Climate change. Inequality. Corruption. Sometimes it can feel like the world is a terrible place, and getting worse. While this is a painful proposition for anyone, it’s especially tough for young people. But it isn’t the whole story, says teacher David Alcock. After finding his own sense of hope reignited, he set out to help his students see the bigger, brighter picture - by creating an initiative called Hopeful Education. He tells us what it is and how you can try it, too.

Tes: What first inspired you to teach hope?

David Alcock: The groundbreaking work of Hans Rosling’s Gapminder Foundation rekindled my sense of hope for the future. He demonstrated that many aspects of life, for most people in most parts of the world, have improved: for example, in the past century, infant mortality rates have declined from 32 per cent to 4 per cent and literacy rates have increased from 32 per cent to 86 per cent.

At the same time that I was discovering all this, I was reading surveys that showed just how prevalent negative worldviews are, and included in these perceptions were many misconceptions about the state of the world.

Climate change and other global issues are real and require an educational response, but helplessness and “eco anxiety” will thrive unless schools give students more opportunities for hope.

I began to hypothesise that if improvements in social, economic and environmental domains had a higher profile in schools, then this might improve young people’s sense of hope for the future.

So, what does hopeful education look like for students?

The overall aim is to encourage pupils to evaluate the progress that humankind has made, and ask them to believe in the capacity of humanity to see us through our challenges and find ways of being part of that response.

We knew we wanted to ensure that pupils were at the heart of the discussion, but also that teachers were there to help them to evaluate evidence and respond to it. We decided a cross-curricular approach was the most powerful option, and that collaboration with pastoral and counselling staff, as well as academic staff, would be key.

So, working with fellow Bradford Grammar School teacher Sam Haslam and a cross-curricular team of colleagues, we came to the conclusion that the vehicle for this would be an immersive day for Year 10 that would allow students to be freed from conventional subject-based restrictions. We called it Grounds for Hope.

How did it go?

A week before the day, a survey was sent to all Year 10 students, which revealed that they were more worried than hopeful about almost all global issues, and that most of them underestimated the progress that had been made in these areas. There was also evidence for an “optimism gap” : most respondents were more hopeful about their own futures than they were about the future of the world.

So on the day, a team of teachers ran talks and workshops aimed at giving the students grounds for hope. For example, we offered evidence that many of the issues they feared the most had either improved or, like terrorism, were reported by the media out of all proportion to their actual frequency. We were careful not to dismiss the young people’s worries, and we acknowledged that all the issues, especially climate change and inequality, deserved further examination.

We also asked students to critically analyse the news media and how it is consumed (many were familiar with “doomscrolling” ). We looked at how the news often highlights unusual, dramatic events at the expense of more gradual developments.

In addition, we covered some of the cognitive biases that stand in the way of a balanced worldview.

The students then entered a carousel of sessions, looking at topics including: the role of social reformers, scientists and activists; how labour-saving devices have facilitated social transformation; and how music, prose and poetry can foster hope.

Students also undertook a future histories exercise, where they imagined themselves in 2050 and wrote about how certain transformations, such as the race to net-zero carbon emissions, came about.

What was the impact?

Before the day, 58 per cent of the students were either “somewhat worried” or “very worried” about “the state of the world”. In the post-event survey, this had shrunk to 27 per cent. The optimism gap had also narrowed significantly: students’ sense of hope for the future of the world became more closely aligned with that for their personal lives.

In follow-up discussion groups, participants were able to draw upon a wide range of conceptions of development and progress. I believe - although this is harder to measure - that the students will be able to focus on climate change and other global challenges with a more keenly developed sense of agency than they had beforehand.

What advice would you give to other schools looking to take a similar approach?

Spend time truly listening to students: find out what worries and hopes they have, and then tailor your activities around them. Vary your activities in terms of content, delivery style and so on, too, and consider running a half day or a series of days rather than a full day.

Most of all, use the strengths and enthusiasm of your staff and students in designing the sessions, and engage them in follow-up surveys and discussion groups.

David Alcock is a geography teacher at Bradford Grammar School and a PhD student at the Institute of Education. He tweets @HopefulEd and @DavidAlcock1

This article originally appeared in the 23 April 2021 issue under the headline “How I… teach hopefulness”