News

In many European countries, pedagogy has long been established as the main discipline for working with people in a range of services. A social pedagogue has specialist skills for working with children, disabled adults and older people. The skills can be used in social care settings such as young people’s residential care, family and fostering support services, drug and alcohol clinics and specialist units such as for people with dementia. Often, the pedagogue is the main profession working with children in early childhood services up to the age of six. But the organisation and application of pedagogy varies across countries.

The theory and practice of pedagogy draws on philosophy, psychology and social sciences. It aims to strengthen human resources for an individual’s own development through intervention in people’s lives. Pedagogues help people establish, re-establish or maintain a positive and confident identity, solidarity with other people and social and cultural meaning in their lives. They look at a child’s unique individuality at all stages of development within social relations.(1)

Pedagogy recognises children and young people as knowledgeable, competent and valuable citizens, who are participants in a democratic society. Despite the national variations, some general principles of pedagogic work with children include:(2)

•  A focus on the child as a whole person and support for the child’s overall development.
• The practitioner seeing her or himself as a person in relationship with the child or young person.
• While they are together, children and staff treat each other as equals, not in a hierarchical relationship.
• As professionals, pedagogues are encouraged to constantly reflect on their practice and to apply both theoretical understandings and self-knowledge to their work and the sometimes challenging demands with which they are confronted.
• Pedagogues are also practical. Their training prepares them to share in many aspects of children’s daily lives, such as preparing meals, making music and building kites.
•  When working in groups, children’s time together is seen as an important resource: workers should foster and make use of children’s group.
• Pedagogy builds on an understanding of children’s rights that is not limited to procedural matters or legislated requirements.
• A commitment to team work and valuing the contributions of others in the task of "bringing up" children: other professionals, members of the local community and, especially, parents.

Pedagogy is most developed as a profession in Denmark, where pedagogues work in group settings for people of all ages, supported by other occupations such as pedagogue assistants, health and social care assistants and helpers. Many such assistants will go on to become pedagogues.

Pedagogic practice is about enabling children and young people to feel that they are members of communities, represented both by the group in the service they attend and the neighbourhoods where they are located. These are places where they have valued roles, responsibilities and opportunities to express themselves, child to child as well as child to adult.

There are many variations in how and to what level pedagogues are professionally trained, from post-secondary level to degree and higher level academic training. In Denmark, the main pedagogic qualification for practice is a three and a half year degree level course, which covers pedagogy and psychology, social and health studies, reflection, communication, organisation and management, and creative and practical subjects such as drama, woodwork and environmental studies. About one-third of the course is spent on practice placements and many students undertake placements overseas.(3)

Beyond initial training many pedagogues undertake continuous professional training to further their skills in specialist areas such as systemic therapy or management. Also, the whole staff group engage in regular reflection on daily practice, and in settings such as residential services for severely disabled people, staff may receive peer or group supervision to support their practice.(4)

Since 1997, there have been many initiatives to address the early years and social care workforces in England, not least bringing them together into a notion of a children’s workforce. But significant challenges remain. The children’s workforce strategy identifies three of these:

• There is a need to clarify which occupational models are most appropriate.
• There is a need to address recruitment and retention problems, and make the profession one where people want to work in the children’s sector and remain over a sustained period and be rewarded adequately.
• There is a need to improve the quality of practice through training and development.

Findings from our research indicate that:

• As an occupational model, pedagogy can be a way of building on a unified children’s workforce. It offers a general way of working from which specialist skills and knowledge are developed.
• Pedagogic education and employment is popular in many continental European countries because it offers a high level education with opportunities for advancement, a respected job that is flexible, compatible with family commitments and offers opportunities for employment with a range of age groups and situations.
• About one in four Danish pedagogue students is male: the status and opportunities for professional development, and thinking about the job as pedagogy rather than care can attract a more diverse range of entrants.
• Pedagogy is a public sector occupation in Denmark: the state employs and supports most pedagogues, and salaries are set nationally in consultation with employers and unions. In 2001, a pedagogue earned 3,000 to 3,300 euros per month, about twice as much as an English child care worker or care assistant.
• A combination of popular professional education, reasonable rewards and a good social status can reduce recruitment difficulties and reduce staff turnover. Danish local authorities recruiting social pedagogues in a tight labour market focus on status, being a supportive employer and offering high levels of training to ensure they get highly professional staff.
• A pedagogic approach implies a high level of commitment to training and development. In Denmark, further training such as one year diplomas for early years practitioners is not compulsory but is available as part of normal working hours which indicates high importance attached to continuous professional development.

Overall, pedagogy offers an attractive occupational model that has been tried and tested by our European neighbours. It would be challenging to implement here because it implies reversing our current reliance on workplace-based competency awards in favour of a high level professional education based in colleges and on placements; changing our thinking about children from vulnerable people in need of good outcomes to valued citizens; and revaluing children’s workers and the work they do as necessary and on behalf of us all rather than a marginalised concern.

Meaning of Pedagogue

Pedagogues are not teachers or social workers although much of what they do is concerned with learning, caring and a holistic sense of upbringing. Pedagogy is "education in its widest sense", and in French and other Latin-based languages words like "education" convey this broad sense and are equivalent to pedagogy as used in Nordic countries and in Germany.

However, direct translations can lead to misleading understandings: the term social pedagogue is often translated into English as "social educator". But being a pedagogue implies something much broader than a narrow concern with teaching and learning or formal pedagogic theory.

Pedagogy implies working with the "whole child: body, mind, feelings, spirit and creativity. Crucially, the child is seen as a social being, connected to others and at the same time with their own distinctive experiences and knowledge."(1)

1. P Petrie, Pedagogy: A Holistic, Personal Approach to Work with Children and Young People Across Services: Briefing paper for DfES, 2004

Abstract

The recent children's workforce strategy argues that one way forward for the children's workforce would be to develop a new occupational model such as the pedagogue to work across early years and social care settings.  This article briefly introduces the pedagogue and pedagogy, as understood in Europe, describes the ways in which pedagogues work, and discusses implications for transforming the Engish children's workforce in a pedagogic direction.

References

1. H K Hansen, Danish Pedagogues: Well Educated Generalists Working with all Age Groups, paper given at Care Work in Europe Conference, 16 November 2004.
2. P Petrie, Pedagogy: A Holistic, Personal Approach to Work with Children and Young People Across Services: European Models for Practice, Training, Education and Qualification, Briefing paper for DfEs, 2004.
3. P Moss and M Korintus, Work with Young Children: A Case Study of Denmark, Hungary and Spain, consolidated report, 2004.  Available at www.ioe.ac.uk/tcru/carework.
4. H Hansen and J Jensen, Work with Adults with Severe Disabilities A Case Study of Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden, 2004.  Available at www.ioe.ac.uk/tcru/carework

Further Information

• B Cohen, P Moss, P Petrie and J Wallace, A New Deal for Children? Re-forming education and care in England, Scotland and Sweden, Policy Press 2004.
• C Cameron, "Social Pedagogy and Care: Danish and German Practice in Young People's Residential Care", Journal of Social Work, 4,2, 133-151, 2004.

Contact the Author

E-mail C.Cameron:ioe.ac.uk

Claire Cameron is a researcher at the Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London.  She previously worked in residential and then field social work.  She has conducted many studies of children's and young people's services, mainly focusing on workforce issues, gender and care work, including cross-national studies of pedagogy and care services.