Social Pedagogy: Heart and Head

Abstract

Social pedagogy is emerging as an academic discipline in the UK, with degree courses being offered by Canterbury Christ Church University, the Institute of Education (University of London) and the Universities of Aberdeen, Liverpool Hope, Sussex and Winchester (see Jacaranda Recruitment, 2012). What used only a few years ago to be a topic for academic debate, then the subject of some research and development projects, has now become a new stream in education and training, as well as in professional life. Social pedagogy is ready to take its place next to social work, tackling many social challenges via its base in education. Until now, however, a monographic English-language social pedagogy (SP) textbook has been wanting. This has changed with the publication of Stephens's Social Pedagogy: Heart and Head. Stephens does not try to define SP in terms of roles, methods, etc., but chooses the same approach as Hämäläinen in focusing on its ontological and ethical foundations: ‘Historically, social pedagogy is based on the belief that you can decisively influence social circumstances through education’ (Hämäläinen, 2003, p. 71). This, in connection with Hämäläinen's conceptualisation of SP as a perspective on social challenges, rather than a set of methods, forms the basis for Stephens's survey of what represents a very long tradition in some European countries, spanning back further than the history of social work.