On the 13th, 14th and 15th of December, the International Congress “Paulo Freire: a centenary of topicality” was held, organized by CeiED in partnership with the UNESCO-ULHT Chair “Education, Citizenship and Cultural Diversity”, with the support of the Institute Paulo Freire and the “António Sérgio” Teacher Training Center.

The event had 818 registered participants, from the African, European and American continents, from Universities, Research Centers, Museums, Schools, NGOs and Social and Associative Movements.

The sessions were organized to explain the importance of interdisciplinarity, cultural diversity and the reciprocity of knowledge. To, around Paulo Freire’s work, exchange experiences, reflections, research and questions in various social, cultural and institutional spaces. Conferences, conversation circles/round tables and parallel rooms for presentations of communications and posters took place exclusively online through the Even3 and Zoom platforms.

On the first day, the session had the institutional opening and the welcome of the Rector of Universidade Lusófona, Prof. Doctor Mário Moutinho, from the Scientific Director of CeiED, Prof. Doctor António Teodoro and the coordinators of the Congress (and the Centenary in which the Congress is taking place) are Professors Ana Benavente and Judite Primo.

The session continued with the opening lecture “Paulo Freire’s contributions: a reading of the political sociology of education” given by Prof. Dr. Carlos Alberto Torres (Argentina), Head of the UNESCO-UCLA Chair “Education for Global Citizenship”, underlining the importance of Paulo Freire’s work, yet to be discovered in its fullness.

 The day ended with the presentation of the Exhibition “Paulo Freire Uniting the Points: Generating Words in SocioExpography”, organized by the UESCO-ULHT Chair within the scope of LabSE – Laboratory of Socioexpography, and presented by Prof. Doctor Mariana von Hartenthal.

The second day began with the Round of Conversation “Interdisciplinarity in the Present: Education and Museology” mediated/moderated by Prof. Doctor Cristina Bruno of the University of São Paulo, with the presence of Prof. Doctors Aida Rechena (Portugal), director of the National Resistance and Freedom Museum, Alessio Surian (Italy) of the University of Padua and Patrícia Dorneles (Brazil) of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. They revisited reference authors, historical moments in the construction of social inclusion and democracy, underlining the importance of historical memory in the lives of societies.

This second day’s conference, ” Socialism and Education “, was provided by Prof. Doctor Francesc Hernandez, University of Valencia, moderated by Prof. Doctor Ana Benavente, presenting a critical analysis of the relationships between social inequalities and school inequalities and their distribution in the countries of the PISA Project (OECD).

On the third day, the conversation was moderated/mediated by Prof. Dr. Vânia Brayner, with Rosy Zúñiga (Mexico) from CEAAL – Council of Popular Education of Latin America and the Caribbean, Manuela Paulo (Portugal) from the Portuguese Association for Culture and Continuing Education – APCEP; and, Joaquim Melro (Portugal) director of the António Sérgio School Training Center. The Closing Conference was in charge of Dr. Georgina Benró de Mello (Cape Verde) who under the title “Transforming Experiences” presented us with a theoretical framework of the similarities and similarities between the Thinkers Paulo Freire and Amílcar Cabral, emphasizing the importance of the educational process in postcolonial situations.

Over the three days of the Congress, eighteen thematic sessions were held to present 94 communications and posters by students, professors and researchers from different scientific areas, from Portugal, Brazil, Spain, Cape Verde, Colombia, Angola, Mozambique and the United Kingdom, among other countries. Participants presented research at different stages of development and with different approaches, with moderators and participants highlighting the quality of interventions and debates.

In the closing session, the coordinators of the Congress, Ana Benavente and Judite Primo, took stock of the event, underlining the importance of crossing fields of knowledge and action and its dimension of citizen science, thanking everyone and all those involved.