Final report of the social pedagogy pilot programme: development and implementation

In 2008, the government commissioned Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute of Education University of London to develop and implement a pilot programme in order to determine the impact of, and best method for, introducing a social pedagogic approach in residential children’s homes in line with the Care Matters White Paper’s commitment (DCSF 2007). The intentions were modest - to make some ‘ripples’ in the world of residential childcare. This report is of the development and implementation part of the pilot programme. There are around 2,000 children’s homes in England, run by private for profit, independent and public sector employers and around 6,500 young people are in residence at any one time (SFR 2009). Since 2002, children’s homes, as with other services for children, have been regulated by, and inspected against, national minimum standards, which, although not intended to be a benchmark of practice, or representing standardisation of provision (DH 2002), arguably implied just that. Clough, Bullock and Ward (2006) viewed the requirement to meet bureaucratic standards as risking the undervaluing of important and complex issues of quality and process. It was in this context that the pilot programme took place. As an established tradition in continental Europe, social pedagogy is often understood as ‘education in its broadest sense’ (Petrie et al. 2009) - an educational approach to social issues. Its breadth can be seen in its concern for the whole person as emotional, thinking and physical beings, promoting their active engagement in decisions about their own lives and as members of society. It is a discipline that takes account of the complexity of different social contexts. In continental European countries social pedagogues typically have a bachelor’s degree, combining academic knowledge, with practical, organisational and communication skills and often, the expressive arts and/or outdoor adventure/ environmental activities. Social pedagogues working in residential care in continental European countries expect to exercise a range of responsibilities both inward looking to the home itself and outward looking to the interface between the children’s home and the wider society to which the young person belongs. The pilot programme was designed around three groups of children’s homes or ‘pilot sites’ with differing social pedagogic input, ranging from social pedagogues trained overseas but working to residential care worker job titles, to social pedagogues working to social pedagogue job titles with, in addition, part of their time devoted to training and awareness raising activities. Children’s homes were selected for their stated support of the programme objectives and their willingness to learn about social pedagogy from the social pedagogues. Forty eight social pedagogues were recruited through employer’s recruitment procedures although some left before the end of the programme period

Age group, location or pedagogue: factors affecting parental choice of kindergartens in Hungary

Hungary has experienced significant political, economic, demographic and social changes since the end of Soviet domination in the 1990s. The gradual move towards liberal-democracy has been accompanied by growing emphasis on individualism, choice and diversity. Universal kindergarten provision for 5-6 year olds is a long established feature of the Hungarian education system, but little is known about parental choice (Török, 2004). A case study (Yin, 2004) of factors influencing parental choice and satisfaction was undertaken in one Hungarian town. This was based on a survey of 251 parents of children attending both mixed-age and same-age groups across 12 kindergartens. Parents suggested that the most important influences were geographical location and the individual pedagogue(s). Given that traditionally each pedagogue follows ‘their’ cohort from kindergarten entry to primary school, their influence appears heightened. Although generally satisfied with their chosen arrangement, parents from same-age groups expressed significantly more confidence and satisfaction, particularly in relation to cognitive development and preparation for school. Parents appear less convinced about the trend towards mixed-age groups and questions are raised about sufficiency of evidence of their benefits in a Hungarian context and the driving factors behind change

When the street becomes a pedagogue

I've long been interested in the way that public space comes to be used to present the ideas of private concerns. I've never quite understood why a fast food chain can blatantly display their ideas in the streetscape, yet graffiti and street art is considered the work of criminals. I've found much of my professional activity, including PhD research, devoted to the exploration of how signage is deployed and appropriated and want to draw on a couple of these research projects to explain how I see the public pedagogical intent of urban signage functioning in the street-scape

Руководители и лидеры в образовании: сходства и различия

Рассматривается содержание понятий "менеджмент" и "лидерство" применительно к сфере образования. Анализируются социальные факторы, определяющие лидерство как необходимый элемент управления образовательной организацией в современных условиях. Представлен сравнительный анализ функций и возможностей менеджера и лидера с точки зрения отечественной социальной психологии

Pedagogy - a holistic, personal approach to work with children and young people, across services: European models for practice, training, education and qualification

Today, provision for children and young people is developing rapidly at the level of policy, organisation, training, education, and qualifications. Research in these areas, carried out at the Thomas Coram Research Unit (TCRU), has included cross-national studies on service provision and its quality, the daily practice of staff, their training, education, qualification, recruitment and retention in the workforce. A central interest has been what, in continental Europe, is often called ‘social pedagogy’, a distinctive way of working with children and the basis for policy development

Introducing social pedagogy into Scottish residential child care : an evaluation of the Sycamore Services social pedagogy training programme

This report provides an introduction to the approach to child care known as social pedagogy and an evaluation of a social pedagogy training programme delivered to a group of child care staff employed in Sycamore Services. It is a 1st stage evaluation which gathers information from participants during the training programme and over the first few months following the training. This was a pilot programme and the Sycamore Services management have decided that the programme will be run again, and will eventually be offered to all staff. A further evaluation will be carried out in order to identify benefit and impact one year on from the end of the pilot