Critically discuss Paulo Freire's concept of empowerment education. In this essay I will explore and discuss the educator and philosopher Paulo Freire and his widely explored concept of empowerment education. Empowerment. Paulo Freire, born in 1921, was one of the most influential figures of the 20th century in the field of educational sociology. Originally from Brazil and born into a middle-class family in Pernambuco, he taught Portuguese in a secondary school before publishing (as one of the main founders of critical pedagogy1) his seminal work Pedagogy of the Oppressed. This book is a study on education in the Third World, particularly in Latin America2. It outlines a liberating and revolutionary theory that identifies current shortcomings in teaching methods under the umbrella term “banking education” and describes a philosophy that would liberate and empower – through the cultivation of critical thinking – those who are victims of such methods. He sees educational philosophy in a broader sense than just the concept of oppressor and oppressed. Consider educational philosophy in a broader sense of oppressor and oppressed. In 1946 Freire was appointed director of the Department of Education and Culture of Social Service in the state of Pernambuco, working with the destitute and illiterate, and it was here that he was first able to adequately exercise his theories. After being appointed director of the Department of Cultural Extension at the University of Recife, his first project (in Brazil) resulted in 300 illiterate sugarcane workers being taught to read and write after an astonishing forty-five days. His critical pedagogy as a whole reflects an almost Marxist approach, but there are also elements of French... middle of paper... up, and finding out for yourself what is right and wrong, and then applying this self-acquired knowledge to a reality, using the potential of education and transform society for the better. It is clear that, after discussing Paulo Freire's concept of Empowerment Education, it is a philosophy and social policy relevant to modern society and to us as educators. Particularly in Music Education. It is essential, as mentioned by Lucy Green and Keith Swanwick, that learning at all times includes both the student and the teacher. In this way the music teacher never stops learning like the student. I believe this is so important in music since music is a subject whose learning can never cease. There is perpetual room for improvement. In Ireland Freire's concept of Empowerment Education could take flight through Music Education.