Putting Pedagogy of Hope into Action

Building on the author’s earlier work on pedagogy of hope (Bourn, 2021; 2022), this article looks at ways in which a distinctive optimistic pedagogy for global social justice can become a key element of teaching and learning within both formal and higher education. A pedagogy of hope for global social justice can build on the educational traditions within development education and related fields. Reference will be made to the challenges many educators have in promoting an optimistic and hopeful approach to teaching today with the range of current global crises that are existing. The article will also refer to recent evidence on young people’s sense of concern about their future. The article outlines the debates on hope including the work by Freire (2004) and demonstrates how a distinctive pedagogical approach can become an important framework for addressing issues such as climate change and war in Gaza. The article summarises an example of an educational project promoting hope in Vietnam through puppetry and storytelling. It then discusses projects that have a hope theme from two local development education centres (DECs) in England