Social Pedagogy
In order to thrive, we all need good people around us, a safe place to be, and purpose in life. A home is made of people. In our case, it’s the children who live here and the adults who look after them. Every adult has their own style of parenting, often influenced by their own upbringing. This can be conscious or unconscious, which is why it’s important for everyone to have a clear understanding of, and to sign up to, the ethos and values of the home, as well as the Social Pedagogy approach. Social Pedagogy sees each individual child as a ‘diamond’ with their own personal value, and identifies four key aims that help children to thrive: well-being and happiness, holistic learning, relationships, and empowerment.
The Diamond Model
Building trusting and authentic relationships with the people we support is very important in social pedagogy. Through relationships we can show individuals that we care, role model how they can have positive relationships with others, but also learn a lot about who they are. Without relationships we wouldn’t be able to really know a person, find out what they are thinking about and how they see the world. And without that we would not be able to help them, to support their development. After all, every person is unique, and we can only appreciate their uniqueness if we know them well, if we look for their hidden talents and find out what brings them joy or causes them sorrow. For people themselves, these relationships are also very important, and they want to know who we are as a person, not just what we do as a professional.
The Diamond Model is one of the most powerful concepts in social pedagogy, a values-led approach to relationship-cen tred practice that aims to support people to flourish and feel socially included. The metaphor of the diamond visualises its central underpinning principle: As human beings we are all precious and possess a wealth of skills, abilities, talents, knowledge and other resources that make us rich in very unique ways. There is a diamond within everyone of us. Not all diamonds are polished and sparkly, but all have the po tential to be. Similarly, every person has the potential to shine – and social pedagogy is about how we can support people to uncover and recognise their potential, to draw out their inner richness. This enables them to feel more re sourceful and empowered to create meaningful change in their lives. In facilitating these kinds of positive experi ences, social pedagogy has four core aims that are closely linked: well-being and happiness, holistic learning, rela tionship, and empowerment.