Ronelda

I feel/think there is no finite definition of "hopeful pedagogy" because it is in the eye of the beholder. Each teacher has there own unique style of teaching therefore each will have a different definition although I am sure that at the centre of each definition will be the student as the focus. So for this discussion and assignment I will try to interpret what I think is "hopeful pedagogy".

In order not to dehumanize or see education only as a technical act, there needs to be hope. Hope that what I am teaching is purposeful, beneficial, and will help students to develop to their fullest potential. One defintion which put "hopeful pedagogy" into the right perspective, for me, was one by Paulo Freire in a book called "Rage and Hope - Critical theory and its impact on education." It states, "One of the tasks of the progressive educator, through a serious, correct political analysis is to unveil opportunities for hope, no matter what the obstacles may be. After all, without hope there is little we can do. For hope is an ontological need...The attempt to do without hope in the struggle to improve the world, as if that struggle could be reduced to calculated acts alone, or a purely scientific approach, is a frivolous illusion." (Freire, 1998a)