by Kieron Hatton
This introductory text: discusses the development of social pedagogy as
an academic discipline; explores its influence on UK debates about
welfare practice. It provides the theoretical structure for
understanding: the potential of social pedagogy in UK welfare practice;
how key ideas from within social pedagogy can be linked to ideas of
inclusion, creativity and personalisation; the impact of power relations
on the social pedagogic relationship; the importance of creativity in
building inclusive practice. Focusing on practice situations within
which social pedagogy can be seen to be effective, it: provides a
background to the introduction of social pedagogy in the UK;
investigates how European and UK services could benefit from a better
mutual understanding of what each other does; discusses how social
pedagogy can contribute to other areas of practice including youth work,
adult social care and community development; suggests ways in which
social pedagogy can be adopted to a wider field of practice than those
in which it is currently considered in the UK
