Education is at the heart of all politics, values and ethics … or lack thereof. Paulo Freire, author of Pedagogy of the oppressed (2018), in critically analysing the malevolent relationship between colonisers and the colonised, oppressors and the oppressed, the privileged and the underprivileged in Brazil, provides us with an invaluable insight into how education can be put to the service of freedom. In particular, his notion of critical consciousness (conscientização) equips us with critical tools we can use to expose, dissect and abolish cultural norms and social institutions that are both founded on and reproduce oppression and exploitation. That is, in order to co-create a socially just and democratic society, Freire notes we must work from the bottom up (that is, the grassroots) to critically analyse the systems and institutions that compose a society and make the political decision to collectively act against repressive forces. On this point, Freire (2018: 39) writes:

Most importantly, Freire is a strong proponent of not only recognising but also taking seriously the agency, acumen and knowledges of the poor, oppressed and communities-in-struggle.

From there, and in order to change the world, Freire endorses engaging in praxis, which broadly is the simultaneous process of questioning authority and institutions; being present with communities; developing ideas together; and both acting and reflecting on how we are organising against structural violence, oppression and inequality. Structural inequality is the result of systems of power obstructing certain groups and communities from benefiting from and enjoying the same privileges, rights, opportunities and life chances as majority or normative groups.