Since its launch in February 2017, 133 people have become Founding Members of the Social Pedagogy Professional Association (SPPA).

What’s been happening this month at SPPA?

  • SPPA’s new membership types for 2018 were launched in our December newsletter. We have split our membership options between individuals and organisations:
    • Individual Memberships
      • Founding Member
      • Full Member
      • Full Member (w/ Qualification)
        • Find out more about our individual memberships here.
    • Organisational Memberships
      • Standard
      • Bronze
      • Silver
      • Gold
        • Find out more about our organisational memberships here.
  • The SPPA team is in the final stages of SPPA’s application for charitable status. This is to be submitted soon into the New Year.
    • As part of this, we have written an updated Business Plan and drafted policies on safeguarding, complaints and disclosures.
  • Claire Cameron, CEO of SPPA, visited Northern Ireland and Scotland this month to support SPPA members in each country to grow their networks and to facilitate discussions around the future of social pedagogy. We are currently doing a feasibility study of the benefits of an event in Wales.
    • Members and friends in Northern Ireland are meeting in the New Year to continue discussions.
    • Members and friends in Scotland are meeting in the New Year to continue discussions.
  • We were unsuccessful in an application £15K worth of funding, to broaden the field of social pedagogy into a new area for the UK: working with older people. This work is however still going ahead, through the establishing Special Interest Group (SIG) for Older People.
  • The SPPA team is developing a programme of regional networking events. The first pilot event will be in London on Tuesday 30th January 2018 at the Thomas Coram Research Unit. For more information and to sign-up, view the event page here. The second event will be held in the North West of England around Easter. This latter event is still in development.
  • We are currently supporting the growth of 4 Special Interest Groups (SIGs), which are available for all members to join:
    • Creativity, open for a leader
    • Learning, led by Cecile Remy
    • Older People, led by Rob Hunter
    • Young People, Participation and Association, led by Jameel Hadi
  • SPPA Founding Member Janet Grauberg hosted a webinar on the ‘Social pedagogy approach to organisational change’. This webinar is now available for members to view here. We have arranged a comprehensive series of webinars for the New Year:
    • ‘Writing for the International Journal of Social Pedagogy’ on Tuesday 23rd January at 12.30pm. Find out more and book here.
    • ‘Going back to a new way of doing’ on Wednesday 21st February at 12.30pm. Find out more and book here.
    • ‘Level 3 Diploma in Social Pedagogy: a learner’s perspective’ on Wednesday 14th March at 12.30pm. Find out more and book here.
  • The Crossfields Level 5 Diploma in Social Pedagogy is now launched. If you’re an organisation interested in commissioning the qualification, please see our information pack here.
  • SPPA has confirmed that its 2018 conference will take place at The Surgeon’s Hall, Edinburgh on Friday 28th September 2018. The programme is to be developed in December, more information will be available in the New Year.

What else should we be doing? Please get in touch via sppa@ucl.ac.uk with suggestions for activities and events you would like SPPA to offer. We will do our best to support you and with an ever growing network we have the possibility to connect people ideas and resources across sectors, countries and fields of work. We look forward to hearing from you. You can join SPPA as a member. Find out more about our membership packages here.