Praxis is the central concept which Paulo Freire adopts to capture the dialectical relationship between consciousness and the world, reflected in the pedagogical approach for which he became famous. It is this concept I seek to clarify in this paper. I focus on Paulo Freire's development of praxis throughout his massive oeuvre. This reflects his social and pedagogical thinking throughout a span of over thirty years. I do this in view of the highly persistent misconceptions in the use of the term praxis in the literature. The term praxis is often bandied about in a loose and contradictory manner separating it from some of its constituent elements. Praxis, it will be argued, finds its place in any organisation or movement striving for the greater democratisation of society. Democracy is seen here not simply in its formal, representative sense, but as an ongoing process for the enfranchisement of different members of society.

This paper deals with aspects of Antonio Gramsci’s thinking on education and related cultural work, highlighting issues such as those of effective curricula, different forms of educators/intellectuals, work-oriented education and popular education, which have resonance with contemporary debates in the field. Gramsci’s ideas provide insights for an effective contemporary socialist pedagogical politics that are based on the principle of critical access to ‘powerful knowledge’ and experiences that promote critical thinking, in formal educational institutions and other learning settings.