Freire and Student Empowerment

Michaela L. Ensweiler

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2026
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781350463950
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Theory & Practice

This book introduces a variety of ways for educators to empower students as critical global citizens and agents of change using the educational theories of Paulo Freire. It covers key themes including social and planetary justice, ecopedagogy and sustainability education, diverse learner agency, restorative justice, women's leadership, and social change. The contributors offer practical strategies for educators battling against oppressive action that aims to repress teacher and student voice, offering an alternative to the increasing standardization of a neoliberal curriculum and competitive meritocracy.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle Page
• Title Page
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Contributors
• Series Editors’ Foreword: In Defense of Student Activism with Reflexivity
• Introduction
• 1 Reading Freire and Bourdieu in Local Educational Systems: Implications for Teachers’ and Students’ Empowerment
• 2 Grown from the “Concrete”: Engaging Freire and Place-Based Learning Inquiry
• 3 The Inclusive Classroom: A Path to Praxis for LGBTQ+ Educators and Students in Response to Rising School-Based Censorship and Exclusion
• 4 The “Limit-Situation” and “Culture of Silence”: Using Freirean Dialogs to Overcome the Impasse in American P-12 Education
• 5 Ecopedagogy in the Elementary School Classroom
• 6 Critical Pedagogy of Counter-Storytelling in Fifth-Grade Classrooms: Witnessing Stories of Students and Families
• 7 Global Citizenship, Women, and Leadership: Through the Lens of Critical Pedagogy
• 8 Freire in the Classroom as Ecopedagogy in Higher Education Settings
• 9 Performing Policy—The Justice Project: Playing the Word in the World
• Index
• Imprint