This book focuses on two of the most cited figures in the debate on radical education - Antonio Gramsci and Paulo Freire. Both regarded forms of adult education as having an important role to play in the struggle for liberation from oppression. In this book Peter Mayo examines the extent to which their combined insights can provide the foundation for a theory for our own times of transformative adult education. He focuses on three aspects of the pedagogical process in particular -- social relations, sites of practice and the content of adult education. He analyses their ideas and identifies some of the limitations in their work, notably the critical issues of gender and race which they do not address. The book concludes with a seminal attempt at synthesising their ideas in the context of other adult educators' more recent contributions in order to develop a theory of transformative adult education, including an assessment of its feasibility in the era of globalization and neoliberalism.

First Published in 1998. This book examines the ideas of two of the most controversial radical heroes of adult education, Antonio Gramsci and Paulo Freire, gauging their significance for the development of a radical politics of adult education in the post-Soviet, post-apartheid new world order. Gramsci offers a noble vision of the role of adult education in the creation of revolutionary Marxist hegemony; but the cause he lived and died for has all but collapsed. Nevertheless, his distinction between common sense and good sense, his theory of the intellectual and his concept of hegemony bear scrutiny today. In Freire's pedagogy of the oppressed, the relationship between leader and followed, teacher and student, is problematic and this book questions whether his pedagogy has the liberating potential he envisioned. The author considers and rejects the linkage of Gramsci's and Freire's ideas in the adult education literature. Nonetheless, Gramsci and Freire have huge symbolic importance as radical heroes in an under-theorized and marginalised field. The study highlights a problem with the radical hero phenomenon: when individuals become icons, their ideas cease to be open, and new insights do not emerge as challenge becomes inadmissible and debate dies. While neither Gramsci nor Freire can provide us with answers, Gramsci helps us address the difficult questions of purpose and content in the politics of adult education.

Social Justice Education for Teachers: Paulo Freire and the Possible Dream is a book that will help teachers in their commitment to and praxis of an education for social justice. The book traces the reception of Freire’s ideas in the USA, Canada, Latin America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia and provides some glimpses of topical yet seminal interventions in the philosophy of education, including studies of the relationships between Freire and Rousseau, Freire and Dewey, or Freire and Gramsci.

Through a series of writings from international scholars,Gramsci and Educational Thought pays tribute to theeducational influence of Antonio Gramsci, considered one of thegreatest social thinkers and political theorists of the 20thcentury. Represents sound social theory and a broad application andreinvention of Gramsci’s ideas Covers important areas such as language and education,community education, and social work education Features perspectives from different geographical contexts

Based in a holistic exposition and appraisal of Gramsci’s writings that are of relevance to education in neoliberal times, this book--rather than simply applying Gramsci's theories to issues in education--argues that education constitutes the leitmotif of his entire oeuvre and lies at the heart of his conceptualization of the ancient Greek term hegemony that was used by other political theorists before him. Starting from this understanding, the book goes on to compare Gramsci's theories with those of later thinkers in the development of a critical pedagogy that can confront neoliberalism in all its forms.

In this concise and accessible text, Peter Mayo outlines some of the major concepts in Freire's praxis. In pursuit of a critically engaging pedagogy, Mayo compares Freire's work with a range of other thinkers and educators, including Lorenzo Milani, Antonia Darder, John Dewey, Margaret Ledwith, Antonio Gramsci, and Henry Giroux. Chapters in the book include discussions of the State's role in education - specifically higher education; a critical analysis of the dominant discourse in education centering on 'competences' and the type of slant this discourse takes; a study of adult education through a Freirean lens; an historical view of Nicaragua's Freire-inspired literacy and popular education campaigns of 1980; a fresh perspective on the role of social movements in the contexts of social transformation; a new analysis of the relevance of Freirean concepts for transformative research, and an exploration of educators as intellectuals and social actors. The result is a compelling study of how Paulo Freire's writings continue to resonate around the world, and of how we must continue to apply and interpret them anew.