Professional Childcare: Restorative and Reparative Parenting

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Gary Pickering 20042188                 Foundation Degree: Child Centred and Therapeutic Practice

CYCC51 Professional Childcare: Restorative and Reparative Parenting

This assignment is split into two sections, each essay focusing on restorative and reparative parenting. In the first part of the essay I will investigate the Social Pedagogy. The second part of the essay will focus on relational practice and why relationships are important in childcare (through Hennessey).

Part 1 – The Social Pedagogy - Explore your understanding of ‘social pedagogy’ in relation to your own practice setting.  Discuss the ways in which this might provide a useful basis (or not) for enhancing your own practice interventions (2000 words)

Much of the knowledge I display in this assignment has come from speaking with a social pedagogue whom I work closely with inside my organisation, she took time to explain how Social Pedagogy is a mind-set, a way of thinking or an ethos rather than just a routine or procedure to be followed and I will discuss this further on in my essay.  I will look at some of the key principles that relate to my job working in a residential children's home and how some have been implemented recently. I will discuss some of the problems or tensions that arose when this process began and try to find resolutions to some of these. I will then look at social pedagogy in an educational setting such as school and discuss some of the principles which I believe would be problematic if were introduced into British mainstream schools.

It is thought that ‘Sozial pädagogik’ (in its original form) was first used around the middle of the nineteenth century in Germany. It was an alternative to the dominant models of schooling that were common back then. However, by the second half of the twentieth century social pedagogy became increasingly associated with social work in a number of European countries. Social Pedagogy has emigrated from mainland Europe into British childcare and is starting to be analysed and implemented by many practitioners across the continent. Although many of the principles that social pedagogy follows are rated highly by those in the profession there are question marks surrounding whether social pedagogy could be successfully transferred into British society and culture. Social pedagogues have a child centred approach and focus on a young person as a whole in regards to overall development. They promote active social engagement both within the community and within a house hold.

“In the continental European social pedagogic tradition, residential provision for children and young people was and is for the most part concerned with integration into society, both through skills and formal knowledge, as well as being a living example of participative democracies” (Cameron et al, 2011: 14)

This means that rather than just living with a young person or group of young people they constantly engage them in activities and interact with them whenever possible. They believe that relationships are key to their practice as do I. In my opinion without a relationship being established between carer and young person it becomes very hard to positively interact with troubled or challenging young people. By having positive relationships with the young people you care for this enables them to begin to trust you enough to listen and engage with what you are practicing; whether it be upholding a boundary or teaching them a developmental lesson such as how to deal with transitions in their life.

The sense of safety and security afforded by close relationships with teachers provides children with a steady footing to support them through developmental challenges.”  (Zeller, Date unknown)

Social pedagogues believe that adults should live with the young people or “inhabit the same life space” (Cameron and Moss, 2011: 9) I interpret this as being present in or feeling the emotion of the milieu that is present throughout the young person’s day - Carers should be constants in their life. This contradicts some practices within the UK where carers work eight hour shifts for example. In an ideal world they would want carers to live with young people 24/7 and share every experience throughout every day. As this is not a realistic expectation (with the exception to foster care) they would believe that carers should spend 24 hours a time with a young person and on a consistent basis.

“A frequent comment from the social pedagogues was that in order to offer a normative homely presence, called, in social pedagogic terms, ‘being there’, they had to work to a schedule that offered the young people predictability and reliability.” (Cameron et al, 2011: 30)

Social pedagogues believe that group living is positive as it teaches many things such as living with others and it also promotes social interaction.

“… groupwork provides a context in which individuals help each other; it is a method of helping groups as well as helping individuals; and it can enable individuals and groups to influence and change personal, group, organizational and community problems.” (Brown 1992: 8, cited in Smith, 2009))

 There is a big emphasis on simple group activities such as meal times. Many of these are simple things which are easy to implement within a residential setting and some are even in place in the setting I work in now. My organisation has recently changed to 24 hour shifts. This means entering the home at 10am and leaving at 10am the next day. We are already seeing benefits from this as it provides fewer distractions and interruptions to the day from the perspective of a young person. Once an adult is on shift they do everything inside that 24 hour period alongside the young people such as: waking up YP’s on a morning, preparing them for school, eating lunch with YP’s, traveling with the young people, preparing and eating dinner with the young people, evening activities, washing, cleaning and settling the young people to bed. Because this is all done by the same adult/s throughout the day it gives the young person a chance to build a bond for that specific day. They can experience the difficulties and enjoyable times together which shows young people that, as adults we can relate to their experiences. This has not always been the case and is not the case in many care homes across the country. Some work for 8 hours and change over and others work even shorter or more inconsistent timings. This can only have a negative effect in comparison to the settled day promoted by therapeutic and social pedagogic environments.

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It is not just the way in which the social pedagogues work that is different to that of many homes within the United Kingdom. Their whole outlook on childcare as a profession and inside a workplace is different. There is a huge emphasis on reflection and learning from experiences for working with young people.

“More time was said to be needed for reflection during handovers in order to help staff relate theory to practice.” (Cameron et al, 2011: 9) 

To help this they have longer handovers than that of typical British children’s homes. They pick apart their days and discuss ...

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