Social Constructionist Pedagogy

The International Conference of Humanities and Social Sciences Creativity, Imaginary, Language 2018 – Fifth edition, University of Craiova, Craiova, Romania (20180524-20180525). ”Language and creativity. Unaccompanied young refugees with experiences of war in institutional care in Sweden” (Keynote Speaker).

The purpose of the study is: 1) to analyse the narratives of young people who have experienced a war, fled to Sweden and been taken care of and placed in institutions, 2) to analyse the narratives of institution personnel about the day-to-day work of taking care of young people who have experienced war. The material used in the study has been gathered by means of interviews with young people in care with experiences of war, and interviews with personnel at HVB homes (residential or care homes) who work with these young people. The previous research shows that the social pedagogic perspective is one of the perspectives in social sciences that stresses the importance of including the individual in the community. The individual is given confirmation of his or her identity by participating in the community, and successful interaction between individuals is a fundamental prerequisite for the successful integration of unaccompanied children and young people in Sweden. Analysis of the study’s empirical material shows that there are major variations in what is expected of a social pedagogue in the work with unaccompanied young refugees with experiences of war in institutional care in Sweden. A common denominator is that the mission of a social pedagogue and the context in which the social pedagogue operates appears to be sufficiently flexible to enable an individual to play the role in a wide variety of ways. It is only when the individual social pedagogue adopts an active, assertive, independent, personal and relatively strong posture that he or she has a chance to be of importance to other professional categories and for the client. This means in practice that it is only when the individual social pedagogue transcends the expectations of the role presented above that he or she has a chance to be appreciated by other collaborators.

There currently exist two identifiable problems within the discourse of teamworking in management literature and healthcare practice. Firstly, there appears an oversimplified viewpoint on how beneficial teamworking is considered a panacea in curtailing organizational inefficiencies. Secondly, dominant within the literature are Western perspectives with less critical ethnographic underpinnings and specifically with limited implications of such views in other contexts. Also evident from within the body literature on teamworking discourse are overwhelming support for the benefits of this concept on one hand and on another are a dearth of critiques of teamworking discourse as a panacea for solving organizational problems. In this paper we disclose from a conceptual perspective and points out why the latter (criticisms of teamworking) appears to have not been taken notice of. We posit discursively from our encounter with the literature the claims for teamworking, the critiques and argue ...

2020 Social Pedagogy International Conference. Social Pedagogy and Social Education: Here and Now, Social Pedagogy Association; University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK; Arizona State University, Tempe, USA (20200616-20200618). ”Social pedagogy, ethnography, and theoretical sources of inspiration: Analysis of empirical sequences from the social pedagogical context in Sweden”. Goran Basic & Sophia Yakhlef.

Ethnographic studies are characterised by the researchers’ active pursuit to create a variation in the empirical material, which is necessary to discern and subsequently analyse social phenomena. For example, the researcher poses open questions that cannot be answered with a Yes or No answer during interviews and/or communicates with informants during fieldwork in order to stimulate narratives. Another way of creating variation in the empirical material is the collection and analysis of different types of qualitative empirical data, such as interviews, observations, documents, photos, videos, media reports, and blog communications. This study considers the analytical connections between social pedagogy, ethnographic methods, and interactionism with regards to human interaction through language, action, gesticulations, and documents influenced by a ethnomethodological perspective on human oral narratives. The analysis mainly relates to the discursive traditions within sociology and social pedagogy in which descriptions are regarded as both experience-based and narrative. The analysis is aided by empirical elements focused on the context of practical social and pedagogical work. Accounts of unaccompanied young refugees and young persons with drug- and crime-related problems are viewed as meaning-creating activities to be used in the development and improvement of social pedagogical activities important for including the individual in the community. The text accounts for the general analytical basis of ethnographic studies, with an emphasis on the various symbols used in interpersonal interactions, how individuals present themselves, and how individuals create and maintain their identities in the analysed contexts.

For generations, mainstream designed learning systems and literacy programs have been failing Aboriginal peoples. In 2009, an innovative holistic model was developed and implemented to address the complex issues and barriers facing on reserve and urban Aboriginal adult literacy learners.  The model includes three streams of learning 1) Community/Employment Connections; 2) Education/Literacy Development and 3) Self/Cultural Connections. The concepts "communities of attachment", "respectful enculturation" and "resiliency" link literacy, individual, family, and community within contemporary cultural contexts. The Good Minds model has been delivered in urban and on reserve environments six (6) times to over 70 learners since 2009 in 2 week to 6 week module segments.