A social worker, a community development worker and an adult educator walk into a bar : on strange bedfellows and social pedagogy

With a long tradition that can be traced to the 19th century, social pedagogy has evolved as a discipline that combines educational and social perspectives and interventions. Since its origins, it has been concerned with the mutual relations between human development, on the one hand, and the development of a just and democratic society, on the other. Whereas in a few countries social pedagogy is a professional occupation recognized by the state, in most places it constitutes a framework that contributes to other occupations, and at the same time is informed by other fields. Prominent among these fields are social work, community development, and youth and adult education. This paper discusses the particular features of these three fields and their connections to social pedagogy.peer-reviewe

Social pedagogy in North America: Historical background and current developments

In North America, the use of the term ‘social pedagogy’ is a relatively new phenomenon,but social pedagogical practices have been used for a long time. The recent interest in the field of so-cial pedagogy can be explained in part by the publication of an unprecedented volume of books andarticles in English language, the creation of a new international journal, the simultaneous developmentof graduate programs in social pedagogy in the UK and the USA, and the establishment of a social ped-agogy association that brings together academics and practitioners. In North America, social pedagogythinking is influenced by the history of the field, by current social pedagogy theory and practice in otherparts of the world, and by several traditions that connect education with social change. The paper dis-cusses ten of them: indigenous education, progressive education, social movement learning, commu-nity development, public pedagogy, popular education, participatory action research, social economy,participatory democracy, and critical theory.Na América do Norte, o uso do termo “pedagogia social” é um fenômeno relativamentenovo, mas as práticas sociais pedagógicas vêm sendo usadas faz um longo tempo. O recente interesseno campo da pedagogia social pode ser explicado em parte pela publicação de um volume sem pre-cedentes de livros e artigos em Inglês, a criação de uma nova revista internacional, o desenvolvimentosimultâneo de programas de pós-graduação em pedagogia social no Reino Unido e EUA, bem como oestabelecimento de uma associação de pedagogia social que reúne acadêmicos e profissionais. NaAmérica do Norte, o pensamento da pedagogia social é influenciada pela história do campo, pela teo-ria pedagógica social atual e prática em outras partes do mundo, e por várias tradições que ligam aeducação com a mudança social. O artigo discute dez deles: educação indígena, educação progressiva,a aprendizagem en movimento social, desenvolvimento comunitário, pedagogia pública, educação po-pular, pesquisa de ação participativa, economia social, a democracia participativa, e a teoria crítica.A pesar de que en América del Norte, el uso de la “pedagogía social” sea un fenómeno relativamente nuevo, las prácticas pedagógicas sociales existen desde hace mucho. El reciente interés despertado por el campo de la pedagogía social podría explicarse en parte por la publicación de un volumen sin precedentes de libros y artículos en inglés, la creación de una nueva revista internacional, el desarrollo simultáneo de programas de postgrado en pedagogía social en Reino Unido y EE.UU, y la creación de una asociación de pedagogía social que aúna académicos y profesionales. En América del Norte, la pedagogía social está influenciada por la historia del campo, por la teoría y la práctica actual de la pedagogía social en otras partes del mundo y por varias tradiciones que relacionan la educación con el cambio social. En este artículo se analizan diez de ellas: educación indígena, educación activa, aprendizaje en movimientos sociales, desarrollo comunitario, pedagogía pública, educación popular, investigación acción participativa (IAP), economía social, democracia participativa y teoría crítica

Democratic Innovations and Local Governance: An International Perspective

In the last two decades, two parallel developments could be observed in many countries around the world. One is a so-called ‘democratic deficit’; the other is the proliferation of participatory democracy experiments. The democratic deficit refers to a general dissatisfaction with the institutions of representative democracy. This is expressed in low voter turnouts, low confidence in government and politicians, low levels of political engagement, and a general weakening of the social contract between citizens and their representatives. For instance, in one of the largest polls on this topic, Gallup and BBC (2005) surveyed 50,000 people in 68 countries, and found that 65% don’t think their country is governed by the will of the people. Less than half (47%) feel elections in their country are free and fair, and only 11% trust politicians. Interestingly, politicians were the least trusted group, below military, religious and business leaders. In the USA, a poll conducted by Gallup in June 2015 found that only 8% trusted Congress, below 14 other institutions that included the military, small business, the police, organized religion, the medical system, public schools, banks, organized labor, the justice system, television news, and big business. Another study revealed that a majority of people (55%) believes that ordinary Americans would do a better job of solving national problems than elected officials. Regarding the local level of government, the topic of this paper, in most American cities the average voter turnout typically falls below one quarter of the voting-age population. More often than not, low-turnout elections tend to be dominated by older,white and more affluent voters, and therefore are less likely to be representative of the electorate as a whole (Caren 2007, Hajnal 2010, Holbrook & Weinschenk 2014, McCarthy 2015)

Social pedagogy: historical traditions and transnational connections

With over 150 years of history, social pedagogy is both an interdisciplinary scholarly field of inquiry and a field of practice that is situated in the intersection of three areas of human activity: education, social work and community development. Although social pedagogy has different emphases and approaches depending on particular historical and geographical contexts, a common theme is that it deals with the connections between educational and social dynamics, or put in a different way, it is concerned with the educational dimension of social issues and the social dimensions of educational issues. The first part of this paper analyzes the history of the field of social pedagogy since its origins until today, with a focus on transnational flows between Europe and the Americas. The second part of the paper discusses the main issues raised in this special issue of EPAA, and extracts the main threads and connections among the different papers included in the volume

Learning Democracy through Self-governance: The Case of Housing Co-operative

Housing co-operatives are a unique site to learn democracy through participation in self-governance by volunteering on boards and committees. Members reported both nonformal and informal learning; the latter was particularly significant for the development of skills, knowledge, attitudes and values required for effective democratic participation

« Vingt mille lieues sous les mers » : les quatre défis de l’apprentissage informel

Cet article traite des quatre défis (conceptuel, méthodologique, de reconnaissance, et pédagogique) qui se sont présentés lorsque a été entreprise une recherche sur l’apprentissage de la citoyenneté dans des contextes différents. Le premier consiste à mieux comprendre les différentes expressions et les traits internes de l’apprentissage informel. Le second est relatif au besoin de développer des stratégies de recherche créatives pour surmonter les difficultés à mettre en évidence l’apprentissage informel. Le troisième concerne le besoin de développer les mécanismes institutionnels de validation et reconnaissance des apprentissages informels. Le quatrième réfère au besoin de proposer des agencements significatifs pour que se produisent des apprentissages informels. L’auteur suggère quelques pistes pour relever ces défis.This paper examines four challenges (conceptual, methodological, recognition and pedagogical) that arose from undertaking research on informal citizenship learning in different contexts. The first challenge is to better understand the different expressions and internal features of informal learning. The second challenge relates to the need to develop creative research strategies to overcome the difficulties in eliciting informal learning. The third challenge concerns the need to improve institutional mechanisms to assess and recognize informal learning. The fourth challenge refers to the need to purposefully design meaningful opportunities for relevant informal learning. The author suggests some possible ways to overcome these challenges.Este artículo trata de los cuatro retos (conceptual, metodológico, de reconocimiento y pedagógico) que se manifestaron cuando se emprendió una investigación sobre el aprendizaje de la ciudadanía en contextos diferentes. El primer reto consiste en comprender mejor las diferentes expresiones y los rasgos internos del aprendizaje informal. El segundo reto trata de la necesidad de desarrollar estrategias de investigación creativas para superar las dificultades para poner de manifiesto el aprendizaje informal. El tercer reto concierne la necesidad de desarrollar los mecanismos institucionales de validación y reconocimiento de los aprendizajes informales. El cuarto reto se refiere a la necesidad de proponer disposiciones significativas para que se produzcan aprendizajes informales. El autor sugiere unas pistas para aceptar estos retos.Dieser Artikel befasst sich mit vier Herausforderungen (konzeptuelle, methodologische, erkennende und pädagogische) die zum Vorschein gekommen sind, als eine Forschungsarbeit über die Bürgerkunde in verschiedenen Kontexten unternommen wurde. Die erste Herausforderung besteht darin, die verschiedenen Ausdrucksformen und die dem unförmlichen Lernen innewohnenden Merkmale besser zu verstehen. Die zweite Herausforderung bezieht sich auf das Bedürfnis, neue Strategien der kreativen Forschung zu entwickeln, um die Schwierigkeiten bei der Hervorhebung des unförmlichen Lernens zu überwinden. Die dritte Herausforderung betrifft das Bedürfnis, die institutionellen Mechanismen der Anerkennung und der Gültigkeitserklärung des unförmlich Gelernten zu fördern. Die vierte Herausforderung betrifft die Notwendigkeit, bedeutende Einrichtungen anzubieten, damit unförmliche Lernvorgänge überhaupt stattfinden können. Der Autor weist auf einige Wege hin, um diesen Herausforderungen Herr zu werden

Learning to Build Sustainable Communities through Volunteer Work in Urban and Rural Settings: Insights from Four Case Studies

This paper presents findings from four Canadian settings where volunteers have acquired attitudes, skills and knowledge related to community sustainability. Most of the learning was informal, and includes the three areas of sustainability (social, environmental and economic)

Reinventing Freire in the 21st century: : Citizenship education, student voice and school participatory budgeting

This year we remember three centennials that inspire many progressive educators around the world. First, 2021 marks the 100th anniversary of the creation of Summerhill, one of the first experiments (if not the first) on school democracy in the world. Second, this year we celebrate the 100th birthday of Edgar Morin, a French sociologist and philosopher who dedicated his life to the pursuit of social justice and made insightful contributions to the role of education to promote democracy, equality, social transformation, and sustainability (see, for instance, Morin 2002). Third, this year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Paulo Freire (1921-1997), one of the most influential educational thinkers of the second half of the 20th century. Given space constraints and the theme of this special issue of CICE, in this paper we will focus on the connections between some of Paulo Freire’s ideas (particularly those related to citizenship education and school democracy) and a process known as School Participatory Budgeting. “I don't want to be followed; I want to be reinvented”, Paulo Freire said on several occasions. It is in this spirit that we approach this paper. Inspired by Freire’s ideas, and especially by his practice as an educator in Brazil (both before his exile and after his return), in this paper we discuss the recent development and expansion of a process known as School Participatory Budgeting (School PB). This model emanates from Freire’s project of Escola Cidadã, which constitutes an interesting school- or district-wide experience from the global south that can be adapted to many contexts. Since its modest origins in Brazil, School PB has now been taken up in other cities and states across the US (e.g. Chicago, New York) and in many other countries across the globe, from Argentina and Mexico to Colombia, Spain, Russia, France, Italy, Zambia, South Korea, and Portugal. We argue that School PB aligns well with Freire’s ideas on dialogue, participation, collaboration, creativity, student agency, and change. In this paper we focus on the experience of School PB in Arizona, not only because it was in Arizona where the first School PB process in the U.S. was designed and implemented, but also because it has been a place for continuous experimentation and innovation

New Research Directions in Popular Education: Towards a Reconceptualization of the Field

In this roundtable, departing from traditional popular education theory and practice, four panelists share findings of their research in progress, and pose questions to stimulate the current debates on popular education