Planetaarinen sosiaalipedagogiikka ihmisenä kasvamisen ja yhteiskunnan uudistumisen vauhdittajana
Keywords:
sustainable future, social pedagogical work, transformative learning, planetary social pedagogyAbstract
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.
