Degree programme of social services students building social pedagogical expertise at Olopiste
Keywords:
social pedagogy, working life orientation, learning process, developmentAbstract
This text describes how social pedagogical work is implemented in the Olopiste - balanced everyday life project managed by Harjula Settlementti ry. It also describes the learning possibilities that have been offered to Degree Programme of Social Services students in LAB University of Applied Sciences’ to build their own social pedagogical expertise and operational competence as a dialogue of practice and theory in a real working environment.
The text describes the implementation of an alternative learning task integrated into working life in the Social Inclusion course in the academic year 2020–2021.
The learning task was carried out as a pair task and included an introduction to the theory of the course and two working days at Olopiste. The text examines how the students’ social pedagogical competence started to build under the guidance of a learning task.
At the end of the course, students produced a reflection combining theory and practice, which in this practice description is structured according to Madsen’s model of social pedagogical operational competence. On the basis of the reflections, a key
observation was that the students got a foundation for building social pedagogical expertise. The collaboration of teachers and coaches played a significant role in carrying out the learning task and guiding the students.
As a low-threshold place, Olopiste offered safe learning opportunities for earlystage students. The alternative learning task supported student participation and human agency. The feedback from students on the learning process was versatile
and provided teachers and coaches with an understanding of the different learning
processes of students.
