Jan Storø - Practical social pedagogy

PRACTICAL SOCIAL PEDAGOGY

Theories, values and tools for working
with children and young people

Jan Stor

First published in Great Britain in 2013 by

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The Policy Press 2013

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ISBN 978 1 44730 539 2 paperback
ISBN 978 1 44730 538 5 hardcover

The right of Jan Stor to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act.

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Readers Guide

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It may be useful for the reader to know something about my starting point for writing this book, as it affects some of the more technical discussions I describe. As you read, you will see that social pedagogy straddles the domains of theory and practice. The practical part has one foot in various types of change-oriented and environmental, or milieu therapy with children and young people, while the other is immersed in the application of the law and in the administration of casework. I want to say something about my own position in these fields.

I worked for many years in the child welfare field, first and foremost in residential care. This places me more firmly in a practical than a theoretical domain. It is, therefore, not surprising that I write about the practising element of social pedagogy, as this is where my main experience lies. However, over the past few years, my interest in understanding what is happening on a higher theoretical level has increased. This led to a Masters degree in social work, and subsequently to a teaching position as associate professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences at Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences. That makes me a practitioner who has directed his gaze towards the theoretical field, towards academia. I have experienced the inherent duality of social pedagogy as a professional field.

The other particular feature of my experience is that I have worked far more in residential care where I have encountered children and young people struggling with their lives than I have been involved in the administration of casework. My version of practical social pedagogy is, therefore, more oriented towards change-oriented and milieu work than towards the child welfare pedagogues casework in the child welfare services. I have, of course, tried to take this into consideration while writing, so that the book does not end up dealing only with milieu work.

During the work on the book, I used both books and articles and a fundamental understanding gained through contact over many years with two of my professional mentors: Erik Grnvold and Erik Larsen. I have used Erik Grnvold as a conversation partner during the work on the book, and he has generously shared his knowledge of social pedagogy with me during our many discussions. I have also learnt a lot from teaching alongside him. Erik Larsen is mostly represented in the book through my use of some of his professional ideas as expressed in his books and articles, but also through our conversations. Erik Larsen has a psychological eye on the work with children and young people, and he writes mostly about milieu therapy. I have, in other words, pulled out elements of this thinking and used them as building blocks in my own attempt at describing a pedagogically oriented practice. I am wholly responsible for such use. A big thank you to Erik and Erik.

Some of the material has been developed in dialogue with Jan Tesli Stokke in connection with our seminars for institution personnel in North West Russia over several years. I have learnt a lot about social pedagogy through this, and am grateful both to him and the seminar participants.

As I have included much of my own experience in the material, I ought to mention two of my previous workplaces: Frydenberg Residential Youth Centre in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and Grepperd Child Welfare Centre in the 1990s. These two in particular have been my arenas of experience.

Many people deserve thanks for their help with the writing process. My boss during the period when I started the work, the then Head of Studies se Broman, and my boss when I completed the work, Head of Studies Eva Bertling Herberg, have both contributed by generously allowing me to make time for writing. The Norwegian Union of Social Educators and Social Workers (FO) has provided me with a grant in order to finance the writing period, as did my previous employer, the Department of Social Work at Oslo University College. These two sources of finance have been vital in order to complete the book.

Several people have read through parts or all of the manuscript in order to give feedback, corrections and advice. Such help is invaluable to an author. Anne Jansen and Erik Grnvold, in particular, have contributed much excellent input and many discussions. Benny Lihme has also read my material, and his feedback has been very useful. In addition, Stein Himsett, Amelie Fougner and se Broman have provided excellent contributions after reading different versions of the manuscript along the way. It has also given me great pleasure to read parts of Roger Mathiesens own manuscript (Mathiesen, 2008), and have discussions with him.

Moss/Oslo

updated 10 December 2012

JS