The Diamond Model
The Diamond Model symbolizes one of the most fundamental underpinning principles of social pedagogy - that there is a diamond within all of us. As human beings we are all precious and have a rich variety of knowledge, skills and abilities. Not all diamonds are polished and sparkly, but all have the potential to be. Similarly, every person has the potential to shine out - and social pedagogy is about supporting them in this. Therefore, social pedagogy has four core aims that are closely linked: well-being and happiness, holistic learning, relationship, and empowerment.
Well-being and happiness:
The overarching aim of all social pedagogic practice is to provide well-being and happiness, not on a short-term needs-focused basis, but sustainably, through a rights-based approach. While the terms 'well-being' and 'happiness' are sometimes seen as one and the same, in our understanding they are notionally different: happiness describes a present state whereas well-being describes as a long-lasting sense of physical, mental, emotional and social well-being. In combination we can get a holistic view of a person's well-being and happiness. Importantly, well-being and happiness are very individual and subjective: what makes us happy is very different from person to person. As a result social pedagogic practice is very context-specific and highly responsive to the individual rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all approach.
Holistic learning:
'Learning is the pleasant anticipation of one's self', according to the German philosopher Sloterdijk. In this sense, holistic learning mirrors the aim of well-being and happiness - it must be seen as contributing to, or enhancing, our well-being. Learning is more than what happens at school, it is a holistic process of realizing our own potential for learning and growth, which can take place in every situation that offers a learning opportunity. Holistic learning is a life-long process involving 'head, heart, and hands' (Pestalozzi). Social pedagogy is about creating learning opportunities, so that people get a sense of their own potential and how they have developed. As we are all unique, so is our potential for learning and our way of learning and development.
Relationship:
Central to achieving these two aims is the pedagogic relationship. Through the supportive relationship with the social pedagogue a person can experience that someone cares for and about them, that they can trust somebody. This is about giving them the social skills to be able to build strong positive relationships with others. Therefore the pedagogic relationship must be a personal relationship between human beings - social pedagogues make use of their personality and have to be authentic in the relationship, which is not the same as sharing private matters. So the pedagogic relationship is professional and personal at the same time, thus requiring from the social pedagogue to be constantly reflective.
Empowerment:
Alongside the relationship, empowerment is crucial in order to ensure that we get a sense of control over our life, feel involved in decisions affecting us, and are able to make sense of our own universe. Empowerment also means that we are able to take on ownership and responsibility for our own learning and our own well-being and happiness, as well as our relationship with the community. Social pedagogy is therefore about supporting people's empowerment, their independence as well as interdependence.
Positive Experiences:
In order to realize these core aims, social pedagogy has to be about providing positive experiences. The power of experiencing something positive - something that makes us happy, something we have achieved, a new skill we have learned, the caring support from someone else - has a double impact: it raises our self-confidence and feeling of self-worth, so it reinforces our sense of well-being, of learning, of being able to form a strong relationship, or of feeling empowered; and by strengthening our positives we also improve our weak sides - negative notions about our self fade away...
Conclusions:
Social pedagogy offers a conceptual framework that can help guide professional practice. As an academic discipline, social pedagogy uses related research, theories and concepts from other sciences such as sociology, psychology, education or philosophy to ensure the holistic perspective. This means that in realizing those core aims there is a lot of inspiration to be taken from what research and concepts tell us about related areas. All four aims point at the fact that social pedagogy is about process. Well-being and happiness, holistic learning, relationship, empowerment - none of these is a product that, once achieved, can be forgotten. This is why it is important to perceive them as fundamental human rights that we all constantly need to work on if we want to ensure that nobody's rights are violated or neglected.
