The Level 3 Diploma in Social Pedagogy will provide an excellent development opportunity for people working in care and education across the age range.

The units that we will be covering are:

• Key theories and principles in social pedagogy
• Learning perspectives on human development
• Communication and understanding lifeworlds
• Building meaningful relationships
• Creativity in working with individuals, groups, and communities
• Safer practice from a social pedagogical perspective
• Observation and reflective practice within a social pedagogical culture

The qualification will draw on experiential, active and reflective learning methods. It aims to support you in:

• Developing your practice by integrating social pedagogical theories and principles
• Practicing with greater self-confidence, intention and creativity
• Developing important interpersonal strengths such as communication, relational and reflective skills.

The qualification aims to equip you with an essential theoretical and practical understanding of social pedagogy that can be of both professional and personal benefit. You will be supported in developing important interpersonal skills such as communication, relational, reflective and creative skills. These can also benefit your personal life by increasing your self-confidence and holistic well-being.

Professionally, the qualification will benefit you in the following ways:

• You’ll become familiar with foundational principles in social pedagogical practice, its core theoretical concepts and how you can apply these in your practice setting.
• You’ll engage in experiential and interactive group learning with face-to-face seminars that bring social pedagogy to life, stimulate new ideas and focus on learning transfer into practice.
• You’ll be able to demonstrate that your practice meets the social pedagogy standards of the relevant professional regulator, the Social Pedagogy Professional Association.
• You’ll be able to progress to a qualification at a higher level in social pedagogy and to develop your career in practice fields related to social pedagogy.

“This discipline has greatly impacted my life and work and I have seen its transformational results on the care of young people and children. As an approach to education in the broadest sense I believe the qualification in Social Pedagogy will greatly advance the professional skills of many people. The qualification will also contribute to the sustainability of Social Pedagogy in the UK and increase the confidence, well- being and enthusiasm of those engaging with its life-long learning.” – Stuart Lindsell, Supported Lodgings Provider, Surrey County Council

“My awareness of growing interest in the field of Social Pedagogy in the UK began approximately 6 years ago, although I had some knowledge of its impact across Europe before that. As a professional dealing in educational and social issues, I believe it is essential that continuing development is available both in practical and academic forms at a variety of levels, to meet the needs of the UK’s developing workforce.” – Dr Amanda Orchard, Foster Carer, Staffordshire County Council

“Having spent nearly 4 years embedding social pedagogy into a local authority through the fostering service, with foster carers and looked after children, I can see the considerable benefits that social pedagogic learning has had in stabilising looked after children’s lives in foster care.” – Alison Benjamin, Service Manager, Fostering Surrey County Council

This new qualification provides an excellent development opportunity for people working in care and education across the age range. Settings include but are not limited to:

• Residential and foster care
• Early childhood education and care
• Education services, including schools, virtual schools, residential schools, Pupil Referral Units
• Early help and family support
• Leaving, through and after care services
• Youth and community services
• Advocacy and participation services
• Disability and mental health support
• Prisons, probation and youth justice
• Day care and supported living for adults and frail elderly people
• Arts-based support projects

There are 4 entry requirements:

1. You should be at least 18 years old.
2. You are expected to have a good level of written and spoken English. If English is not your first language, you must be able to demonstrate that you are able to meet the requirements of this qualification. You may be asked to have a verbal interview and complete a written assignment.
3. You should either be employed in a care/education setting or related context or be volunteering for a minimum of 200 hours in a similar setting, and expect to be so for the duration of the qualification. This is approximately nine months if you are undertaking the full qualification, and around six months if you have already completed a course and are taking the two-day top-up, starting your self-guided learning and having your learning assessed.
4. You should have completed, or expect to complete shortly, safeguarding training with your organisation

You do not need to have any previous experience in social pedagogy to be able to undertake the qualification as this is an entry level qualification (please note the entry requirements above).

If you have previously participated in a course (6+ days) with either Jacaranda or ThemPra, please do state this clearly on your application form, indicating the course length and when and where it took place. This means you will need to undertake only a top-up course, substantial practice time, evidence of independent study (some of which includes online learning) and assessment time (both face-to-face and remote).

The qualification value is 47 credits, which means a total qualification time of 470 hours. 70 of these are ‘guided learning hours’, which includes course participation and tutorial support.

You will be provided with a wide range of learning resources but may need to buy some of the books that are recommended reading. You will find these at the end of each unit description in the qualification specification. You will also require access to a computer or tablet and the internet to access the virtual learning environment and write assignments for your assessed portfolio of evidence.

This qualification is assessed through a portfolio of evidence. We will undertake a holistic approach to assessment, which means using assessment tasks which cover elements across units. Types of assessment methods for this qualification may include: reflective journaling, tutor observation, peer assessment/witness testimony, written assignments, report, presentations, products and professional discussion. This range of assessment methods enables us to find tailored means for you to demonstrate that you meet the assessment criteria in each unit.

For more details on assessment, please see section 4 in the qualification specification (p.49).

This qualification is awarded by the awarding organisation Crossfields Institute and regulated by Ofqual. It is currently delivered by two approved centres, Jacaranda and ThemPra. The qualification is endorsed by SPPA and adheres to its Standards of Proficiency in Social Pedagogy.

The course, which forms an essential part of the qualification, is delivered over eight days, usually spread over three to four months. The overall qualification length is variable depending upon delivery structure, but nine months part-time is recommended.

You can progress to further training and qualifications in social pedagogy and related disciplines. It is our intention to develop further qualifications in social pedagogy in the near future. There are also currently two BA programmes in social pedagogy (at UCLan andYMCA George Williams College).

Any practitioner roles in educational and care settings. You will be able to refer to yourself as a ‘social pedagogy practitioner’[1], but are not limited to applying only to job roles with this title. Employers may recognise it as beneficial for jobs in:

• Residential and foster care
• Early childhood education and care
• Education services, including schools, virtual schools, residential schools, Pupil Referral Units
• Early help and family support
• Leaving, through and after care services
• Youth and community services
• Advocacy and participation services
• Disability and mental health support
• Prisons, probation and youth justice
• Day care and supported living for adults and frail elderly people
• Arts-based support projects

Please note that not all employers in relevant sectors will be familiar with social pedagogy or consider this qualification as compliant with regulatory requirements.

No, there are eight days of face-to-face learning (the course) plus substantial practice time, independent study (some of which includes online learning) and assessment time (both face-to-face and using technology e.g. online, Skype).

Both Jacaranda and ThemPra are approved centres to deliver this qualification. Your choice of centre may depend on the following:

• If your organisation has worked with one of these organisations in the past, it is likely that your qualification will be with the centre you know already. If you would like to work with another centre, please be in touch with both.
• If you have not previously done a social pedagogy course and there is wider interest in the Level 3 within your organisation, your organisation may decide to contract with one specific centre.
• In order to run courses within an organisation, we need a minimum number of learners starting a course at the same time. It is also possible for smaller groups to join learners from other organisations, or individuals, in an open course. Please see here for dates and locations for upcoming open courses:

London – starting October 2017
Preston – starting October 2017

We will add further dates and locations subject to interest. Please get in touch with us!

Applications will be open from 1^st January 2017. There will be two different categories of accreditation:

1. accreditation for learners who have previously undertaken a social pedagogy course with Jacaranda or ThemPra and require just a 2-day top-up course, independent learning and assessment. In this case, we will be liaising with your organisation and agreeing timeframes with them and you.
2. a full qualification for those who are new to social pedagogy and would like to undertake the course, guided and independent learning and assessment. In this case, you may join an open course on your own, or a small group of others from your organisation. Alternatively, if there is a full group from your organisation, we will liaise with your organisation and agree timeframes with them and you.

If all of this sounds good to you, please click here to download our application form.

This depends on where you are based and whether your organisation has a number of learners who want to do the qualification at the same time.  We may come to your organisation, but we may also need to find central points between organisations to bring a number of learners together. We will aim to offer you a place on a course running in your area, subject to sufficient learner numbers. Please let us know whether you know of others in your region or organisation who may be interested in the qualification too.

There are two different fees, depending on whether or not you’ve previously undertaken a social pedagogy course of six or more days with ThemPra or Jacaranda. For the first 50 course participants, the fee is £1,100 (no VAT) per learner for 2 days of top-up learning and development, access to our Virtual Learning Environment and assessment. This also includes the learner registration fee of £350, which we pay to Crossfields Institute (the Awarding Organisation). The total fee is payable via the UCL Online Store as it is subsidised by the Scaling up Social Pedagogy project which UCL leads.

If you would like to undertake the full qualification, including an 8-day social pedagogy course the fee is £2,400 (+ VAT) and payable to the respective centre. This includes the learner registration fee of £350, which we pay to Crossfields Institute (the Awarding Organisation).

You should have conversations with your organisation about possible funding. If your organisation will fund the qualification, we will require evidence of funding approval in order to accept your application. Please include a funding authorisation form with your application.

We appreciate that the qualification requires a substantial upfront investment and are currently exploring the possibility of payments in two instalments: one before commencing the course and the other before undertaking the assessment. If you feel this would be helpful to you, we’d be happy to provide you with further details.

If your organisation is unable to pay via the UCL Online Store[2], we will be able to accept purchase orders/invoices. For more information on how you can do this, please contact Gulsh Khatun (g.khatun@ucl.ac.uk).

[1] ‘Social pedagogy practitioner’ is a protected title granted by the Social Pedagogy Professional Association and means that you have demonstrated your ability to meet its Standards of Proficiency in Social Pedagogy.

[2] Applies only to £1,100 fee for the first 50 learners who have already undertaken a social pedagogy course.