuentros sobre el Poder Escolar. Tomamos como referencia nuestra experiencia de participación en diferentes etapas de la organización y del desarrollo del proyecto y una entrevista con la primera coordinadora. Entendemos que dar visibilidad a esta acción de formación potencia la idea de acercamiento y diálogo entre los saberes académicos y los saberes construídos en los cotidianos de la docência en la escuela, engendrando y fortaleciendo procesos de autonomía y vivencia democrática.Palabras clave: Formación continua. Democracia escolar. Educación básica.

Democracy in the classroom

This article presents the case for a progressive education that embraces notions of democratic values in the classroom, and an education for democratic citizenship. Informed by John Dewey’s and Martin Buber’s philosophies of education, and Homi Bhabha’s concept of ‘third space’ work, the article examines the problematic and contested issues of emancipation and empowerment for learning in the classroom and across the school. Democracy in schooling requires a learning environment where teachers and students are encouraged and empowered to engage in mutual dialogue over matters to do with teaching and learning. Acknowledging this requirement, and the traditional agential and power-related positioning of teacher–student relationships and role identities in the classroom and across the school, this article argues for the creation of learning environments where classroom practice is democratically ‘top-down’ teacher-guided and ‘bottom-up’ student-informed.