Spaces of Belonging
Exploring Social Pedagogy as a Framework for Connection, Creativity, and Care
We invite practitioners, educators, researchers, community leaders, creatives, and social entrepreneurs to submit abstracts for our 2026 gathering at the Hill End Outdoor Education Centre, OX2 9NJ, from 2-3 September 2026. We’ll explore how social pedagogy can serve as a unifying practice framework across the lifespan, strengthening relational practice, creativity, participation, and human dignity in diverse settings.
We welcome contributions that illuminate, question, or expand the role of social pedagogy within and across different fields. Submissions may take the form of presentations, workshops, creative demonstrations, or practice-based reflections.
We especially welcome abstracts addressing one or more of the following themes:
Social pedagogy in theatre and the creative arts
Creative arts practices create powerful opportunities for connection, reflection, and meaning-making. Theatre, storytelling, music, and craft-based activities offer shared experiences that allow practitioners and the people they support to co-create understanding, explore identity, and build trust. These creative processes strongly reflect social pedagogic commitments to engaging with others in ways that respect their equal value and human dignity, understanding the part played by personal communication in supporting this, and recognising the value of creativity, playfulness, and adventure.
If your work in theatre, performance, or the arts aligns with these standards – helping people express themselves, participate, and find voice – we warmly invite you to submit an abstract.
Eco-Social pedagogy and outdoor learning
Outdoor pedagogy invites people into a relationship with nature, themselves, and one another, creating spaces where learning, care, and belonging are experienced as deeply interconnected.
Through activities such as forest school, nature-based play, land-based learning, environmental stewardship, and sustainability-focused projects, outdoor learning and eco-social pedagogy bring together social pedagogy and ecological awareness. These practices cultivate resilience, curiosity, cooperation, and responsibility while supporting people in understanding themselves as part of a wider ecological world, reflecting social pedagogic commitments to valuing everyday shared activities as sites of relationship-building, while engaging with our collective responsibility towards the environment and future generations.
If your practice in outdoor learning, sustainability education, or environmental work fosters connection, reflection, and ecological responsibility in ways that align with social pedagogic values, we encourage you to submit an abstract.
Social pedagogy in animal-supported practice
Animal-supported approaches – whether through therapy animals, care farms, equine-assisted practice, or everyday encounters with animals – offer meaningful opportunities for emotional attunement, co-regulation, and relational depth. Working with animals creates non-judgemental spaces where people can experience safety, reciprocity, and belonging. These approaches reflect standards related to holding relationships at the foreground, adapting practice to emotional and relational needs, and supporting individuals to find meaning and purpose in their everyday lives.
If you use animal-supported methods that foster belonging, relational presence, or therapeutic growth in line with these standards, we invite you to submit an abstract.
Social pedagogy and social entrepreneurship
Innovative models of social entrepreneurship, such as community-led organisations, social enterprises, and participatory business models, demonstrate how social pedagogy can inform ethical, community-rooted practice. These approaches often embody standards that emphasise creating opportunities for active participation, supporting people to realise their aspirations, and encouraging community networking and connections through participatory processes.
If your work in social enterprise creates spaces of belonging, participation, or empowerment in ways that reflect these principles, we welcome your abstract submission.
Social pedagogy in dialogue with other approaches
Practitioners frequently work within landscapes shaped by restorative practice, trauma-informed approaches, youth work, community development, social work, education, and therapeutic models. Social pedagogy does not stand apart from these fields; instead, it offers a coherent ethos that enriches and deepens them through relationality, reflection, and holistic understanding. This interdisciplinary dialogue echoes standards such as inviting and integrating multiple perspectives, working collaboratively, using theory and research in everyday practice, and bringing critical awareness to tensions between values and policy.
If your work bridges social pedagogy with other approaches or demonstrates how interdisciplinary practice strengthens belonging, connection, or justice, we encourage you to submit an abstract.
Together, these sub-areas demonstrate how social pedagogy can hold and connect diverse ways of working while strengthening a collective sense of belonging. The long-form programme, therefore, invites participants not only to learn about social pedagogy, but to experience it, creatively, relationally, and intentionally, across multiple domains of practice.
Submit your abstract here.