Pedagogies of Hope (with Feathers)

At the heart of Issue 1 Volume 28 is pedagogy and hope. It is a reminder of Paulo Freire's ‘Pedagogy of Hope: Reliving Pedagogy of the Oppressed’. As Freire eloquently articulates: Without hope, we are hopeless and cannot begin the struggle to change. To attempt to do without hope, which is based on the need for truth as an ethical quality of the struggle, is tantamount to denying that struggle one of its mainstays. (p. 8) Emilia Fägerstam commences this issue with a study about environmental education centre officers' and teachers' observations and perceptions of urban children and young people's experiences with/of/in nature. The study was situated in New South Wales, Australia, revealing some of the unique challenges in the Australian natural environment. Consistent with existing research and commentary, Fägerstam identifies that teachers perceive urban children and young people as having limited experience in nature, often mediated by fear and agitation. She echoes the increasingly identified need for nature to be readily and authentically experienced by children and young people at school and in their everyday lives, alongside a call for teacher education to incorporate outdoor education.