Abstract
This article argues that South African teacher education and development policy lack an explicit philosophy of education and corresponding pedagogy that promote transformation and equality. After an analysis of some works by Paulo Freire, it is argued that it is in a Freirean philosophy of education and in a pedagogy of hope that the praxis of teacher education establishes the notion of teachers as unfinished beings and agents of hope. This article offers an opportunity to imagine what Freire’s Pedagogy of hope (FREIRE, 1994) could contribute to the dialogue regarding the policy, gazetted in 2011 and revised in 2015, on the minimum requirements for teacher education qualifications in South Africa. The fundamental role that teacher education institutions can play in contributing to the transformation of education is defended, particularly if the philosophy of Freirean education and a pedagogy of hope are compromised. The article concludes with an attempt at re-orientation of teacher education policy.
Highlights
If teacher education wants to contribute to democratising South African society, the process of taking society from oppression, inequality and injustice to hope, equality and social justice is important
This article offers an opportunity to imagine what Freire’s Pedagogy of hope (FREIRE, 1994) could contribute to the dialogue on teacher education in South Africa, since it speaks to social justice pedagogies, on issues of addressing inequality and injustice in teacher education as situated in higher education
A pedagogy embedded in epistemology and ontology goes hand in hand with education and teacher education as expressions of hope
Summary
If teacher education wants to contribute to democratising South African society, the process of taking society from oppression, inequality and injustice to hope, equality and social justice is important. The reference to “today” points to the current global context in which neoliberal market determinism and the cynicism of a fatalistic mindset have captured the selfconsciousness of individuals Freire centres his thoughts in Pedagogy of Hope on two cornerstones of education practice: firstly, the matrix of hope is the matrix of education; and secondly, what we experience contextually as globalisation makes a critical pedagogy of hope a necessary corollary of a contemporary critical consciousness. What does this mean for the young man from Paulo Freire’s home town in the Forest Zone? This is hope as a world-transforming education, seeking a different and better tomorrow
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