Social pedagogy
Social pedagogy applies broadly educational solutions to social problems being often translated as 'education in its broadest sense'.
Social pedagogy is a broad, holistic, approach to care, education and upbringing, and child and adult care. It is common in many countries but less so in the UK and other English-speaking nations.
Researchers at Thomas Coram Research Unit have carried out multiple government-funded projects examining social pedagogy as the core approach to working with children. In one example, cross-national comparison of quality of life and outcomes in residential care found that young people in Denmark and Germany fared better than their counterparts in England. These findings, among others, were critical to policy interest in the English government’s White Papers Every Child Matters (2003), Care Matters (2007), and subsequent pilot projects (2008–2011). It was dropped with the 2010 change of government. Some employers and employer organisations remain committed to social pedagogic approaches to practice and some universities run social pedagogy modules and programmes.
Social pedagogy capacity building projects TCRU researchers have collaborated with others in founding:
- UCL Press’ International Journal of Social Pedagogy: publishes a range of type of output and welcomes new submissions
- Social Pedagogy Professional Association: holds standards in social pedagogy and offers accreditation to employers, and training and education organisations
- Social Pedagogy Development Network: offers a ‘ground-up’ space for dialogue and discovery.
TCRU supports the work of:
- Thempra: a training and development organisation
- Global Alliance for Social Pedagogy and Social Education: a worldwide exchange forum.
Today at UCL we:
- co-edit and publish the IJSP, with a large global editorial board. Other co-editors are from Thempra and SPPA
- run ‘Looking for Social Pedagogy’ – a project seeking to document synergies with social pedagogy-aligned provision and publish case studies on the IJSP website
- supervise PhD students whose theses are based in a social pedagogy perspective, Cecile Remy is a recent graduate
- are home to the UK’s first professor of social pedagogy, a Patron of SPPA
- publish occasional pieces in outlets such as the IOE Blog and Nursery World.
Key social pedagogy publications from TCRU
- Petrie, P., Cameron, C., Jones, H. and Kemp, R. (2023), Introducing social pedagogy for children in care in the UK: from policy to research and from research to policy?
- Cameron, C., Moss, P., & Petrie, P. (2021), Towards a social pedagogic approach for social care
- Cameron, C. and Moss, P. (eds) (2011), Social Pedagogy and Working with Children and Young People: Where Care and Education Meet, London, Jessica Kingsley Publishers
- Petrie, P. (2011), Communication Skills for Working with Children and Young People: Introducing Social Pedagogy, London, Jessica Kingsley Publishers