Sosiaalipedagogiikka

“TELL THEM WE ARE HUMAN BEINGS”

Anu Koskinen — 2024-12-08

This article deals with higher art education of community arts in prisons – like visual arts, music or performing arts. I also use shorthand term “prison arts”. Prison arts are often considered valuable. This working field is also challenging and lonely for artists, which makes it meaningful to develop the education of prison arts. The research question is: what kind of higher arts education gives the students readiness for community arts made in prisons? This article is based on my background as an artist, an art pedagogue and a researcher in several prisons. The frame of reference is embedded in studies of community arts, art pedagogy and social pedagogy. I have collected data in context of more extensive artistic action research by participatory observing and interviews. I started the analyzing of the data by inductive content analysis. I have also utilized a concept of relationality in analysis. As the results I introduce and analyze following themes: the knowledge of context, shared artistic activity and ethical questions of making and teaching prison arts. On the basis of the results I make recommendations which can be utilized for example in different graduate programs or continuing training when the aim is to familiarize with prison art.

CREATIVITY, CHAOS AND OBJECTS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF DIALOGICAL EDUCATION

Teemu Nikkola — 2024-12-08

Children’s creative potential can be considered a prerequisite for their possibilities to participate in the building of the shared cultural content. The learning environment of the early childhood education and care has an effect both to the children’s possibilities to grow to their creative potential and to their possibilities to participate. The purpose of this article is to study how children’s measured creative thinking skills, i.e. creative potential relate to the learning environment evaluated by personnel. Children’s creative thinking skills are measured using The Thinking Creatively in Action and Movement test (TCAM) and learning environment are measured using the Progressive Feedback Learning Environment Evaluation tool evaluated by staff. The research is part of the Progressive Feedback Research and Development Project (Reunamo 2024). The study involved 280 children in 23 kindergarten or preschool groups. The connections between the TCAM test and the Learning Environment Evaluation were studied with partial correlations. Four sum variables were formed from the variables in the learning environment according to Reunamo’s Orientation theory, the sum variables being Harmony, Possibility, Object and Chaos. There was a negative connection between children’s creative potential and Object and a positive connection between creative potential and Chaos. According to the results, in early childhood education and care it is necessary to have a discussion about values, whether the goals of early childhood education make it possible to consider and respond to children’s initiatives or whether the goals are goals in themselves.

RELEVANCE OF EXPERTS-BY-EXPERIENCE FOR TEACHING AT UNIVERSITIES OF APPLIED SCIENCES

Tiina Putkuri — 2024-12-08

Participation of experts-by-experience in teaching at Universities of Applied Sciences is quite common but not systematic. Previous research concerning the subject is scarce. This qualitative study aimed to investigate lecturers’ views on the meanings of the participation of experts-by-experience in teaching at Universities of Applied Sciences and to interpret these meanings from the perspective of dialogue. The theoretical framework of the study consisted of the social-pedagogical concept of dialogue. The data was collected through three focus group interviews involving a total of 12 social and healthcare senior lecturers working in one University of Applied Sciences. The data was analyzed using content analysis.

According to the views of the lecturers, the participation of experts-by-experience in teaching at Universities of Applied Science had both personal and pedagogical meanings. Personal meanings of participation were identified for students, teachers, and the experts-by-experience themselves. Pedagogical meanings of participation were, according to the interviewees, from both the student’s perspective on learning and the teacher’s perspective on teaching. The results of the study indicate that the participation of experts-by experience in social and healthcare education is significant for the substantive competence of future professionals as well as for their ethical competence. It provides opportunities to strengthen dialogical I Thou relationships, enhance understanding of phenomena, others, and oneself, and develop skills needed in the workplace for collaborating with experts-by-experience.

RESOURCES AND DEMANDS

Minna Rauas — 2024-12-08

Youth work operates in close interaction with young people. In this article, I examine the perspectives of youth workers on the impact that the youth they encounter at work and youth on occupational well being in 2020s youth work. I explore this from a social pedagogical perspective and as part of professional well-being. In the analysis, I utilize the JD-R model of well-being at work, where well-being is viewed from the perspective of job demands and job resources. Based on my analysis, factors that strengthen resources include young people as the starting point of the work, their progress, and feedback received from them. Job demands are increased by expectations of integrating young people into society, working with increasingly youth, and the pressure of changes affecting young people. In the article, I argue that the demand factors in youth work undermine occupational well-being, disrupt the effort to adapt tasks to the needs of young people, and challenge the positive perspective on youth. Youth work should reinforce educational objectives alongside the demands, viewing young people as a resource and supporting youth work as a means of emancipation.

Pedagogical recognition in the activities of the skateboarding school

Raisa Foster — 2024-12-08

This practical description examines the activities of the Tampere Skateboarding School in dialogue with the Pedagogy of Recognition. The activities of the Skateboarding School include weekly hobby group sessions, summer camps, and various events. The description combines internal and external understandings of the practices: the discussions about the activities involve a social pedagogy researcher who has formulated the theory of pedagogical recognition, together with the head instructor of the skateboarding school and the executive director of the organizing association. The researcher examines their experiences from the perspective of a parent of a child who skateboards; the instructor and executive director describe the activities through their professional observations and reflections. Based on shared understanding, they conclude that the activities of the skateboarding school exhibit characteristics of pedagogical recognition. Firstly, the emphasis on informal experimentation during the sessions provides space for learners' insights and recognition as identification of everyone's unique skills. Secondly, in skateboarding, capturing and being captured skateboarding through a camera can support the development of learners' self-expression and self-recognition. Thirdly, touch and holding hands demonstrate care, creating a space of mutual recognition between learners and instructors. Trusting and open interaction strengthen the cycle of positive learning. In a polarized and complex world – which is also interdependent and full of countless possibilities – a pedagogy that promotes equity and justice is needed to empower individuals and communities.

Sosiaalipedagogiikan teoria hevostoiminnassa

Juha Hämäläinen — 2024-12-08

Lectio praecursoria

Teijo Räsänen — 2024-12-08

Ikämiehille hyvinvointia kulttuurista (IHKU) -hankkeen Velmut-toiminta sosiaalipedagogisen työotteen näkökulmasta

Teija Makkonen — 2024-12-08

In this practice description, we examine North Karelian Society for Social Security’s Ikämiehille hyvinvointia kulttuurista (IHKU) project and its Velmut group activity within the context of theoretical analysis of social pedagogical working approach. Financed with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health’s, the project’s goal is to develop new kinds of operational models for utilising culture in a way that helps decrease the sense of loneliness experienced by older men while promoting their quality of life through means of cultural well-being. The characteristics of the social pedagogical approach to work help analyse Velmut activity from a theoretical standpoint. The practice description acts as a template for a to-do-list which can then be utilised in the design and evaluation of social-pedagogically oriented activities.

Ajattelun puolustus

Sanna Ryynänen — 2024-12-08

Planetaarinen sosiaalipedagogiikka ihmisenä kasvamisen ja yhteiskunnan uudistumisen vauhdittajana

Erkka Laininen — 2024-12-08

Since the early days of the discipline, the mission of social pedagogy has been to nurture the potential for well-being at the individual, community and societal levels. In today’s society, well-being is sought in a way that fails to recognize the fundamental entanglement between human life and non-human nature. The need to change the ways in which well-being is pursued is becoming a question of human destiny, which is also reflected in social pedagogy. The emerging ecosocial orientation of social pedagogy recognises the interweaving of ecological and social issues. It seeks solutions for building a more sustainable way of life not only at the individual, community and societal levels, but also at the levels of humanity and the planet. In this review, we explore how planetary social pedagogy broadens the goals and practices of social pedagogy towards embracing a more integrated and harmonious relationship with the world, towards adopting co-creative learning and towards strengthening planetary agency. We do this through a practical example from the Lapland University of Applied Sciences Master’s programme. Our example shows how a transformative approach manifests itself in the practice of social pedagogy. Alongside knowledge-based learning, emphasis is placed on a contemplative learning approach, where consciousness, senses and embodiment are used to produce relational experiences. It can be used to guide individuals and communities to experience the spatial, temporal and ethical interconnections of everyday life with the world, and to support their growth into a sense of belonging to the world and towards a planetary citizenship that strengthens hope for the future.

Sosiaalipedagogiikka hyvinvoinnin ja kestävän elämän edistäjänä

Maria Huhmarniemi — 2024-12-08

Ekososiaalisia kriisikertomuksia

Raisa Foster — 2024-12-08

Sodan pauloissa: Militarismi suomalaisessa yhteiskunnassa (toim. Susanna Hast & Noora Kotilainen) on ajankohtainen ja varsin kattavasti eri tieteenalojen tutkimukseen perustuva kokoelmateos, joka tarjoaa kriittisiä näkökulmia militarismiin ja sen moninaisiin vaikutuksiin erityisesti suomalaisessa yhteiskunnassa. Kriittinen militarismitutkimus on jo vakiintunut tutkimusala Yhdysvalloissa ja muualla Euroopassa; Suomessa alan tutkimusta on tehty vasta vähän. Kirja on jaettu kolmeen pääosioon: Militarismi ja militarisaatio, Asevoimien normit ja sotilaallinen toiminta sekä Posthumaani sota ja arjen militarisaatio. Teoksessa on yhteensä 20 kirjoittajalta 18 esseetä, jotka käsittelevät muun muassa sotilaallisia instituutioita, asevoimien sukupuolinormeja ja arkielämän militarisaatiota, mutta myös militarismin, ympäristön, ihmisen ja toislajisten eläinten suhdetta. Kirjassa osoitetaan teoreettisten tarkasteluiden ja konkreettisten esimerkkien kautta, kuinka sotilaalliset arvot vaikuttavat syvästi yhteiskunnassamme, ei vain politiikassa vaan myös arjen käytännöissä ja tunteiden tasolla. Toimittajien mukaan kirjan tarkoituksena on tarjota militaristisille kehityskuluille myös vaihtoehtoisia näkökulmia ja herättää vuoropuhelua niin tutkijoiden kesken kuin laajemminkin yhteiskunnassa. Militarismin vaikutusten ymmärtäminen ja purkaminen on tärkeätä, kun halutaan löytää pedagogisia keinoja tukea sosiaalista integraatiota, yhteisöllisyyttä ja rauhaa erityisesti monimutkaisten sosiaalisten ja ekologisten kriisien ajassa.