BRAZILIAN EDUCATION IS NOT FREIREAN, IT IS DEWEYAN:
THE ROOTS OF THE NEW SCHOOL MOVEMENT AND PRAGMATISM IN THE FORMATION OF NATIONAL EDUCATION (1920-1964)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/Keywords:
Brazilian Education; John Dewey; New School; Paulo Freire.Abstract
ABSTRACT
This article proposes a critical analysis of the predominant philosophical matrix in Brazilian education in the period preceding the 1964 Coup. It argues that, contrary to the common perception that elevates Paulo Freire to the status of Brazil's main pedagogical foundation, the structure and spirit of the modern educational system were forged primarily under the influence of John Dewey's pragmatic pedagogy and the New School movement. Through a historical and bibliographic review, the text traces the arrival and institutionalization of these ideas through figures such as Anísio Teixeira, Lourenço Filho, and Fernando de Azevedo, demonstrating how they shaped legislation, teacher training, and school organization. It concludes that Paulo Freire, far from being a breaking point, represents a political-critical radicalization of the existing Deweyan premises, and that the pragmatic legacy of the latter remains as the structural basis of national education, often in tension with the Freirean ideal.
KEYWORDS: Brazilian Education; John Dewey; New School; Paulo Freire.
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