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by Simon Johr and Veronica Eva Perez
From 2012 to 2015 social pedagogues from different parts of Europe worked in the United Kingdom as part of the Head, Heart, Hands programme (HHH). The programme aimed to demonstrate how introducing social pedagogy into foster care could have a positive impact on fostering services. At the end of the programme the thirteen social pedagogues reflected on their experience. The group decided to capture their learnings in writing for a wider audience, with the aim of identifying areas of improvement and reinforcing current practices for enhancing the quality of care in the UK, and ultimately to contribute to the understanding of how social pedagogy could be integrated within the social care field in the British context. The results of this effort are two academic papers each looking at different aspects of the programme and its background. These articles provide practical examples from participants, explore the shared learning by looking at the impact it had on foster carers and children in care. They touch upon organisational aspects and the management of fostering services. They further examine the different cultural backgrounds in childcare of social work and social pedagogy, reflect upon similarities and differences as well as the levels of professionalisation in both traditions. Finally, the articles outline the findings that could support the merging of the two ways of practicing which proved to be possible through the programme, including the dilemmas the social pedagogues encountered during their journey.
by Prof Geraldine Macdonald, Dr Sharon Millen and Dr Mark McCann from the Institute of Child Care Research and Hannah Roscoe and Dr Shirley Ewart-Boyle from the Social Institute for Excellence
Following a regional review of residential child care in 2007, the five Health and Social Care (HSC) Trusts in Northern Ireland introduced „therapeutic approaches‟ in a number of children’s homes and in the regional secure units. The aim was to improve staff skills and outcomes for young people.
This report gives the results of an evaluation of these approaches.