During the course of this research, the team spent countless hours reflecting on our own practice; we found this reflective process affirming and grounding, and the power of reflection helped support and inform the collaborative process. At each stage of the research, we gained insights that were challenging and interesting. Events in the outside world affected us: the USA invaded Iraq and in BC the government was beginning to make policy changes and cuts that were affecting our institutions and especially our students. The bleak climate had a huge effect on our spirit and on our motivation for a stretch of time in the spring of 2003.

As you will see in the first chapter, "Wearing the Silver Shorts," funding shortfalls forced us to give up our plans to interview students about what makes an effective instructor. From the beginning, the group wanted to talk about students. In team conversations and with the interviewees, we often illustrated our philosophies, characteristics and strategies and how they played out in the classroom with the students. Our reflections were also often imbedded in the student response to the way we worked in ABE/Literacy. Even though the voice of students (some instructors preferred the term "learners" and we use the two interchangeably in the document) is not heard directly here, their presence has permeated the research.

Hardwired for Hope

We first heard the term "hardwired for hope" when one of the research team members used it in her autobiography. Two years ago, it had a ring that intrigued us as well as a meaning that seemed to capture a quality that, until then, we had not been able to name. We were still in the beginning of our process and the question "What makes an effective ABE/Literacy instructor?" was at a preliminary feeling/knowing stage. We had not yet collected our data and we had not yet attempted to articulate what we felt. What we all knew was that effective ABE/Literacy practitioners have a deep passion for what is possible, and that ABE/Literacy instructors are in awe of their students' spirit and bravery in the face of hardships. "Hardwired for hope" seemed to consolidate a single characteristic that effective instructors possess.

Since that time, we have seen the term "hardwired for..." in many places. There are articles written that explore how we are hardwired for happiness, hardwired for giving, hardwired for music, hardwired for healing and just simply hardwired. Yet when rethinking our initial choice of title we decided that even though it is not as novel as we first thought, it definitely captures our essence. Our profession lures people who are bent towards having a belief and trust in humanity, an inherent quality, which, for many, is embedded in our basic understanding of ourselves as ABE/Literacy practitioners. Difficult situations present themselves to us daily and hope plays a big role in helping many of us manoeuvre through these challenges and act effectively. Hope affects the way some of us define situations, hope is an element in our decision-making, and hope keeps many of us searching to find ways to better work with our students. In order to do the job we do, ABE/Literacy practitioners need to be hardwired for hope.