Paulo Freire is one of the most important pedagogues of the last century, a person whose thoughts and activities marked an epoch in the history of education. He is considered to be the most renowned figure in the field of critical pedagogy, the movement which even today questions and investigates the main weaknesses of institutional education. One of the major tasks of critical pedagogy is to overcome the abovementioned weaknesses, and to contribute to the development of the individuals capable of critical thinking and active participation in transformation of the existing unequal social relations. The aim of the thesis is to investigate the main features of Paulo Freire’s padagogical thought, including the possibilities of their utilization in contemporary teaching process. The paper examined living circumstances which influenced the formation of personality and pedagogical views of the great Brazilian educator. Specific socioeconomic and political circumstances in Brazil of his time, the life spent out of the country as well, during his exile, which left evident traces on his work, were also taken into consideration. Not only theoretical forerunners and ideas that significantly formed Paulo Freire’s pedagogical thought are pointed out, but also the impact, relevance, and heritage of critical pedagogy in modern world. Separate part of the paper takes into account the potentialities of incorporating the ideas of critical pedagogy in contemporary school, and the teaching process performing in it. It is concluded that there is a number of critical pedagogy concepts being used all over the world, and that many of them can and must be utilized in contemporary school, which, to say it in Freirean manner, is still suffering from “naration sickness”. That is the only way for education to become, according to Freire, what it always should have been – the practice of freedom.