Hope in Conflict: History Teachers Balancing Personal Hope and Professional Responsibility

Maintaining hope is challenging in a world of conflict and war. History education can create moral yet ambivalent awareness in linking past events to the present: It may emphasize cyclical violence over time but also highlight resistance, moral courage, and hope toward a peaceful future. While research focuses on historical empathy and resilience, history educators’ perceptions and ways to express hope in classrooms are understudied. This study explores how history educators from 12 European countries (N = 17) perceive the role of hope in history education in relation to sensitive topics. Findings reveal that teachers view hope as an important orientation toward the future and indicate how they also aim to express hope by sharing hopeful stories from the past. They see the expression of hope not only as a way to emphasize the potential of a better future but also as a way to stress people’s agency in realizing this potential. However, teachers at the same time struggle with historical realities and personal beliefs that may not be so hopeful. Moreover, although hopeful narratives are expressed in the history classrooms, they often remain implicit. We propose that the role of hope in history education deserves more open discussion and further research.