Towards a pedagogy of social workIf you speak my name I vanish International Symposium on Conceptual

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Towards a pedagogy of social work If you speak
my name I vanish International Symposium on
Conceptualisations of Social and Educational Care
and Support

• 11/12/2009
• Maria Bouverne-De Bie Rudi Roose
• Ghent University
• Department of Social Welfare Studies

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A pedagogy of social work

• The master of social work at Ghent University
  (organised by the Ghent University association)
  has its historical roots in child protection
  research, embedded in a Faculty of Educational
  Sciences!
• Research showed the problem of a premium for
  offence having/giving problems led to social
  support so what with social equality?
• Led to broadening research to other fields youth
  work and youth policy, childrens rights, and
  later community work, parental support, primary
  care, forensic social work,
• Within a pedagogical framework
• But what kind of pedagogy?

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A pedagogy of social work

• A historical discussion
• Discussion between focus on individual change and
  social change until today at the centre of the
  social work discussion
• Richmond vs Addams as classic example
• Until today, this discussion has an impact on
  social work education and social work research
• E.g. dominance of choice for social work as
  individual work to gain more power the search
  for a strong and respected profession with a
  clear methodological framework!

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A pedagogy of social work

• Social pedagogy as conceptual ground for social
  work does not necessarily counters the search for
  a clear methodological identity of social work
• E.g. developments in the UK
• Social pedagogy in a framework of planned change
  social pedagogy as social education
• Focus on concepts as participation, empowerment,
  as methodological concepts
• The social pedagogue stays a technical pedagogue
• Focus on the solution of the given social
  problems
• (e.g. the evidence based paradigm)

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A pedagogy of social work

• Inspiration from Freire, Negt, Giesecke,
  (amongst many others)
• Social pedagogy not as a method but as a
  perspective on the relation between private and
  public sphere
• Social work not as technical solution but as an
  intervention
• With this intervention social work also defines
  situations as social work problems
• Key question
• How does social work defines the relation between
  the private and public sphere and how does this
  relate to social justice and human rights?

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A pedagogy of social work

• From reflective to reflexive social work
• The idea of reflectivity/reflexivity is a central
  concept in social work and social work education
• Reflectivity refers to self referential
  questions
• How can we do better what we do?
• Reflexivity refers to opening up questions on
  the points of departure of social work
• Do we have to do what we do?
• How does what we do refers to social justice and
  human dignity?

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A pedagogy of social work

• An impact on social work research and education
• A blurred identity
• Social work is not necessarily social work and
  other forms of care or not necessarily not social
  work
• A broad and open concept of social work
• the social in social work cannot be
  pre-structured (e.g. probation is not social
  work, youth work is not social work, child
  protection is for orthopedagogues, )

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A pedagogy of social work

• Research program the pedagogy of social work
• Not an implementation of social work but ongoing
  research what the social is or can/could be
• Looking for adequate questions
• The importance of social and historical analysis
• A synchronic instead of diachronic approach of
  research
• A critical movement towards the problem field