By Caitlyn Lehmann, SOON Editor, St Luke’s Innovative Resources

St Luke’s Innovative Resources

137 McCrae Street Bendigo

Victoria 3550 Australia

Ph: (03) 5442 0500 Fax: (03) 5442 0555

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email: info@innovativeresources.org

Website: www.innovativeresources.org

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www.innovativeresources.org

s e r i o u s ly o p t i m i s t i c o n l i n e n e w s l e t t e r

P u b l I s h e r s o f s t r e n g t h s - b a s e d r e s o u r c e s

In this issue:1 Just Across the Waters: Social Pedagogy (“...Social What?!”)2 SOON Giveaway3 In the Spotlight: What does normal look like? Tools for expressing hope and struggle in South East Asia5 Book Reviews5 Workshops and Conferences

To contribute to this newsletter email us: info@innovativeresources.org

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Every so often, we like to gaze out from the crow’s nest of the Good Ship Innovative Resources to ponder the future directions of human service work and education. One recent muse upon the briny brought to our attention the growing interest in social pedagogy. In the UK, official and public concerns about the failures of the children’s welfare system have prompted authorities to take a fresh look at alternative approaches. Social pedagogy, already well-established throughout Europe, has been one of these, attracting UK practitioners with its holistic model of care. In the last handful of years, the first specialist degrees in social pedagogy have been launched by universities there—and where Britain goes, so, too, often enough, Australia follows.

So let’s spin the wheel hard to starboard and a take a closer look at this not-so-new approach. What is this rather awkward-sounding ‘Social Pedagogy’? Well, it is often described as ‘education in the broadest sense.’ It’s an approach that stresses the upbringing of children as the shared responsibility of parents and society, and recognises that children’s care requires something more than simply meeting children’s biological and psychological needs. You might say it’s about offering children quality of life, rather than just the bare essentials needed to get by in our society.

In English, of course, ‘pedagogy’ is usually—narrowly—defined as the ‘science of teaching and learning’. Ask the experts, and they’ll tell you that social pedagogy is problematic precisely because, as a concept, it doesn’t translate neatly into English. Being a ‘social

pedagogue’ is somewhere between being a child’s teacher and carer. It’s the person who takes responsibility for supporting a child’s overall development, and who does so by building a meaningful relationship with the child and valuing the contributions of family members, other professionals and the wider community.

Partly because of this, social pedagogy has often been regarded as a model best suited to the care of children in residential settings. Here in Australia, the approach has sometimes been dismissed because of our alternative emphasis on foster care. These days, however, a growing pool of research is highlighting social pedagogy’s relevance and benefits to both forms of care. Indeed, with its stress on relationships, inclusiveness, and entwined care and education, social pedagogy has its attractions for professionals across a broad range of disciplines.

Just Across the Waters:

Social Pedagogy (“...Social What?!”)

Theme of this issue:

Social Pedagogy

2 Without a sense of caring, there can be no sense of community.Anthony J. D’Angelo

Russell’s BlogBouncing ForwardOur worlds are populated by politicians and spin-doctors, all of whom have a vested interest in grabbing a word and injecting it with particular meaning.Some years ago one such word was resilience. I have always used resilience as a synonym for bounce back and in common usage I think this is the meaning that most people would recognise. But recently I heard the story of an athlete who was involved in a horrific accident that left his body shattered. There is no way he could ever bounce back to what he was before his accident. And so he began seeking a new definition for the resilience he needed. And he coined the term bouncing forward.What are the buzz words in your organisation today? And what do you talk about resilience? Hit our blog to read Russell’s musings on the hot words of contemporary practice—and how we might think about the future with bounce!http://blog.innovativeresources.org

From previous page…

For teachers in our schools, who face daily conflicts between their roles as carers and educators of children, social pedagogy not only recognises, but values, the essential contribution teachers make to the ‘bringing up’ of children. In an era when the scale of public education is trending ever upwards—with massed classes of 100+ students—the principles of social pedagogy may be seen to support teachers calling for the reform of our ‘crowd control’ classrooms. The approach restores emphasis to the significant relationships teachers build with children and the importance of listening and communicating with children as individuals, as well as in groups.

Right here at St Luke’s Innovative Resources, we can’t help noticing the parallels between the principles of social pedagogy and those of the strengths-based approach that underpins our publishing. Both recognise that children and staff inhabit the same ‘lifespace’ rather than separate hierarchical domains. As we might say in strengths-based parlance, the emphasis is on ‘power with’ rather than ‘power over’. There are also striking similarities between the role of the social pedagogue and the role of the adult supporter described in our admired publication by Ben Furman, Kids Skills—but then perhaps that’s not a surprise: just like social pedagogy, the Kids’ Skills method hails from Europe (Finland to be precise!).

So, will we soon hear the phase ‘social pedagogy’ bandied around staffrooms and board meetings? Will we hear people debating the pronunciation of ‘pedagogy’ with a hard or soft ‘g’? (Our dictionary says either is fine.) Just possibly maybe. And if does happen, you’ll find our resources, like Change by Design and Name the Frame, ideal for helping your organisation deal with the necessary changes to policy and practice. You’ll also find our card sets, from the bubbly Wonderful You to the ever-popular Strength Cards, absolutely perfect for any activity in which the priorities of care and education come together.

Look up in the air! It’s a bird, it’s a plane…No! It’s a copy of Choosing Strengths winging its way to a lucky winner!!There were some fabulous entries for last issue’s SOON Giveaway. Thank you to everyone who entered—you included psychologists, housing workers, mental health workers and parenting support workers among others. And the winner is... Lesley Heinrich from South Australia! Here’s what she wrote:

I’m a Christian Pastoral Support Worker (Chaplain) at an R-12+ school for around 70 children and young people with intellectual disabilities. The students have a range of disabilities such as autism, Down syndrome and cerebral palsy. They face challenges every day and some struggle to do things that we all take for granted such as walking, talking and even eating. We find that a lot of our students begin to struggle emotionally as they enter their teenage years and become aware of their disabilities. They begin to understand that their lives may be very different from their peers, they may not be able to get

a job without support, or drive a car, or live independently. We have a high rate of depression and anxiety amongst our teenagers. I would use the Choosing Strengths cards in small groups to help students to understand that they do have choices; that they do not have to be defined by their disability, that they do have some control over their lives and how the choices they make every day can make a difference to their quality of life.Well done, Lesley. We hope Choosing Strengths inspires and excites the special young people you work with.

In English, of course, ‘pedagogy’ is usually—narrowly—defined as the ‘science of teaching and learning’.

In theSpotlight

3students don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.Anonymous

Most of the students at Arndell Anglican College (NSW) know Julie Nixon as their school counsellor. But what they mightn’t know is that there’s another, very different side to Julie’s life. Their unassuming school counsellor is also an intrepid humanitarian aid worker, who’s been regularly visiting hotspots in South East Asia for the past eight years.Just last year, Julie returned to this diverse, vibrant, yet sometimes hazardous part of the world. Working with the American aid agency Project AK-47, Julie has had the opportunity to see firsthand the impacts of political tensions and simmering military conflicts in the region. During October, she was in touch with colleagues who have been involved in the rescue of child soldiers. Over the past two decades, some 300,000 children aged between 4 and 16 have been

forcibly drafted into armed groups in the region. Some of the lucky few to be rescued now live in children’s homes where staff address their physical, educational and emotional needs, and support the children’s recovery from trauma.

Based at a farm that produces dairy products and cheeses, Julie, officially, was on the ground to advise on local agricultural techniques. Unofficially, her role was to train the leaders of nearby children’s homes in child development and trauma management. Many of the children in the homes present trauma-related issues such as bedwetting, anger, fidgeting and anxiety. As Julie explains, the question she faces with the home leaders is ‘What does normal look like?’ for children brutalised by captivity and combat.

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In one exercise, Julie invited the staff to select cards from The Kangas to express their feelings about who they are and how they contribute to their communities.

These photos were sent in by one of Innovative Resources’ longtime supporters. For security reasons, we can’t name the country where they were taken. But we can tell you something about the work of the woman who took them. Caitlyn Lehmann reports…

Tools for expressing hope and struggle in South East Asia

What does normal look like?

Making matters more complex, staff in the homes often battle with instability and difficulties in their own lives. Julie observes that many have poor problem-solving skills and struggle to support each other in their efforts. In one exercise, Julie invited the staff to select cards from The Kangas to express their feelings about who they are and how they contribute to their communities. They were encouraged to identify their supporters and loved ones and reflect positively on what they bring to their relationships with others.After hearing about this deeply challenging aspect of her work, it came as a surprise to learn that Julie’s other volunteer activity was marriage counselling. I was slightly taken aback and asked Julie if divorce was out of the question for local people. It isn’t—but a number of couples were keen to work on their relationships by participating in a marriage group, just like plenty of couples in western societies. Working through a translator, Julie invited the couples to place objects representing their marriage on a piece of blue paper—an adaption of the classic sandtray therapy exercise. The objects chosen by one pair were potently symbolic: a striking cobra, a knight and a tiger to represent the moments when the relationship deteriorated into verbal and physical violence. Julie also produced The Kangas to help the couples express how they felt about their relationships.

No words were needed to convey the frustration and sadness the couples felt. Later, during private counselling, one of the wives described herself as a woman reduced to a ‘screaming wreck’. As a westerner, and an Aussie at that, Julie was aware of being perceived as an unusually approachable person. People felt safe to disclose feelings and experiences to her that might otherwise have become the stuff of local gossip. And being an Australian often earns her a warmer welcome than her American counterparts—when she visited Sri Lanka in 2008, the rescued child soldiers were delighted when they discovered she could play cricket! Julie has found Innovative Resources’ card sets ideal for cutting across language barriers. Interestingly, she also prefers to work with the two new mini-sets, The Kangas and The Koalas, rather than larger card sets like The Bears, Koala Company and Stones …have feelings too!

The mini-sets were ‘incredibly useful’ for her work with couples and the children’s homes leaders. Even allowing for translation difficulties, many of the people she encountered struggled to articulate feelings and only had a very basic emotional vocabulary to draw on. The mini-sets offered a less complex range of emotions for people to choose from—and since they’re no bigger than playing cards, they’re perfectly small and light to carry!As Julie acknowledges, her work is as much concerned with teaching emotional literacy as it is with providing training or helping others confront personal challenges. ‘The cards have been a gift in helping,’ she affirms. And invariably they are snapped up by local people or her co-workers long before she packs her bags to come home!

From previous page…

To find out more about the work being done by Project AK-45, visit the website: www.projectak47.com

Have we been addled by the autumn air? Have we gone bonkers in Bendigo? Yes, we have!!During the merry month of May, all our sticker packs are half price, including our Bundle of Stickers and Kids’ Bundle of Stickers. Make no mistake, we’re telling you to stick it!Parents, teachers, counsellors and trainers: nab this moment to top up your sticker reserves and prepare to celebrate the mid-year achievements of your children, friends and colleagues!

children are like wet cement, whatever falls on them makes an impression.Haim Ginott4

Bundle of Stickers Bundle of Stickers for Kids

Mad May

This two-day symposium is for any human service worker interested in challenging and extending their understanding of what it is to work from a strengths perspective.

The symposium will look at the range of approaches that reflect commitment to the creation of respectful, just and collaborative contexts for human service work. These include solution-focused and narrative approaches, as well as community building and Appreciative Inquiry.

Join us in honouring the unique benefits and contributions of these diverse approaches while identifying key points of difference and tension between them. The facilitators will also highlight the opportunities and challenges that these diverse theoretical traditions pose for contemporary welfare and community service contexts.

In particular, we’ll explore what distinguishes these approaches from other mainstream practice models, and what they offer in the face of pressure to embrace alternative treatment models that may be seen as pathologising, manualised and empirically-supported.

Symposium participants will also have the opportunity to consider how strengths-orientated methods can incorporate the best ideas from other emerging or established approaches such as positive psychology, resilience, wellness, trauma-informed practice and neuropsychology.

David Lees and Paul Montgomery are Brisbane-based social workers who share a commitment to the development of collaborative, optimistic and socially-just approaches to human service and community work. Having worked together in a wide variety of practice settings, they love to facilitate generative conversations with other ‘fellow travellers’.

For the past twenty years or so they have been leaders in the roll out of practice models across Australia and New Zealand that reflect this commitment to strengths-based, solution-focused and narrative approaches, and Appreciative Inquiry. They have recently formed a company called Unique Outcomes, which provides a range of services inspired by these traditions.

Working with Strengths: Testing the Boundaries

Dates: April 29 and 30Times: 9.00 to 3.00 each dayLocation: Bendigo Regional Institute of TAFE, McCrae St, Bendigo, 3550 (opposite Innovative Resources)Cost: $450

Innovative resources is a not-for-profit publisher and bookseller; all sales support the children, youth, family and community services provided by st luke’s anglicare.

BookReview

Communication Skills for Working with Children and Young People

Social Pedagogy and Working with Children and Young People

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the theory, principles and practice of social pedagogy and the profession of social pedagogue. With chapters from leading international contributors, it outlines the roots of social pedagogy and its development in Europe, and its role in relation to individuals, groups, communities and societies.This seminal text covers how social pedagogy applies in practice to working with children and young people in a variety of settings, including children in care and in need of family support, and its potential future applications. Whether your organisation has a focus on social pedagogy or not, this publication will answer many of your questions about the approach, and is an ideal text for all academics, researchers and practitioners working with children.

By Claire Cameron and Peter MossJessica Kingsley Publishers, 2011

Cat No. 8619 Price: $43.95 (Softcover, 221 pages)

Relationships are at the heart of all work with children and young people, whatever the setting—early years, fostering, school or children’s residential care. This practical guide shows you how to build relationships by communicating effectively with children and other adults, using the ideas of social pedagogy. The book covers both verbal and non-verbal communication, empathy, working with conflict and working in groups. It shows how you can communicate holistically by using your head, hands and heart, and how you can recognise the emotional, cognitive and practical needs of the child.Petrie’s book demonstrates how to distinguish the personal, the professional and the private in your work and her text can be used by individuals and groups. With exercises, topics for personal reflection or group discussion, and suggestions for observations, this book is an excellent source of advice and ideas for all those in the children’s workforce.

By Pat PetrieJessica Kingsley Publishers, 2011.

Cat No. 8618 Price: $26.95 (Softcover, 176 pages)

Symposium IISYMPOSIuM II

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