SOCIAL PEDAGOGY IN THE UK Impact on Practice

SOCIAL PEDAGOGY IN THE UK Impact on Practice and Organisational Culture dialogue@thempra. org. uk Them. Pra Social Pedagogy Community Interest Company

The Art of Being … ‘Social Pedagogy, it could be argued, is all about ‘being’ – about being with others and forming relationships, being in the presence and focussing on initiating learning processes, being authentic and genuine, using one’s own personality, and about being there in a supportive, empowering manner. Social pedagogy is like an art form; it’s not just a skill to learn but needs to be brought to life through the social pedagogue’s ‘Haltung’ (her mind set or attitude). In other words, social pedagogy is not so much about what you do, but ‘how’ you do it. This perspective of social pedagogy means that it is dynamic, creative and process-orientated rather than mechanical, procedural and automated. This means it requires a social pedagogue to not be just a pair of hands, but a whole person. ’ Eichsteller & Bird (2011)

Social Pedagogy in Europe ØAcross most of Europe, social pedagogy is a discrete discipline with its own educational qualifications. ØSocial pedagogues generally study to degree and often to Masters level, although some more practical jobs can be undertaken with an upper secondary qualification. Even this lower level qualification, however, requires two to three years of study. ØSocial pedagogues are thus significantly better qualified, academically speaking, than their workforce equivalents in the UK, where vocational qualifications are considered sufficient for what are increasingly called social care jobs. Smith (2012)

Social Pedagogy in the UK ØInterest for over 30 years, mainly in academic circles Ø NCERCC/SET pilot 2006/7 Ø Df. ES/DCSF pilot 2008 -2011 Ø Organisational developments in Ø Statutory: e. g. Essex, Derbyshire, Hackney, Staffordshire, Belfast HSCT, Lancashire, Edinburgh, Orkney, Norfolk, East Ayreshire, Walsall Ø Voluntary: e. g. Aberlour Sycamore Services, Dundee Early Intervention Team, Kibble, CELCIS, Camphill Scotland, St Christopher’s Fellowship , Children in Scotland Ø Private: Capstone Foster Care, Care Visions ØFurther and Higher Education developments Ø MA, BA, Diploma Level 5, level 4, level 3 ØHead, Heart, Hands demonstration programme led by the Fostering Network, 2012 -2016

Impact of Social Pedagogy Developing reflection individually and in teams: One team has reflective group meetings each morning, while the children are at school. These have provided a forum to bring issues and develop practice. They are not just about creating a forum for social pedagogy but are also about being pedagogic with each other. This has helped develop more trust in colleagues and has led to more openness and understanding others’ actions and intentions. One of the results is also that the team is less anxious about getting things wrong but feel they can try out new ideas and make mistakes as part of the process. This has relaxed them and improved the atmosphere. (Children’s home, Essex)

Impact of Social Pedagogy Professional confidence and sense of purpose: ‘Social Pedagogy has provided a liberation in my thinking and very much connected me to why I became a foster carer in the first place. Although I still have lots to learn, Social Pedagogy is really starting to change my thinking about whole life education, myself, other people and ultimately to what it is to really put our foster daughter front and centre and help her to be all she can be. ’ (foster carer, Capstone Foster Care)

Impact of Social Pedagogy Inter-professional practice: ‘According to [social pedagogy course] participants, the common language and understanding of social pedagogy is making the process of developing effective interventions much faster. They also expressed a strong sense of shared purpose as a result of the training. ’ (Orkney social pedagogy evaluation report)

Impact of Social Pedagogy Developing relationships with children and colleagues: ‘I am working with a boy who has attention difficulties in the classroom, and he talked to me for a good half an hour, showing me web pages of boats and saying he’s a skipper and what you have to wear, how you have to move etc. . . And I said to him, “You’ve got other people’s lives in your hands and it’s very important”. And I use that in talking to other people, teachers – who tend to talk very negatively about him – and explain a bit more about who he is and what he does. And they are really surprised, but it changes their perspective on him. ’ (teaching support worker, Orkney)

Impact of Social Pedagogy Creating a shared culture: ‘We’re a family now, and that makes every part equally important. ’ Through social pedagogy teams became more confident to refer to themselves as a family in the widest sense. When picking up their children or going shopping together or being at the GP the children would now call the workers their ‘auntie’ or ‘uncle’ when asked ‘is this your mother’ (or father). Previously the children and adults had felt uncomfortable answering these questions and were concerned about being labelled. They recognised that their role wasn’t to replace the children’s parents but that they still were an important part of the child’s family, of the proverbial village which it takes to raise a child. (children’s home, Essex)

Impact of Social Pedagogy Creating learning opportunities: ‘Billy was escalating in his outbursts and verbal abuse towards those around them. I spent time reflecting with Billy about how upsetting others found this. Billy was also able to appreciate that the behaviour was working against himself and it was counterproductive. I was able to acknowledge that Billy was and could become very angry about his life. I told Billy that I thought this was OK but that he needed to find other ways to express his anger. We spoke about Eminem and how he has used his music to express some of his darker feelings and thoughts about things. Billy and I came up with the idea of a rap pad. This was for Billy’s eyes only and he did go on to treasure this and use this to record his raps and thoughts about things that bothered him. ’ (Residential care worker, Edinburgh)

Impact of Social Pedagogy Focussing on well-being and happiness: ‘We were looking at each other and she stood up and made a silly noise and waved her hands about. I immediately stood up and did the same thing. She laughed and said “copy me”, which I did, and then I said “copy me”, which she did. This went on until her bedtime, and each time we would fall down together on the sofa laughing uncontrollably. As she was going up to bed she called out “that was good, it has made me so happy, I’m going to go to bed happy tonight”. I remained on the sofa and felt a warm glow inside. I felt happy, and this was compounded when I heard what she had said. ’ (Care worker, Essex, about her interaction with a girl at the children’s home)

Impact of Social Pedagogy Changes in communication: ‘Two boys ran through the cafe area, and instead of saying “don’t run” the pedagogue suggested it might be better if we walked fast through the cafe area, which the boys did. A good example of changing the way we say things, I know many children would have reacted differently if the saying was “don’t run”; it would have given rise to back chat. Offering the boys an alternative rather than being told what to do made them stop and think and change their behaviour. ’ (Participant in Leonardo Mobility project about Danish social pedagogy)

Impact of Social Pedagogy Involvement of children using a rights-based approach: ‘Before they started to mention all this “pegagogy” thing, they didn't do as much involving us. Normally, the adults make the decisions but, instead, they let us help the adults to make the decisions. ’ (10 -year-old boy living in Essex children’s home)

C 4 EO Review Report ‘Social Pedagogy appears to offer some promise and, in the context of this review, would exemplify a mode of professional practice that recognises the role of education in both care and learning contexts. ’ Centre for Excellence and Outcomes in Children and Young People’s Services (2009). Improving educational outcomes for looked-after children and young people – Research Report.

ADCS Position Statement ‘Children’s Trust partnerships should consider adopting a consistent and holistic approach to underpin the commissioning and provision of support for children and young people across the age range, and their families. One option might be to adopt a system-wide social pedagogical approach to every aspect of intervention and service provision in children’s services including in the professional development of the children’s services workforce. Social Pedagogy is not an evidence-based programme but a conceptual model which can be used as a way of thinking and working across complex systems which in turn could help to further integrate local services - from schools, to healthcare, to specialist care provision - with a common outcomes focus. ’ Recommendation 5. 3 from ADCS Position Statement ‘What is Care for: Alternative Models of Care for Adolescents’ (April 2013, p. 9)

References Bird, V. & Eichsteller, G. (2011). The Relevance of Social Pedagogy in Working with Young People in Residential Care. Good. Enough. Caring Journal 9 (available at http: //www. goodenoughcaring. com/Journal. Index. aspx) Boyce, N. (2010). Social Pedagogy in Essex. Children Webmag (available at http: //www. childrenwebmag. com/articles/social-pedagogy-in-essex) Eichsteller, G. & Holthoff, S. (2012). The Art of Being a Social Pedagogue: Developing Cultural Change in Children’s Homes in Essex. International Journal of Social Pedagogy, 1(1), 30 -46 (available at http: //www. internationaljournalofsocialpedagogy. com) Smith, M. (2012). Social Pedagogy from a Scottish Perspective. International Journal of Social Pedagogy, 1(1), 46 -55 (available at http: //www. internationaljournalofsocialpedagogy. com/index. php? journal=ijsp&page=ar ticle&op=view&path[]=3&path[]=8 ) Vrouwenfelder, E. , Milligan, I. , & Merrell, M. (2012). Social pedagogy and interprofessional practice: evaluation of Orkney Islands training programme. Glasgow: Centre for Excellence for Looked-After Children in Scotland (available at http: //www. celcis. org/resources/entry/social_pedagogy_and_inter_professional_practic e_evaluation_of_orkney_island)