In this SPPA Practice Oasis session, we have explored the four following questions:
- What is Creative Mentoring and how does it work?
- What Social Pedagogical practices sit at the core of Creative Mentoring, and what do they look like in practice?
- Why is creativity so important in Social Pedagogy?
- How can resources and toolkits enhance creative engagement for children and young people in a person-centred way?
About The Mighty Creatives:
The Mighty Creatives (TMC) are a national charity that exists to provide creative youth services and mentoring for the most unheard children and young people in society, including those who are care-experienced, facing adversity, challenges or disadvantage.
TMC’s dedicated team, work closely with various youth services and teams, including Local Authorities, Virtual Schools, schools, alternative provision settings, residential homes, cultural organisations, CAMHS, and Prevent services. They have heaps of experience (more than 13 years!) in the creative sector, working with children and young people, and in the community.
Zoe Matthews
How do I change people’s behaviours to make my work easier in effecting social change? Evidence from studies of socio-ecological models and human-centred design show that individualized face-to-face (and digital) interactions, especially with someone a person knows, likes, and/or respects is a powerful tool for change. When you have strong relationships and the things you have to say resonate with other people, this is the first step towards trangression – we can start to talk about the issues that people don’t want to talk about, and in so doing, start to change the mindsets that cause social injustices to happen. In this workshop, we will first identify the problematic mindsets that you work with (or against) in your world. We will then examine examples of how socio-ecological and human-centred design models, tools and activities have been used to transform mindsets in Iraq, Rwanda and Myanmar. The final step will be to practice example tools and activities and reflect on how they can be applied to your own professional practice.
Human-centred design is all about using deep empathy to really understand the people we work with and design solutions that support the development of mindsets needed to connect self and community so that the choices we make not only lead to our own well-being but also the well-being of others. The Iraq example is inspired by our colleagues’ presentation from Brazil, that society is imposing the idea that we need to “live a little like a king, or live long like a nobody”. This example highlights the strategies used on an employability and entrepreneurship programme where the focus is on the aftermath of male participants talking about their admiration for Andrew Tate. In the Rwanda example, I will talk about the tools and strategies used to address the mindsets that lead to period poverty. In the Myanmar example, I will talk about addressing the xenophobic mindsets that divide IDP and host communities where tensions are borne out of scarcity. All three examples showcase how effective use of communication is crucial for instigating behaviour change.
Zoe Matthews
How do I change people’s behaviours to make my work easier in effecting social change? Evidence from studies of socio-ecological models and human-centred design show that individualized face-to-face (and digital) interactions, especially with someone a person knows, likes, and/or respects is a powerful tool for change. When you have strong relationships and the things you have to say resonate with other people, this is the first step towards trangression – we can start to talk about the issues that people don’t want to talk about, and in so doing, start to change the mindsets that cause social injustices to happen. In this workshop, we will first identify the problematic mindsets that you work with (or against) in your world. We will then examine examples of how socio-ecological and human-centred design models, tools and activities have been used to transform mindsets in Iraq, Rwanda and Myanmar. The final step will be to practice example tools and activities and reflect on how they can be applied to your own professional practice.
Human-centred design is all about using deep empathy to really understand the people we work with and design solutions that support the development of mindsets needed to connect self and community so that the choices we make not only lead to our own well-being but also the well-being of others. The Iraq example is inspired by our colleagues’ presentation from Brazil, that society is imposing the idea that we need to “live a little like a king, or live long like a nobody”. This example highlights the strategies used on an employability and entrepreneurship programme where the focus is on the aftermath of male participants talking about their admiration for Andrew Tate. In the Rwanda example, I will talk about the tools and strategies used to address the mindsets that lead to period poverty. In the Myanmar example, I will talk about addressing the xenophobic mindsets that divide IDP and host communities where tensions are borne out of scarcity. All three examples showcase how effective use of communication is crucial for instigating behaviour change.
Terri and Copper Hlava, Arizona State University and (H.A.B.I.T.A.T.) Human Animal Bond In Teaching And Therapies
This presentation relates an animal-assisted intervention (AAI) in an underserved elementary school in the Southwest US describing how a canine in the classroom can improve education by creating community and holding space for young learners to engage the language curriculum – countering deficit models in favor of children’s unique funds of identity, valuing their linguistic capital. We trace one therapy dog’s nine-week collaboration with 25 third-grade Spanish-dominant students, address the effects of linguicism, and describe a cross-species opportunity to make school more inviting, particularly for young students segregated by English-only laws. This approach builds on emerging scholarship, implementing goal-directed human-animal interactions as a form of social pedagogy (e.g., Fung, 2017; Hallytburton & Hinton, 2017; Hlava, 2013; 2023). Our work is theoretically based in animal-assisted interventions (Gee et al., 2017: Levinson et al., 2017; Mickelsson, 2019), social pedagogy (Johnston, McAuliffe, & Santos, 2015), funds of knowledge (Llopart & Esteban-Guitart, 2017; 2018) and identity (Hogg & Volman, 2020) with marginalized students in subtractive schooling environments (Valenzuela, 2005). So we are optimistic about the potential, encouraged by the results, and happy to share how these students taught a six-year-old Labrador retriever to read – yes, read – and taught us even more in the process.
Our presentation centers on relationships – the trusting bond between children and dogs, and we in
corporate social justice principles by encouraging these relationships in low-income schools where children face language-based discrimination. Breaking from traditional student roles, the children lead the way, plan lessons, and teach the dog to read. These activities incorporate each of the 13 values as children work together, build community, and share their love of learning with each other and with their canine classmate.
Seongjong Lee
Many statistics prove that South Korean society is a depressing society. South Korea already has the world’s lowest fertility rate. The happiness index of Korean children and teenagers recorded the lowest degree among OECD countries in 2021. Also, suicide has been the greatest cause of death among Korean teenagers over the last 10 years. Furthermore, In the question of ‘What makes life meaningful?’, Korea is the only country that ranks first in material abundance. Many people claim that the rapid development of the Korean economy made it difficult for society to consider various values in balance. In this atmosphere, Korean education also underwent an epistemic wave of development. In Korean education, university entrance exam (Suneung) is one of most crucial factors that decide a student’s future. Assessment, curriculum, teachers’ and parents’ interest, even the goals of students are all set to Suneung. This caused detrimental effects in terms of individuals, families, and society. For example, the private academy business (Hakwon) is enormous. Hakwon demands students to stay in Hakwon until very late at night, forces households to spend extra money on education, and devalues the national education system by teaching every subject in advance so that Hakwon students have better grades than others. Most of all, inclusive relationships and community have disappeared in South Korean education and society. However, there are some people- like Seongong, who think community education is really needed to tackle this situation.
Seongjong would therefore like to introduce his practices, thoughts, and direction of future research to you.
Filipe Couto
Socio-pedagogical approaches in community development: pathways for systematization and reconfiguration.
This communication explores the dynamic intersection of socio-pedagogical approaches within the realm of community development, presenting a nuanced understanding of their potential pathways for systematization and reconfiguration. The evolving nature of communities necessitates innovative strategies to address multifaceted challenges, ranging from educational disparities to social cohesion. Socio-pedagogy, as a holistic and participatory discipline, emerges as a pivotal force in shaping community development paradigms.
The communication delves into the theoretical foundations of socio-pedagogy, emphasizing its role in fostering inclusive and empowering learning environments within communities. By bridging educational theories with social and cultural dimensions, socio-pedagogical approaches offer a comprehensive framework for navigating the complexities of community development. The study investigates case studies and practical applications, highlighting successful instances where socio-pedagogical interventions have catalyzed positive transformations.
Moreover, the communication addresses the imperative for systematization and reconfiguration of socio-pedagogical approaches to adapt to diverse community contexts. It advocates for a contextualized understanding, emphasizing the need for flexible methodologies that consider cultural nuances, socio-economic conditions, and community aspirations. Through this exploration, the communication aims to contribute to the ongoing discourse on effective strategies for community development, positioning socio-pedagogy as a key catalyst for sustainable and equitable social change.
Alan Ovens and Aspasia Dania
Research points to the significant role of community facilitators in shaping the learning environment of teacher’s Professional Development (PD). Successful facilitation has been described as a process that engages teachers actively in connecting to new professional networks, engaging with new ideas, challenging assumptions and beliefs, and being supported to enact new practices and pedagogies.
The aim of this study is to examine the idea of teacher facilitation as a process that enables and provokes change, not in a linear progressive manner, but through productive forces that make creative involutions possible. Based on new materialist approaches, we decided to problematize the representation of the facilitator as a coherent and stable role and instead explore the conditions that make experiences of facilitation possible. By building on our professional dialogue as teacher educators we explored ‘What facilitation means?’ and ‘Why facilitation may be important for teachers’ professional development?’. The engagement with these questions forced us to be responsive to the conditions that take place during facilitation and explore the not-yet-said, seen or actualized, in relation to the creation of new forms of thinking.
Through the process of our dialogue, we found that we cannot be sure about those conditions of facilitation that produce instances of teacher learning within communities, or what we can conceive as teacher change as an outcome of teacher facilitation. Therefore, we suggest elaborating further on dialogues that transgress dominant beliefs and open to new forms of discourse about what can be manifested as (effective) facilitation within teacher communities.
Presenters:
- Alan Ovens, University of Auckland, New Zealand
- Aspasia Dania, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
With an emphasis on pupil autonomy and empowerment within PE, the goal of Webinar 1 is to present what it means to work together as a group within PE under a Social Pedagogy perspective, so as to strengthen social cohesion and prevent marginalization.
Based on the principles of game-based pedagogies, the goal of Webinar 3 is to introduce games as vehicles for social adaptation and/or integration of children and youth through physical education (PE) activities.
