Launching our Insight Report ‘Social Pedagogy as a Meaningful Perspective for Education and Social Care’

Today, we’re launching our new Insight Report ‘Social Pedagogy as a Meaningful Perspective for Education and Social Care’ at the international conference hosted by Ghent University. The report has been jointly written by our international partnership with Universiteit Gent (Belgium), KJSH – Stiftung für Kinder-, Jugend und Soziale Hilfen (Germany), the University of Central Lancashire (United Kingdom), Masarykova Univerzita (Czech Republic), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain), CommonView and Københavns Professionshøjskole (both Denmark) as part of our Erasmus+ funded project developing a Massive Open Online Course in Social Pedagogy across Europe. Over the course of the last 30 months, we have been exploring how our understandings of social pedagogy can enrich educational and social professions. We have found that, despite the differences between our countries, our traditions of social pedagogy share important commonalities in how social pedagogy can offer a meaningful perspective for education and social care. Throughout this report we seek to outline in greater detail why a social pedagogical perspective is important in enabling social professions to address contemporary social issues and help individuals, groups and communities to thrive. For this purpose, we have also included detailed examples from a range of practice settings, which we hope offer greater insights into how a social pedagogical perspective can inform and enrich relationship-centred practice as well as relevant structural developments.

You can download the Insight Report free of charge here:

MOOC Social Pedagogy across Europe launching on Coursera

Join us to learn about social pedagogy

We’re super excited to announce that the MOOC in Social Pedagogy across Europe is now available for free on Coursera, the world’s biggest online learning platform providing universal access to the world’s best education! It’s taken over three years from conceptualising to realising this course in partnership with our our amazing team of collaborators at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Masarykova Univerzita, Gent Universiteit, KJSH Stiftung für Kinder-, Jugend und Soziale Hilfen, Københavns Professionshøjskole, Common View and University of Central Lancashire (click here to find out more about our partners). We’d like to say a huge THANK-YOU to them as well as to all our pilot learners and everyone else who has supported us on this journey. And a big thanks also to the EU Erasmus+ programme, which has co-funded the development of this course, thus enabling us to make all learning resources available for free!

Social Pedagogy across Europe is the first MOOC focussed on social pedagogy – a relationship-centred approach to supporting people’s learning, well-being and social inclusion in ways that promote social justice. The 4-week course is structured in eight sessions: an introductory session, six sessions outlining social pedagogy in different European countries and sharing some innovative practice insights, and a review session to support you in applying your learning.

Through this course we aim to:

  1. Give you an insight into how social pedagogy has been developing across Europe, highlighting both the diversity and connections,
  2. Highlight the importance of valuing every person as intrinsically ‘rich’, recognising their unique potential and ability to be a valuable member of society,
  3. Introduce you to ways in which you can bring this belief to life in everyday interactions and relationships that support people’s learning, nurture their well-being and enable them to feel included in society,
  4. Ensure you are familiar with the most fundamental aspects of social pedagogical practice in ways that are applicable in your own personal and professional life.

To start things off, in week 1 we’ll be introducing you to social pedagogy as a coherent perspective found in an increasing number of countries across Europe and beyond, before giving you a flavour of social pedagogy in Germany.

 

1. Social Pedagogy and Participation – a transnational perspective:

In the first session, you’ll hear from our ThemPra team how social pedagogy has been developing across Europe and what the central guiding principles are. We’ll also tell you more about the social pedagogy perspective we’re taking in the MOOC and what themes we’ll be covering over the course. Finally, we’ll dive straight into the first theme: participatory practice. You’ll have a chance to find out why participation is important and how you can ensure that the people you support are meaningfully involved in decisions that affect them. Find out more about the first session in the short intro video below:

 

2. Social Pedagogy and Resource-Orientated Practice – a German perspective:

Our first country session will take you to the ‘cradle’ of social pedagogy: Germany. In this session by our colleagues from the KJSH in Northern Germany, we’ll first give you an overview of social pedagogy in Germany, and then highlight the dynamics at play in social pedagogical practice, before introducing you to ways of working with, and strengthening, people’s resourcefulness. We’ve included six videos and two case studies about resource-orientated case management at the KJSH. Please watch our short intro video for more details:

 

Interested? Then click the button below to see the course on Coursera:

International Conference – Ghent University – 21 May 19

Conference Outline

Social professions find themselves under intense pressure to achieve better outcomes with fewer resources. Aimed at policy-makers and social care leaders from across Europe, this conference highlights the importance of a social pedagogical perspective in countering some of the most profound and persistent challenges to social professions across Europe. Throughout the conference day we will focus on how decision-makers can create the conditions in which practitioners can develop meaningful relationships with the people they support, facilitate social inclusion and remain committed to social justice. Presenters at the conference include Prof Walter Lorenz (University of Bolzano, Italy) and Dr Sanna Ryynänen (University of Eastern Finland). You will also have the opportunity to gain insights into innovative practice developments and develop your international network with other leaders in your professional field.

Costs

Delegate rate: 60€ (includes evening reception)

For international guests with substantial travel costs we’re able to offer financial support through our Erasmus+ funds. Please check the box in the registration form below if you’d like us to send you more details.

Registration

Please register here if you’re interested in joining us. Your registration will only be confirmed once we’ve received payment. We will publish the full programme in late February and send you payment details then.

Social Pedagogy across Europe MOOC launching

We’re excited to announce the launch of our new MOOC in Social Pedagogy across Europe. In many European countries, social pedagogy has a rich and diverse tradition as a relationship-centred way of supporting children, families and vulnerable adults in their development and addressing social inequality. In an international partnership of 8 organisations from the UK, Germany, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Spain and Belgium, we have now developed the first Massive Open Online Course to provide a panoramic overview of social pedagogy in these countries and introduce some of the central principles for practice.

The MOOC will launch on 12 February on Coursera, the world’s biggest online learning platform providing universal access to the world’s best education. You will have completely free access to all learning resources, or get optional certification from our partners at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona for 43€.

Combining a series of short videos, further reading resources, quizzes, reflective questions and peer-led discussions, the MOOC is aimed at practitioners across all education and social care settings as well as (prospective) students. You can self-pace your progression through the 8 sessions. We’ve designed these to encourage you to explore and reflect on the following themes in relation to your own practice:

WEEK 1:

1. Social Pedagogy and Participation – a transnational perspective
2. Social Pedagogy and Resource-Orientated Practice – a German perspective

WEEK 2:

3. Social Pedagogy and Creativity – a British perspective
4. Social Pedagogy and Purposeful Shared Activities – a Danish perspective

WEEK 3:

5. Social Pedagogy and Prevention – a Czech perspective
6. Social Pedagogy and Social Education – a Spanish perspective

WEEK 4:

7. Social Pedagogy and Social Justice – a Belgian perspective
8. Social Pedagogy in a wider context – perspectives from around the globe 

If you’ve already got a busy life, don’t worry – you don’t have to complete all eight sessions within four weeks. It’s fine for you to take longer!
 

The MOOC is the output of a 3-year project funded by the European Union with the following key aims:

  1. Give you an insight into how social pedagogy has been developing across Europe, highlighting both the diversity and connections,
  2. Highlight the importance of valuing every person as intrinsically ‘rich’, recognising their unique potential and ability to be a valuable member of society,
  3. Introduce you to ways in which you can bring this belief to life in everyday interactions and relationships that support people’s learning, nurture their well-being and enable them to feel included in society,
  4. Ensure you are familiar with the most fundamental aspects of social pedagogical practice in ways that are applicable in your own personal and professional life.

To find out more about the MOOC, click on the video below and watch our introductory video, join our live webinar. More details and pre-registration are available at mooc.social-pedagogy.org.uk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jetj6-1TQz0

Join our MOOC Webinar:

To give you a first glimpse and a deeper insight into the themes covered in the MOOC, how it is structured and what it can offer to learners, we are hosting an exclusive webinar on

Tuesday, 5th of February at 12.00 UK time

Join our webinar to discuss any questions and find out why social pedagogy will be of relevance if you are a professional eager to further improve your practice, a student interested in developing your career opportunities, or a leader wishing to support your staff team’s professional development. You can sign up by following this link and we’ll send you joining instructions.

MOOC Fire Starter Event

‘Education is about filling a pail but lighting a fire’

 

We are plased to invite you to our exclusive MOOC fire starter event to bring together as many people from our collective networks, who are willing to help us reach as many future MOOC learners as possible. Hosted by the University of Central Lancashire on the 6th of September, 2018, the event is an exclusive opportunity to find out more about the MOOC and our ambition:

  • Get a first look at the final MOOC before its official launch in January 2019,
  • Talk to some of the pilot learners and find out how they have used the MOOC to develop their practice and team culture,
  • Get in dialogue with our cross-national MOOC team from the 8 organisations involved, and
  • Learn how you can embed the MOOC in organisational practice, training and academic courses.

We have been developing the MOOC with the aim of providing an exciting and meaningful learning resource about central principles in social pedagogy and how these can enhance social pedagogical practice beyond national boundaries. And we are inviting you, because we hope you can help us make the MOOC freely available to interested learners across the globe. We hope you’ll be able to join us and become part of a dynamic international network committed to developing social pedagogy.

The fire starter event forms part of our Erasmus+ funded 3-year project and is therefore completely free to attend, with overnight accommodation for international guests and food provided. Please note that places are limited and allocated in accordance with our funding conditions. Please register here or contact us for further details.