Twenty-first-century education transitions between dizzying advances and profound crises; amidst this ups and downs, educators of hope become our compass. They are those who sustain the possible horizon in times of accelerated changes., sowing meaning, justice and care where uncertainties emerge.
In 2025, with the Holy Jubilee Year and its motto "Pilgrims of Hope," the Vatican's call to renew the Global Compact for Education (PEG) has gained momentum. This invitation to a “glocal” process of reflection-action It encourages an exodus from obsolete practices and a cultural transformation that puts the person at the center, fosters reconciliation and cultivates common house care.
What are educators of hope?
An educator of hope is a sower: he accompanies, inspires, and trusts in the potential of others even when the result is not immediate. Educating, in this sense, is a patient and loving act. that doesn't surrender to complexity, but rather embraces it with clarity and purpose. As the Department of Culture and Education noted in its guide for a "glocal" Education Pact, hope is not escape, but transformative energy to confront the anthropological and socio-environmental crisis.
In the Ignatian tradition, hope is a spiritual pillar and pedagogical driving force. The educational leadership of the Society of Jesus has historically united faith, justice and learning. To promote concrete social changes: to educate is to love the dignity of the person, to trust in their capacity for good, and to put knowledge at the service of the common good.
The idea is simple and radical: to educate is to waitIt's about investing in a student who hasn't yet reached their full potential, in a community that can reconcile, in a culture that can regenerate. Without this "active patience," no innovation is sufficient, no technology is sufficient.
Principles that support an educator of hope
From a Christian and humanist perspective, hope points to a future good that is difficult but possible, with the help of God and others. That is why the educator of hope links transcendence and daily tasks.: places the Eucharist, listening and concrete love at the heart of the educational project, and examines the ultimate motivation of its efforts to purify intentions.
Three classical sources support this position: memory, desire and promiseMemory connects with living tradition and avoids presentism; desire organizes and elevates aspirations toward greater things; promise opens the door to the future and commits to a responsible alliance that is verified in actions.
At an institutional level, this hope translates into tangible actions: trust in young people (identify in each one its accessible point to the good), give credibility to the educator (training, recognition, exemplarity) and love school as a community that learns, innovates, and cares. States that realistically sustain a culture of continuous improvement.
This ethic is completed with practical attitudes: discernment open to novelty, patience that endures tribulation, humility to correct and learn, and appreciation for life in the face of any throwaway culture that dilutes human dignity.
Pedagogy of hope in Paulo Freire
The Brazilian educator Paulo Freire articulated a vision that is essential today: Education as an act of love, dialogue and emancipation. In contrast to the banking model—where the student is a passive recipient—he proposed a problem-based education in which educator and student learn together and transform the world.
Freire understood that dehumanization affected both the oppressed and the oppressors. The exit is a praxis of freedom Through which passivity is overcome and critical awareness is strengthened to impact reality. There is no true word without united action and reflection: to speak the truth is to transform.
His method is based on generative words and images that root learning in the life of the group. The literacy process, conceived as the conquest of one's own word, turns each person into the author of their own story. Hence its classic sequence: constructing the vocabulary universe, selecting terms with phonetic and semantic power, creating existential situations, developing flexible guides, and working on phonetic families.
In short, if we had to choose the most appropriate definition, The Pedagogy of Hope conceives students as active subjects of their learning, trained to critically read their context and transform it alongside humble educators who also allow themselves to be educated.
The Global Education Compact: a “glocal” agenda for transformation
The PEG is a call to rebuild education by placing the person at the center, strengthening inclusion, social justice, and care for our common home. His approach integrates culture and education to promote civilizational change. from the local level with a global vision, promoting shared processes of participation and responsibility.
Among its notable contributions, it is emphasized that it was born in response to the cultural, anthropological, and socio-environmental crisis. Comprehensive, open and welcoming education It is recognized as a decisive tool for regenerating the social fabric. In this narrative, the historical period of crisis is an opportunity for a new educational beginning.
The operational guides emphasize itineraries that originate from the territory: diagnose, discuss, plan, experiment, evaluate, and scale. Glocal invites us to create networks between classrooms, centers, communities and authorities., promoting educational cities and regions that speak the language of care, brotherhood, and peace.
Key resources and documents for educating with hope
A. Educating is an act of hope
- Missionaries of Hope according to Spes non confundit (2024): analyzes the hopelessness caused by dehumanized systems and wars, and proposes hope rooted in the relationship with God and neighbor, lived in charity.
- The value of hope in education (2018): explores its decisive role in educational relationships and its need to confront difficulties and create solutions.
- The role of hope from Gabriel Marcel (2024): shows hope as a dynamism of the pedagogical relationship, a reciprocal enlightenment between educator and student.
- Values and Hope (2004): calls on teachers to be activists of hope, capable of dreaming and teaching others to dream for a just and supportive society.
- A Hopeful School (2024): advocates for education that inspires and transforms through peace, dialogue and a sense of life, with hope as the driving force for social change.
B. Pope Francis' proposals with the PEG
- Cultural and educational teaching (2024): calls for an open and friendly culture; comprehensive, inclusive, and fair education as a driving force for a hopeful future.
- Education: Between Crisis and Hope (2023): explains the birth of PEG in the face of crises and promotes fraternity, cooperation and environmental care.
- How does Francis view education? (2022): clarifies what education is (and is not), threats and lines of change; family and community as educational agents.
- New education and PEG (2021): describes features of a future-oriented education with suggestions for implementing the pact.
- The Catholic school before the PEG (2022): summarizes the implications of Francis' universal call to renew the Catholic school.
- Contributions to PEG from humanizing education (2022): links liberating pedagogy, love as the core of education and quality with meaning.
- Theological perspectives from Latin America (2025): offers comprehensive educational paths toward a just, equitable, and ecological society.
- Era and crisis in the PEG narrative (2024): It establishes the Pact as a horizon of action in the face of interconnected crises, with cross-cutting objectives and commitments.
C. Guides and resources for building the PEG from the glocal
- PEG Vademecum (2021): proposes seven objectives as educational itineraries and projects contextualized in local challenges.
- Building the PEG from the local level (2021): a methodological guide to understanding, discussing, creating and deploying the Pact according to each educational reality.
- Keys to working on PEG at school (2024): sheets with key elements and practical suggestions for school life and the environment.
- The 7 objectives of the PEG (2024): posters and notebooks by age to deepen and mobilize commitments in educators and communities.
- Building the PEG together (2023): contents and tools to advance from the school level to the territorial and national level.
- Norte de Santander Experience (2023): inspirations and guidelines for generating educational regions with global openness.
D. Ignatian reflections and proposals in tune with the PEG
- Jesuit Universities and Global Society (2023): greater student autonomy, impactful research, and collaborative social leadership.
- Jesuit Transformation in the Digital Age (2025): Integrating technologies without losing humanism; learning from professional projects.
- Teaching and learning in times of AI (2024): teacher training, ethics and teacher participation in the face of generative AI.
- Psychopedagogical support at the Jesuit University (2024): educational paths with a comprehensive approach and social commitment.
- The Seagull: Arts as Strategy (2025): cooperative work and artistic tools for understanding and critical thinking.
- Sowing hope in the Ignatian style (2025): student leadership and solidarity action; example: “Sharing Wisdom.”
- Music and educational transformation (2025): creative classrooms where justice and care are interwoven in a culture of encounter.
- Guardians of Cerro Azul (2025): spirituality, integral ecology and global citizenship from community discernment.
- Co-teaching in an Ignatian key (2024): teacher, friendship in the mission and discernment for interactive and critical learning.
- Dialogic learning in Jesuit education (2023): pedagogical tradition and dialogical principles as a contribution to educational reforms.
- Hope from personal experience (2025): education that empowers us to question and act; challenges educational inequality.
- Right to education and the Society of Jesus (2025): enforceability of rights, educating families and improvement in personalized education.
- Education for Peace (2024): self-knowledge, emotional skills, service and critical citizenship as drivers of change.
- Educating for hope and peace in Venezuela (2024): Equity and inclusion with Universal Design for Learning in complex contexts.
- “Fe y Alegría University” Model (2024): teaching, research, outreach and management guided by ethics, technology, citizenship and spirituality.
Family, school and the difficult journey of preadolescence
Hope is essential to accompany preadolescence, when many certainties seem to be shaky. Giving up in time is losing the sowing just before the fruitParents and teachers are called to remain close, with respect, boundaries, and conversation, trusting that everything cultivated will eventually mature.
As Benedict XVI recalled, the root of the educational crisis is a crisis of confidence in lifeReliable hope thus becomes the soul of education, a true check to the future written with the ink of example, shared time, and daily consistency.
It also inspires a preventive pedagogy in the Salesian sense: coexistence, joy, commitment and a life of childhood and youth. rich in meaningful experiencesTo educate is to safeguard the potential for goodness that lies within every boy and girl, even when they themselves don't see it.
Concrete attitudes to cultivate hope in the classroom
Discerning the new without dogmatism: Evaluating trends, fads, and technologies without blind fascination or reflexive rejection, seeking out what's valuable and discarding what's alienating. This intelligent openness helps embody PEG in real-life contexts.
Practice fruitful patienceEducational work is slow-cooked. There are sacrifices and delays that build character; the culture of minimal effort is incompatible with authentic growth.
Living humility as strength: Recognizing limits, learning, being grateful, and correcting oneself. This virtue—far from weakness—is a precursor to hope, because it enables lasting change.
Caring for life at all stages: In the face of utilitarian views, promote radical respect for human dignity and commitment to our common home. A culture of life underpins educational ethics and gives coherence to the message.
From the classroom to the territory: how the “glocal” unfolds
The PEG guidelines propose practical itineraries that adapt to each environment: participatory diagnosis, shared goals, projects that respond to local challenges, and evaluation to learn and scale. This is how educational territories are born.
Materials such as posters and age-specific notebooks make the Pact's commitments accessible to schools and families. From intramural work to alliances with other centers and authorities, generating learning that transforms neighborhoods and regions.
In higher education, comprehensive models articulate teaching, research, outreach, and management with ethical, technological, and civic pillars. AI and digital are approached with humanism, listening to teachers, training in ethics and putting innovation at the service of the common good.
A spiritual and cultural thread that does not break
Hope is not naivety or empty optimism: knows pain, failure and effort, and yet he wakes up every morning. Charles Péguy's poetic intuition captures that "little hope" that the world gives us when everything seems dark.
In Catholic education, the ultimate goal goes beyond good results and institutional prestige: points to fullness in God and integrates other noble goals. Therefore, the educational project must reserve real spaces for the encounter with Him and for concrete love of neighbor.
The common question "why do it?" is answered in everyday life: to humanize history through reconciliation, justice, a culture of care, and social friendship, wherever we study, research, and serve.
Examples that embody hope
The shared experiences show very diverse paths: art projects that improve reading comprehension, musical initiatives that open creative spaces, ecological proposals that link spirituality and citizenship, co-teaching that energizes the classroom, psychopedagogical support for career paths, and university programs with an ethical and community focus.
There are also hard lessons: educating for peace in vulnerable contexts It demands inclusive designs (like UDL) that make the classroom habitable for everyone. Hope, then, means persisting and creating opportunities where it seemed impossible.
In short, this constellation of practices shows that the educator of hope does not operate alone: Network, discern in community, and multiply the impact as you weave alliances.
All of the above outlines a simple and powerful idea: hope becomes learning when it takes root in living memory, directs desires toward greater goods, and commits to promises that change realities. The educator of hope does not sit and wait: he gets up every morning to sow, trusts that time will take its course and, in the meantime, expands the margins of what is possible with others.
