Social Pedagogy
SOCIAL PEDAGOGY
Social pedagogy is not a tool or technique but a professional and personal stance that promotes practice based in relationships (relational based practice). It fosters equality and respect, seeking to bring down a feeling of ‘us and them’, both amongst different professionals or between adults and children. Instead, everyone is one group, with each person valued and contributing to group life, and the child’s right to participate and be heard as part of a group is central. Practitioners are supported to connect head (learning and reflection), heart (building relationships) and hands (being practical through completing everyday activities and taking forward plans) and recognising that we bring our whole selves to work.
To do this we need to demonstrate the three ‘p’s’:
- Professional – being aware of professional responsibilities and using professional knowledge and skills
- Personal – we are human beings with feelings, hopes, fears, experience, humour fun, and we connect with others on a human level
- Private – we judge carefully what is in for sharing and what is inappropriate
Using social pedagogy in practice involves being reflective, being open to learning and having an awareness of our own emotional reactions to work and role modelling for adults and children through demonstrating respect for others, attentive listening and supportive responses – being kind in everything that we do. We understand that everyone, including ourselves, have been shaped by our own personal history and experience together with the social, political and economic structures that affect us.
Social Pedagogy helps us develop direct work and establish relationships with children, families and professionals, and supports foster carers to be proactive in applying social pedagogic principles to direct work with children. It helps us to break down barriers for children to have more positive experiences.
Social Pedagogy views the child as a ‘rich child’ by focussing on strengths and building resilience through empowerment.