reinventing paulo freire's literacy practice. a philosophical literacy experience in Pau dos Ferros, RN

Abstract

This text chronicles a unique educational experience for youth and adult literacy teachers: a 40-hour philosophical literacy course with 300 literacy teachers in July 2022, as the first stage of the "Supera RN" Program in Pau dos Ferros, as part of the Policy to Overcome Illiteracy in the State of Rio Grande do Norte (RN). The text discusses how the experience of philosophical literacy is inspired by and at the same time differs from the literacy course offered by Paulo Freire in Angicos in 1963. Inspired by Freire's curiosity and commitment to the excluded, the concept of "philosophical literacy" refers to a form of experiential education based on the following dispositions: to listen attentively to the human and non-human world around us; to think carefully and calmly together ; to relate cooperatively and not competitively to other people's ideas; to ask ourselves questions about our life and the way we relate to it, in the special, singular, suspended time of inquiry; to dialogue as equals; to face the demands of our community; to invent new ways of being with others. The text describes how these dispositions were thought about and practiced during the philosophical literacy course in Pau dos Ferros, RN, in light of five principles–asking; listening; childhood temporality; equality; thinking together–and poses some further questions about possible ways of promoting philosophical literacy in the field of teacher education.