Contributions of Paulo Freire for a Critical Data Literacy: a Popular Education Approach

Abstract

Paulo Freire is the patron of education in Brazil. His main work - the Popular Education pedagogy - influences many educators all over the world who believe in education as a way of liberating poor oppressed people. One of the outcomes of Freire's work is a literacy method, developed in the 1960's. In this paper, we propose the adoption of elements of Freire's Literacy Method for use in a pedagogical pathway towards data literacy. After tracing some parallels between literacy education and data literacy, we suggest some data literacy strategies inspired on Freire's method. We also derive from it a definition for critical data literacy.