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by Janet Grauberg
Social pedagogy is developing in the UK as a relationship-based approach to working with children and young people, and increasingly other groups of people. We hear stories of how relationships are transformed, outcomes are improved and staff are motivated to give of their best. But we also hear how the organisations in which we work are not aligned to social pedagogy approaches, how they focus on risk rather than opportunity, process rather than people, and planning rather than transformational change.
by Cecile Remy
The poster will outline the methodology suggested to answer the following research question: “How the image of the rich child is influencing the work of social pedagogues?”. The poster will be a visual representation of the principle of ascending from the abstract to the concrete, used by Freire and Engestrom as a key principle to their definition of learning.
Understanding how the image of the rich child is being used by social pedagogues, how it interacts with other conceptualisations of the child (such as vulnerable, in need, etc…) is important in two aspects:
As the project is still at its beginning stages, it is difficult to evaluate outcomes, however, it is hoped the poster will generate discussion and comments about the method used and clarify questions around its implementation.
The poster will use the author’s own drawings and photographs and acknowledge others as necessary.
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 Patricia Walls
Kibble works with young people from 5 to 25 years and offers an array of services. We are striving to embed social pedagogy systemically within the organisation as we believe this way of thinking enhances well-being, better outcomes and growth mindsets for all.
To better connect ethos, learning and practice we constantly ask ourselves ‘Why do we do what we do?’ and ‘How can we do it better?’ We offer a variety of platforms to access to inspire curiosity, including online courses, curation, academic modules, taught and experiential learning. We would like to share how social pedagogy can be the thread which connects our strength based learning and practice and how we value being connected to a wider network including ThemPra, SPDN, SPPA, Strathclyde university etc. to support us.
We also gain inspiration for raising curiosity and creativity in the learning environment through the 6-day social pedagogy course as this establishes the environment, opportunities to feel comfortable, allow growth and realise potential.
Our way of thinking and developing framework for planning and facilitating learning ‘Learn it, live it, share it’ resonates with the charter, Item 8 – We value creative and playful approaches to lifelong learning that are theoretically informed, risk sensible and draw on people’s potential.
All of this is not without challenges and we would discuss these and share the positive experiences of what has worked well.
This means that our work is a journey, not a destination….
by Helen Chambers, Principal Officer for Well-being at National Children's Bureau
In December 2007, the Arts Council England and Creative Partnerships funded an investigation to identify:
• how creativity can be embedded in the lives of the approximately 61,000
children and young people looked after in the care of local authorities
• the role of creativity in the lives of looked after children
• how this work relates to the ideas of social pedagogy as described by the Thomas Coram Research Unit at Institute of Education, London University.
This project with six local authorities and three high quality arts agencies was carried out by NCB between December 2007 and April 2008. This report summarises the project findings.
by Helen Chambers, and Prof Pat Pertrie
The National Children’s Bureau (NCB) project manager Helen Chambers and Professor Pat Petrie Director of the Centre for Understanding Social Pedagogy at the Institute of Education have developed a draft learning framework, for artists who work with looked after children, based on learning with three high quality arts organisations. We offer this as a working document for consideration and consultation by commissioners and colleagues nationally.
by Emma Black, Michael Bettencourt and Claire Cameron
The hypothesis at the heart of this chapter is that you, the target reader of this book, have chosen to enter the teaching profession for a specific reason: you want to make a difference to the lives of the children and young people in your classroom.
As fellow professionals in the education sector, we recognise that demands such as implementing a high stakes accountability-driven curriculum can, without careful consideration, be to the detriment of supporting the emotional needs of the children and young people in your care. Drawing on the work of Cameron, Connelly and Jackson’s (2015) Educating Children and Young People in Care: Learning Placements and Caring Schools, we argue that for children to thrive and flourish, the integration of care and education in daily life is key. We believe this is particularly pertinent to those children and young people who have experienced difficult childhoods. As such, it is these children who are the focus of this chapter. In an effort to support you in establishing and maintaining the synergy between care and education, we present the field of social pedagogy for your consideration.
by Dr Nikki Luke, with Prof Judy Sebba, Dr Alun Rees and Di McNeish
This report presents an overview of eight projects in the Innovation Programme that focused specifically on groups of young people who were experiencing or at risk of experiencing child sexual exploitation (CSE) or mental health issues. The projects took differing approaches to support young people with complex needs, including testing residential facilities as an alternative to secure accommodation or mental health inpatient settings, working with family members and specialist foster carers to increase their understanding of CSE and their ability to manage risks, developing a new service model based on building supportive relationships, a bespoke outreach service, and out-of-hours support for families that included access to psychiatric and psychological services. It is underpinned by a social pedagogic approach.
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.
by Jenny Young and Eleanor Mooney
Loud and Clear was a project to support the musical development of Looked After Children and carers and to support the personal, social and emotional development of the children and their relationships with others.