Social Pedagogy And Working With Children And Young People

Social pedagogy is an innovative discipline that supports children's upbringing and overall development by focusing on the child as a whole person. It has been described as where education and care meet or as 'education in its broadest sense'. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the theory, principles and practice of social pedagogy and the profession of social pedagogue. With chapters from leading international contributors, it outlines the roots of social pedagogy and its development in Europe, and its role in relation to individuals, groups, communities and societies. Also covered is how it applies in practice to working with children and young people in a variety of settings, including children in care and in need of family support, and its potential future applications. This seminal book on an increasingly important topic will be essential reading for all academics, researchers and practitioners working with children.

Rev. ed. of: Communicating with children and infants. 2nd ed. 1997.

For those working with children, effective communication is a crucial part of building relationships and encouraging children's emotional and intellectual development. This practical guide identifies the child and their relationship with the adult as the basis upon which real communication can be made. Topics covered include non-verbal communication, attentive listening, empathy, the part played by questions, working constructively with conflict and criticism, and communicating in groups. It also draws on the innovative ideas found in social pedagogic theory and practice, such as communicating with your head, hands and heart and how to differentiate between the personal, the professional and the private in your interactions. The book contains exercises, topics for personal reflection or group discussion, and suggestions for observations. This will be an excellent source of advice and ideas for all those in the children's workforce including early years professionals, teachers, social workers, counsellors and practitioners working with children in care, including foster carers.

In Practical Social Pedagogy, Jan Stor shows the reader how the theories and practices of social pedagogy work together. He combines social pedagogy theories, psychology, sociology, and social work with a social constructionist perspective to help practitioners guide children and young people to cope better with the challenges they face as they grow up. Using many practical examples, he emphasizes the crucial meeting between practitioner and client as the space where the actualities of practice are determined.

Are you looking to understand more about social pedagogy? Wanting to see how you can incorporate these approaches into your practice? Ali Gardner and Lowis Charfe introduce you to this exciting new approach to UK social work practice that has been shaping care services in Europe for decades. It is a holistic approach that requires an absolute commitment to employing your head, heart, and hand in creatively working alongside individuals to support the process of change at an individual, communal, and societal level. The authors outline the key concepts, philosophy, and history of social pedagogy to ground you in the theory Exercises help you to reflect on how to incorporate this new philosophy into your work Practical examples demonstrate how you can apply key principles to your own practice After reading this book you will be able to confidently engage with social work that emphasises people rather than processes at the heart of intervention.

"It is common to refer to the dynamism and vitality of young people as a source of change, creation, and innovation, but they are often also considered a problem that we do not know how to respond to. Young people can make adults feel uncomfortable because they are neither children who can be told what to do nor adults to be treated as equals. From the perspective of adults, their status is socially and culturally ambiguous"--

This reader takes debates about children's services forward by drawing on ideas based in social pedagogy and arguing that the concept of 'space' is crucial to relationships and practices with children and young people. It will stimulate students to question and rethink, and practitioners to innovate and challenge mainstream thinking.

How does residential care in England compare with that of other European countries? What is social pedagogy, and how does it help those working with children in care? How can child care policy and practice be improved throughout the United Kingdom? This book is written against the background of the gross social disadvantage suffered by most looked-after children in England. It compares European policy and approaches – from Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany and the Netherlands – to the public care system in England. Drawing on research from all six countries, the authors analyze how different policies and practice can affect young people in residential homes. A particular focus is on the unique approach offered by social pedagogy, a concept that is commonly used in continental Europe. The book compares young people's own experiences and appraisals of living in a residential home, and the extent to which residential care compounds social exclusion. Based upon theoretical and empirical evidence, it offers solutions for current dilemmas concerning looked-after children in the United Kingdom, in terms of lessons learned from policy and practice elsewhere, including training and staffing issues. Working with Children in Care is key reading for students, academics and professionals in health, education and social care who work with children in residential care.

The ambition of this two-volume publication is to illustrate the applicability of social pedagogy - as an academic and professional paradigm - to work with the most diverse target populations. It is launched at a moment when important and highly interesting developments can be observed in the United Kingdom: a country without a traditional social pedagogy model has started importing social pedagogy from countries with a social pedagogy tradition. Social Pedagogy for the Entire Lifespan illustrates how social pedagogy - as a model in theory and practice - has been and is currently being used, around and across Europe, for work with people of all age groups. Volume I is dedicated to the theory and history of social pedagogy, as well as to practice with children and young people. Chapters cover Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway and Spain. Volume II will include chapters on practice with adults and seniors, as well as chapters on further perspectives.

Social pedagogy, whose ancestral home is nineteenth century Germany, and which is widely practised in many parts of Continental Europe, has recently arrived in the English-speaking world. As practice, social pedagogy has been around for a long time, but as many roses by other names. These "roses" include: "care of the poor", "child welfare", and, more recently, "social work". But today, social pedagogy, has entered the English language, and is here to stay. It has not made inroads into the vernacular yet, but is commonly used in the social professions and also, increasingly, in academic and policy circles. Moreover, in the UK, for example, social pedagogy courses (bachelor and master) have appeared in several universities, including the University of Aberdeen and the University of London. Notwithstanding, from what can be seen, there is as yet no textbook of social pedagogy in English. SOCIAL PEDAGOGY: Heart and Head, seeks to fill that gap. As things are, students have to trawl a multitude of sources in order to find English texts on social pedagogy. Some of the sources are excellent; others dubious. The intention of a concise textbook is to present and explore the relationship between social pedagogic theory and practice in an introductory text, and to do so in easy-to-understand, but not trivialising, language. Given that social pedagogy is (or should be) based on compassionate values, the Heart, as a metaphor for human kindness, is a moral compass. It reminds the Head, which is the site of rational action, that best practice is not just about effectiveness but also concerns social justice. The emancipatory goal of social pedagogy is to enable, through educational means, perceived efficacy so that people can change their lives and society for the better. The author has italicised their lives in order to make an important point. Social pedagogic practice is not a doing to the other, but rather a doing for and doing with the other. For this reason, respectful dialog