Social Pedagogy in Education: Re-establishing Relationships and Enriching Learner Experience

by Carla Solvason (Editor), Nicola Stobbs (Editor), Geoffrey Elliott (Editor)

Overview

This book, written by educators with a wealth of expertise across all age phases, provides an accessible, informative and thought-provoking exploration of how practitioners might place the human-centred values of social pedagogy at the heart of their own education and care practice to enrich and transform the learning experience.

A clear overview of why and how the underpinning principles of social pedagogy can benefit both the learner and the educator is provided, and answers to current educational challenges are offered. Chapters in the book cover topics including:

• supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities
• working with marginalised families and communities
• tackling bias in higher education
• alternative approaches to education leadership
• establishing relationships within an online environment

This book concludes by considering the value of social pedagogical approaches beyond the realm of education, in wider work with children and families. It discusses how this approach can build communities, offer hope and provide opportunities for all. Supplying a fresh and highly relevant perspective to help face the challenges in education today, this book will be key reading for policymakers, teachers and students in the field of education studies and beyond.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781032875552
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	09/30/2025
Series:	The Routledge Education Studies Series
Pages:	184
Product dimensions:	6.88(w) x 9.69(h) x (d)

About the Author

Carla Solvason, Nicola Stobbs and Geoffrey Elliott are all based at the University of Worcester. They have always had an interest in more human-centred approaches to education, illustrated by Carla and Geoffrey publishing Ethics in Education in 2023. Just prior to this, Nicola had embedded a social pedagogical approach within the BA Early Childhood in Society course that she led, and they established a Social Pedagogy Research Group at the university. This group has grown from strength to strength, and their seminal publication, A human approach to restructuring the education system: why schools in England need social pedagogy, published in the International Journal of Social Pedagogy, has been read by thousands of people keen to see educational change.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: The case for social pedagogy in education
Nicola Stobbs

Chapter 2: What does it mean to be a social pedagogue?
Jacqueline Hine and Amanda Sheehy

Chapter 3: Creating a nurturing environment in early childhood education and care, with a focus upon relationships, awe and wonder
Johanna Cliffe

Chapter 4: Adopting social pedagogical values to support children with SEND
Sue Baylis

Chapter 5: The potential of art to break down barriers and draw together
Kaytie Holdstock

Chapter 6: Harmony and connection: integrating social pedagogy with music education
Kate Howen

Chapter 7: Taking a social pedagogical approach to including Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities in a setting
Stacey Hodgkins

Chapter 8: Creativity and the common third: approaches in education
Nicola Watson and Rosemarie Hill

Chapter 9: Managing emotions and maintaining wellbeing as an empathic social pedagogue
Angela Hodgkins and Suzanne Allies

Chapter 10: Why college-based higher education needs social pedagogy
Olivia Storey and Geoffrey Elliott

Chapter 11: A social pedagogical approach to tackling social-class bias in higher education
Raquel Labella Jara

Chapter 12: Building relationships within blended learning
Samantha Sutton-Tsang

Chapter 13: A head, heart and hands approach to collaborative mentoring
Yvonne Cashmore and Margaret Tildesley

Chapter 14: Leadership: not a role but a way of being
Shaun McInerney and Emma Laurence

Chapter 15: Accepting relationships and emotions in research
Carla Solvason

Chapter 16: The next chapter
Stuart Gallagher