reading

Chapter 13. Street-Level Outreach Work with Prostitutes: a Field of Social Pedagogy Practice in Denmark

13.3. “Outreach” work, “bridge-building” and social pedagogial “bridge-builders”

Chapter 14. Contact-Mindedness, Personality and the Residents' Contribution: an anthropological study of social pedagogy for adults with mental disability in group home facilities in Denmark

14.2. Social pedagogy in group homes is a complex field of social pedagogy action

14.4. With the resident’s personality or his/her disability in the centre of professionalism

Chapter 15. Social Pedagogy for Adult People with Physical Disabilities – from a Polish Perspective

15.4. The Friends of Integration Association as an example of socio-pedagogical activity

15.5. Promotion of the social and vocational integration of people with disabilities in society

Chapter 16. Gerontopedagogicalization:A critical approach to perform AGE in later life

Chapter 17. Social Pedagogy and Older People in France: Towards a Social Geragogy?

Chapter 18. Social Pedagogy and Old Age in Spain: the current situation and proposals for the future

Chapter 19. Social Pedagogues and their Education in Denmark: an analysis of educational thinking

19.6. The educational thinking in “Pædagoguddannelsen” as a Professional Bachelor

Chapter 20. Adult Education and Citizenhip/Social Mobilization: a Lifelong Learning Agenda for Social Pedagogy in Europe?

Chapter 21. Social Pedagogy in Latin America and Europe: looking for new answers to old questions

21.2.3. School education, non-formal education, social education, and social pedagogy

21.3. Social pedagogy and popular education in the Europe-Latin America dialogue: possible educations

21.3.1. Popular education and social pedagogy: A sustained dialogue, some concerns and shared questions

Chapter 23. Social Pedagogy as Social Paideia: the CUE (Care-Upbringing-Education) Model and its Applicability to the Entire Human Lifespan

Introduction to Volume II (Adult Life, Old Age, Perspectives)

"In terms of learning, all […] periods are propitious for developing and updating competences, and learning processes can be considered, maybe even more than in other life periods, as necessary to optimize life management in old age." (Dominique Kern, in Volume II, Chapter 18)

"Given that as human beings we find ourselves in a process of life-long education and training, social pedagogy is called upon to carry out an integrating function within the framework of permanent education." (Rosa Mª Rodríguez Izquierdo, in Volume II, Chapter 18)

"We are interested in the social. We feel that the recovery or reconstruction of the social may be the answer to many of the situations and issues that our societies now live." (Xavier Úcar, in Volume II, Chapter 21)

Social Pedagogy – Not only for the Young

With this book, we are entering into to the application of social pedagogy to work with various adult groups.

As the second volume of the two-volume publication Social Pedagogy for the Entire Lifespan, this book will show applications of social pedagogical theories and models to work with adults and older people, thereby challenging the widely held assumption that social pedagogy is, by definition, concerned with children and young people. Volume II will also present a number of texts dedicated to wider perspectives flowing from this realisation.

The theoretical foundations of this two-volume publication were already explained in detail in our Introduction to Volume I (Kornbeck & Rosendal Jensen, 2011). It is not the aim of this Introduction to Volume II to reiterate these arguments, merely to confirm that the applicability of social pedagogy – as an academic and professional paradigm – to work with the most diverse target populations, across the human lifespan, needs particular emphasis and special illustration in relation to work with adult and elderly age groups; for although such practice exists in some countries, literature referring to it as social pedagogical theory is scarce, and awareness is low, especially in the English-speaking countries, where social pedagogy cannot look back at a national tradition.

The latter point – the particular relevance of such books in English-speaking countries, and in particular in England and the United Kingdom right now – needs being emphasised in the light of developments observed, on the British book market, after the publication of Volume I, including an edited book on social pedagogy (Cameron & Moss, 2011) as well as the third edition of a social work text book, now re-oriented to focus theoretically upon social pedagogy (Petrie, 2011). Also in an English/British context, the year 2011 saw the publication of the final report from the Social Pedagogy Pilot programme (Cameron, et al., 2011). Although the current crisis makes it more difficult to find the means to implement such radical new changes (Cooper, 2011), the interest in learning about social pedagogy is undeniable. This also means that its applicability to work with other age groups than children and young people should be illustrated.

In terms of conceptual orientations, Volume II follows Volume I closely with its emphasis on illustrative value (chapters were selected to show what exists around Europe), pedagogical orientation (social pedagogy is not seen as a branch of social work, but as a paradigm grounded in education), practice orientation (not a rejection of theory, but an organising principle whereby the material presented follows practice, rather than theoretical notions) and lifespan orientation (applicability to all age groups) (Kornbeck & Rosendal Jensen, 2011).

Adult Life: Social Problems

Part Five includes one chapter, looking at adults with social problems. While social pedagogy in work with older people may have some notoriety in some countries (see the three Chapters 16-18 below), the social problems of adults constitute a relatively unknown practice field.

In Chapter 13, Claus Hegstrup, Jeannie Hegstrup, Niels Rosendal Jensen (Denmark) and Jacob Kornbeck (a Dane based in Belgium) take their point of departure in a well-known challenge: how social pedagogues work with prostitutes. Should they do such work at all? Or should they stay out and keep their fingers clean? Trafficking seems to be an ever growing business, and many political and popular reactions demand sharpened legislation, more police surveillance, efficient control and “returning” the “victims” to their origin country and putting the consumers behind bars. Since the depenalisation of prostitution was voted by the Danish Parliament in 1999, Denmark has chosen another way than the other Nordic countries, where purchase is banned, but the situation is far from clear. Social pedagogues may work as “outreach workers” trying to “build bridges” to persons (of both genders) involved in prostitution and offer them help. The chapter shows how this practice matches an understanding of social pedagogy and suggests points for future comparative, transnational research.

Adult Life: Disability

While still dealing with adults (as opposed to older people), the chapters in Part Six are centred upon disability, as seen in a Danish and a Polish perspective.

In Chapter 14, Annemarie Højmark (Denmark) draws on her research on disabled people living in group homes. As an anthropologist she presents “thick descriptions” and observes as close to practice as possible. As a result of her fieldwork the concept of “contact-mindedness” emerges, pointing to disabled residents’ (living in residential care units) will and wish to contact the professionals in various everyday situations. The chapter opens a wide field of reflections: should the intervention be done focusing on the resident’s resources or his/her disability? Presenting two distinct examples of professional action the author discusses how to meet the possible contributions of the residents as partners. An important point is to build such possibilities into practice, meaning that the way of arranging opportunities is necessary when not focusing only on their disability; hence the pedagogical orientation of the work done by the professionals.

The Polish contribution, Chapter 15, begins by discussing what social pedagogy could be. Then, the chapter sets to for provide the reader with an overview of the lives of disabled people in Poland, focusing on people with physical disabilities (about half of the number of disabled people in Poland). The authors, Monika Wilińska (a Pole based in Sweden) and Kamila Zdanowicz-Kucharczyk (Poland), describe the difficulties for disabled people – a situation marked by reminiscences from the past. A more equal society is emerging, and legislation has been enhanced as well. In the chapter the Polish organization “Friends of Integration Association” is presented as an example of how social pedagogical activities are brought into life: social and vocational integration, forms of support in a “Poland without barriers” are interpreted as ways of doing societal education in the light of integration perspectives.

Old Age

Part Seven discusses social pedagogy in interventions for older people and consists of as many as three chapters: no doubt a reflection of the fact that using social pedagogical paradigms to conceptualise work with this group of adults seems to have become more commonplace (as opposed to work with adults with social problems), at least in some countries.

In Chapter 16, Tine Fristrup (Denmark) invites the reader to participate in the overall presentation and theoretically informed discussion on ageing and “gerontopedagogicalization”. “The norms of aging and old age are changing in today’s and tomorrow’s societies due to demographic changes in favour of a pedagogicalization of society focusing on the management of human resources throughout the entire lifespan.” After a broad presentation of an important modern feature, the ageing population of the world (the material side), she continues by drawing attention to the discourse side. Discourses are – as Foucault once stated – parts of battles, and this battlefield character is demonstrated by the author, followed up by discussions on the category of ageing and ageing subjectivity, among other things interpreting social pedagogy as a discourse of biographicity. Fristrup finishes her discussion by emphasizing gerontopedagogicalization as a heuristic concept.

Chapter 17 by Dominique Kern (a Swiss based in Switzerland and France) argues for social pedagogy for older people as a social geragogy. By emphasizing learning as defined by the OECD he aims at linking social pedagogy and geragogy. This is a theme within a frame of ‘contested terrain’: much has been written and discussed abut lifelong learning, including the discussion on learning as not connected to elderly people. Kern, therefore, develops his concept by showing the political support from side of the EU to accept older people as learners and active and welcome participators of lifelong learning. To further underpin this concept Kern draws on a number of sources and finishes his contribution by pointing to some necessary steps in order to let older people in.

The third chapter, Chapter 18, written by Rosa María Rodríguez Izquierdo (Spain), inquires the situation of old people in Spain. Spanish society is like most European countries an ageing society, and the chapter explains the reasons why (birth rate, mortality rate, etc.). This background brings the author to the discussion of social pedagogy with adults. The barriers are many, among other things, the juxtaposition of education and adulthood which is an interesting case in Spain and elsewhere. The following part of the chapter deals with basic principles of social pedagogy with older people, including the universal idea that old age does not mean disease. The chapter ends up by discussing quality of life and future perspectives.

Perspectives

Part Eight, under the title of “Perspectives”, addresses wider issues, including the education of social pedagogues as well as educational perspectives linked to social pedagogy, international (global) perspectives and how to locate debates about social pedagogies within broader frameworks. Education has for a long time been one of the prominent areas of discussion and mutual fighting on content, didactics, forms of instruction, number of students, etc.

Torsten Erlandsen (Denmark), in Chapter 19, examines the education of professionals in Denmark. His starting point is a comparison of professional education in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Although the Nordic countries seem to be close neighbouring countries, their educational systems vary considerably. His chapter then continues by discussing the development of education for future pedagogues (including social pedagogues) in Denmark combining this with the many reforms of the educational system. Erlandsen identifies a missing link in professional education programmes: the more or less total absence of “educational thinking” (learning arrangements, scaffolding, progression from first to second semester, etc.) within the professional education of pedagogues, as offered within higher education.

Marcella Milana (an Italian based in Denmark) explores lifelong learning and social pedagogy in Chapter 20. This is an issue to which Paul Natorp contributed heavily at the turn of the last century; he discussed the social nature of education and pedagogy and enfolded a vision of enlightening the working masses linked to the Social Democrat workers’ movement in Germany. Milana revisits this idea from a point of departure in the framework of lifelong learning, which she sees as the grand narrative of the 21^st century. By drawing on programmatic texts from the UNESCO, the OECD and the EU, Milana unfolds a comprehensive policy and discourse analysis. Upon this base she raises a number of interesting questions on the relationship between lifelong learning and social pedagogy and ends her analysis by pointing to the combination of social pedagogy and the struggle for citizenship.

Xavier Úcar (Spain) opens his contribution, Chapter 21, by asking whether the social is disappearing or, perhaps better, whether societal development demands new forms, methods, theoretical framework, etc. The author continues by offering the reader an account of social pedagogy in Latin America. The chapter contains a presentation of how social pedagogy is on its way to be connected with local traditions and socio-educational interventions. Úcar understands social pedagogy in Latin America as being in a stage of early development and characterized by a mixed picture. He shows how European and Latin America social pedagogy are interrelated due to mutual borrowing. On behalf of his Latin American colleagues the author is optimistic: social pedagogy is moving ahead, the receiving environment of this European idea of social pedagogy is creative and open-minded, and Europe is now at the receiving end, too.

Chapter 22 by Paul Stephens (an Englishman based in Norway) seeks to explore the core of social pedagogical practice. Stephens draws on social pedagogy’s historical roots and its theoretical foundations as coined by Natorp, pointing to the core values of social pedagogy: “Whether working with children or adults – and particularly the disadvantaged in society – social pedagogic practice is premised on instilling and supporting self- and collective efficacy.” The building up of self-efficacy starts in childhood, but unfolds in youth and adulthood and continues into old age. But whenever challenges arising at some stage of life need to be mastered, achieving the ability of mastery is a learning process, including when mastery is concerned essentially with marginalisation, social disadvantages or societal obstacles to social justice.

Jacob Kornbeck (a Dane based in Belgium) concludes Volume II by summing up what was intended to be learnt from readings of Volume I and II. In Chapter 23, the next step is to present the “C-U-E” (Care-Upbringing-Education) model combining care, upbringing and education as a link to the lifespan perspective. Kornbeck’s understanding of social pedagogy is similar to the Greek term paidaia, emphasizing the necessity of interpreting social pedagogy as pedagogy and not simply as some sort of social work. Understood in this way, social pedagogy has to maintain the perspective of social and personal development of the addressee, but within the framework of societal conditions.

Acknowledgements

Once again, we would like to thank series editor Peter Herrmann for including a European social pedagogy publication into this book series (Studien zu vergleichender Sozialpädagogik und internationaler Sozialarbeit und Sozialpolitik / Studies in Comparative Social Pedagogies and International Social Policy). We wish also to thank Thomas Hoppe, managing director of the publishing house EHV (Europäischer Hochschulverlag), and his staff, for their help and support – first and foremost Sylvia Noll.

References

Cameron, C. & Moss, P. (2011): Social Pedagogy and Working with Children and Young People: Where Care and Education Meet. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers

Cameron, C.; Petrie, P.; Wigfall, V.; Kleipoedszus, S. & Jasper, A. (2011): Final report of the social pedagogy pilot programme: development and implementation. London: TCRU. http://www.socialpedagogyuk.com/images/pdf/final_report_of_the_socia l_pedagogy_pilot_programme_4_may.pdf

Cooper, J. (2011): Social Pedagogy Faces Uphill Battle in England. In: Community Care, 15 June, 15:40, http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/15/06/2011/117017/social-pedagogy-faces-uphill-battle-in-england-finds-study.htm

Kornbeck, J. & Rosendal Jensen, N. (2011): Introduction to Volume I (Theories, Childhood, Youth). In: Kornbeck, J. & Rosendal Jensen, N. (eds): Social Pedagogy for the Entire Lifespan. Volume I. Bremen: Europäischer Hochschulverlag (Studien zu vergleichender Sozialpädagogik und internationaler Sozialarbeit und Sozialpolitik/Studies in Comparative Social Pedagogies and International Social Policy, vol. XV), pp. 1-14

Petrie, P. (2011): Communication Skills for Working with Children: A Guide to Successful Practice Using Social Pedagogy. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers

Part Five. Adult Life: Social Problems

Chapter 13. Street-Level Outreach Work with Prostitutes: a Field of Social Pedagogy Practice in Denmark

13.1. Introduction

Danish social pedagogues doing street-level “outreach” work with female and male adults attracted to or already involved in prostitution: some would think this to be a most unlikely practice field for social pedagogues, a professional group associated chiefly, in many countries, with children and young people. As this chapter will show, this is nevertheless reality in Denmark. But how does this practice relate to the concept of social pedagogy? Why is it not just social work practice?

The chapter has been written jointly by two practitioners and the two editors of the book. Instead of submitting a detailed analysis, it aims to provide a snapshot of current practice, as understood by the two practitioners, regarding their perception of their own practice, including in particular how they see this practice as an example of social pedagogy. The intention of the editors was to provide a voice to two practitioners because their understanding of their practice matches the understanding of social pedagogy upon which Volume I and Volume II of this publication are based. The intention was not to provide an entirely unbiased, evidence-based account of whether or not this understanding of the practice described can be said to match an “objective” definition of social pedagogy – if such a definition exists at all – based on academic literature. In preparing this chapter, the emphasis was placed on documenting an authentic voice from social pedagogical practice in Denmark.

13.2. Prostitution: Denmark in an international perspective

Every society has another way of dealing with prostitution. While local cultures lead to different legislative frameworks, the possibility of tackling prostitution is however also dependent upon the degree to which a society can be said to be a “welfare state”, or even a “welfare society”.

Danish society is a welfare society and, as such, has established a system that seeks to ensure that all of its citizens have access to resources and well-being (Berg Sørensen, 1986). The welfare state is a system which has been made available to citizens, but for it to be able to work, a certain level of financial wealth, a relative equality regarding the distribution of resources, an effective social safety net and adequate financing for the welfare system are needed. The welfare state is also built upon social entitlements and the assumption that social problems are not the result of moral deficiency. But this welfare state has increasingly come under pressure, with some critics emphasising that government services are having people’s lives run by a nanny state and others taking the opposite position, pointing to what they see as egoistic individualism. The critics of the nanny state think, in particular, that Danish society has become an expertocracy where professional helpers are being trained to solve every single problem, whereas most problems should be solved in private, informal and familial contexts. There is a growing emphasis on the need for individuals to take responsibility for their own lives, so that the welfare state may not take all initiative from them. It is under these conditions and within these transformations that social pedagogy has to be practised in Denmark, but the task is rendered more difficult by the fact that the future of the welfare state is unclear.

Since the depenalisation enacted in 1999, prostitution as such has not been illegal in Denmark, in stark contrast with other Nordic countries which have chosen to penalise the purchase of sex. Prostitution reflects the existing social order both in relation to its content and its form and can be found when at least two trading partners, acting under market-like conditions, buy or sell physical access to a body or to other sexual acts (Järvinen, 1993). Under Danish law it is entirely legal to buy sexual services of any person over the age of 18, irrespective of gender, whereas paid sexual intercourse with a minor is a crime under section 223a of the Penal Code. This distinction has led to a situation where under-age prostitutes operate clandestinely, including via the internet, which makes it more difficult for street workers to reach them.

Yet far from being clear, the legal situation of Danish prostitutes is full of contradictions, reflecting different political interpretations of whether prostitution should be seen as a legal occupation or a social problem. Depenalisation was brought about, in 1999, by an amendment to the Penal Code which meant that the ban on vagrancy (løsgængeri) was repealed. The scope of this offence had been very large and originally allowed to punish vagrants, prostitutes and all other persons who could not demonstrate being in the possession of legal earnings to meet their own living costs. When the ban was repealed, the consequence for prostitutes was that they could no longer be punished for having prostitution as their sole source of income and they could not longer receive a police order to apply for a regular position. However, the parliamentary documents pertaining to the amendment bill show that the intention of the Danish legislators was not to grant the status of a normal and entirely legal occupation to prostitution, although it now became effectively legal for the individual prostitute (Bemærkninger til lovforslag L 43, 1998). On the one hand, Danish society refuses to recognise prostitution as a legal occupation, while on the other hand it recognises it on equality with other occupations, namely for the purpose of taxation; since 1999 Danish prostitutes have been treated as self-employed and have been required to pay tax as such.

During the last 30 years, the nature of prostitution has changed in Denmark. While it used to be visible in Danish streets, it is now more discrete, often practised indoors, including massage parlours, through escort bureaus, via the internet, in strip and swinger clubs. While it used to be a big city phenomenon, prostitution can now be found around the country.

13.3. “Outreach” work, “bridge-building” and social pedagogial “bridge-builders”

The type of practice discussed here is conceptualised, in Danish, as street-level “outreach” work (opsøgende arbejde). This professional work targeting young people is a social pedagogical offer where the global objective is to establish a useful contact to marginalised and/or vulnerable young people, living in and depending upon specific milieus (not limited to prostitution), and the health and welfare system, with a view to ensuring that the young people receive appropriate support. When street workers address young people offering them guidance and support, they will have to establish a contact based on trust enabling “bridge-building” (brobygning) to obtain information regarding the needs of the person in question.

The concept of bridge-building has not been defined unambiguously and must be understood on the basis of the experiences of professionals. Unfortunately the evaluation reports from many of the ground-breaking projects in this field are no longer available, including the Yellow Bus at Halmtorvet (Halmtorvet, the Hay Market, being a location behind the Copenhagen Central Station), the experiences made by Club 47 in relation to work with addiction, the pilot project of the Round-the-Clock Contact service (Døgnkontakten) within communities marked by addiction and prostitution as well as similar pilot projects. These were all developmental projects arising from social indignation and fuelled by a wish to reach the most vulnerable members of society, when they are found within public areas, in an effort to reach their acceptance of being referred to various services and thereby reintegrated into the mainstream of society. At the same time, these projects also aimed at showing the official welfare system where it had its shortcomings.

The concept of bridge-building has not been used in a deliberate way before the 1990s; at that time it started to emerge in social pedagogical project proposals for street work interventions (Døssing, Heindorf & Mainz, 2005). These authors chose, at the same time, to link the concept of bridge-building to the already established concept “outreach” work (opsøgende arbejde). Yet it seems important to emphasise that outreach workers are, or may be, social pedagogues – not just social workers, as colleagues from other countries (especially in the English-speaking world) might assume.

13.3. Why is this social pedagogy?

The professionals dealt with in this chapter are Danish street workers and, as such, a form of social welfare professionals. They (may) have received their training as part of a higher education programme in social pedagogy. This begs some explanation as there is currently no Danish bachelor programme in social pedagogy. Previously (before 1992), such a programme existed, but today, future social pedagogues study on a generic pedagogy programme. But although there is no formal specialisation, and social pedagogy does not exist as a specific degree profile, students may chose to go for a “mild” form of specilisation as part of their studies and practice placements.

The task of social pedagogy is to ensure the integration of people at risk within society; this also means (partly in contrast to social work) that social pedagogy aims to work proactively and preventively, rather than retroactively and as a form of treatment. Social pedagogy should be seen as a response to a range of specific social and educational (pedagogical) situations. Social pedagogy has its origins in general education theory (general pedagogy) but deals with social problems, problems which lie outside of the scope of general pedagogy; this is the traditional understanding of social pedagogy. However, Hermann Giesecke, in a Danish translation of one of his textbooks from the 1980s, says that time is ripe for emancipating social pedagogy from its currently isolated position as a field of specialisation, in that growing up in risky conditions is increasingly becoming a phenomenon of “normality” in our time (Giesecke, 1985). A quarter of a century later, this still seems to hold true.

Social pedagogy arose at a time when industrialisation drove numerous destitute people into the cities; their poverty was a new phenomenon as they were no more a “recognised class” of poor people (Giesecke, 1985, p. 142; translation: Hegstrup). Social pedagogy arose because welfare work was understood as a new pedagogical task “the objective of which was to redress the balance in wrecked social relations” (ibid., p. 144; translation: Hegstrup). The problem with this type of social pedagogy was that it sought to preserve the existing inequalities and maintain social order. Destitution was understood as a pedagogical problem that needed to be fought with a combination of education (in the largest sense of the word, including upbringing, socialisation, etc.) and training (the transmission of skills). However, social pedagogy did gradually move into a different direction and, already when Giesecke was writing in the mid-1980s, it was “less about protecting society against a minority of neglected youths or perpetrators, but rather about protecting entire new generations from the overwhelming constraints that society might apply to them” (ibid., p. 149; translation: Hegstrup).

In Denmark, social pedagogy as a concept became common around 1905 when a new Children’s Act was passed, imposing caps on child labour and obliging employers to ensure that child workers were taught. The pedagogisation thus introduced was confirmed by later developments such as the creation, in the 1940s, of a Danish Social Pedagogy Association, and the concept of social pedagogy was listed in some reference works, such as Leksikon for Opdragere (Højbjerg Christensen, et al., 1953). At that time, however, the heads of residential care institutions were usually trained in either theology or law, as no social pedagogy programme existed. But this was to change when shorter courses were introduced for staff, in some cases lasting two years. It was only in 1970 that the first social pedagogy textbook was published (Rasmussen, 1970), and a separate social pedagogy programme was taught only between 1985 and 1992.

Therefore, in a sense, social pedagogy is still something quite “new” in Denmark – although it may sound strange to call a concept new which has been around for over a century – and this may account for a certain insecurity regarding what social pedagogy is or should be. The practitioners’ perspective is that it is hard to define a clear line and defend it; rather, new ideas are constantly being tested, largely without knowing whether they work or not, and whether they are beneficial to groups of marginalised people or not. Against this backdrop, there is an increasing demand for documentation and sound management: knowing that an intervention works is not enough anymore; we also need to know why it works.

The Danish social pedagogy profession, represented through the National Federation of Social Educators (Socialpædagogernes Landsforbund, SL), is well aware of the challenges presented in this chapter and understands them as deserving respondes grounded in social pedagogy.

“The National Federation of Social Educators is a trade union for about 34,000 professionals. They are social educators, foster carers, directors, assistants and artisans. They work with children, young people and adults who need special care due to physical or mental disabilities, or social problems.” (SL, 2011)

This template offers a broad understand of social pedagogy and allows to fit outreach work with people involved in prostitution into it – there is no reason why such work should not be social pedagogy. In recent years, the professional magazine Socialpædagogen has published two themed issues which are relevant to this discussion, one on prostitution (Social-pædagogen, 2006) and another on sex more generally (Socialpædagogen, 2007): clear signs that social pedagogy, in a Danish context, is very much understood as being applicable to other age groups than toddlers and children. In relation to the current political debate, where some Danish MP's are in favour of criminalising the purchase of sexual services as it has been done in the other Nordic countries, Socialpædagogen has provided a forum for open debate, including by publishing an interview with a woman minister who did not think purchase should be criminalised (Pedersen, 2007), as well as an article pointing to the neglected status of boys and men selling sex (Bengtsen Blem, 2006): their role is crucial because the proponents of criminalisation generally see sex purchase as dominance or violence of men over women. Socialpædagogen has offered analyses and contributions based on a social pedagogical understanding of these issues.

13.4. Conclusion: issues for transnational research

This text has attempted to provide a snapshot based on current practice in Denmark, but it should be understood as an invitation to researchers to look at the issue in a comparative and transnational perspective.

If transnational answers can be provided to (some of) these questions, this would further the debate about “social pedagogy for all age groups” internationally.

References

Bemærkninger til lovforslag L 43 (1998): Bemærkninger til lovforslaget: Forslag til Lov om ændring af straffeloven (Afkriminalisering af prostitution m.v. samt kriminalisering af kunder til prostituerede under 18 år). https://www.retsinformation.dk/Forms/R0710.aspx?id=87832

Bengtsen Blem, K. (2006): Socialpædagoger overser prostituerede drenge. In: Socialpædagogen, nr. 4/06, 24. februar 2006, http://www.socialpaedagogen.dk/da/Arkiv/2006/04-2006/Doegninstitutioner%20Socialpaedagoger%20overser%20prostituer ede%20drenge.aspx

Berg Sørensen, T. (1986): Socialpolitik, udvikling og funktion. Copenhagen: Munksgaard (Socialpædagogisk bibliotek)

Døssing, L.; Heindorf, J. & Mainz, H. (2005): Opsøgende arbejde blandt prostituerede: Arbejdspapir. Copenhagen: Videns- og formidlingscentret for socialt udsatte. http://shop.servicestyrelsen.dk/products/opsoegende-arbejde-blandt-prostituerede

Højbjerg Christensen, A.C.; Grue-Sørensen, K. & Skalts, A. (eds) (1953): Leksikon for opdragere: pædagogisk-psykologisk-social håndbog. Vol. I-II. Copenhagen: Schultz

Järvinen, M. (1993): Of Vice and Women: Shades of Prostitution. Helsinki: Scandinavian University Press (Scandinavian Studies in Criminology, vol. 13)

Pedersen, L.M. (2007): Købesex skal ikke forbydes In: Socialpædagogen, nr. 5/07, 09. marts 2007, http://www.socialpaedagogen.dk/Arkiv/2007/05-2007/Prostitution%20Koebesex%20skal%20ikke%20forbydes.aspx0

Rasmussen, H.C. (1970): Synspunkter på døgninstitutioner. Copenhagen: Gyldendal

SL [Socialpædagogernes Landsforbund] (2011): The National Federation of Social Educators. Sidst opdateret: 29-06-2011.

Socialpædagogen (2006): nr. 4/06 (special issue on prostitution): http://www.socialpaedagogen.dk/Arkiv/2006/04-2006.aspx

Part Six. Adult Life: Disability

Chapter 14. Contact-Mindedness, Personality and the Residents’ Contribution: an anthropological study of social pedagogy for adults with mental disability in group home facilities in Denmark

Anthropological field studies in social pedagogy practices in three group homes (Højmark, 2009) show the field of pedagogical practice with adults with mental disability to be characterized by dedicated staff members who meet the residents with professional closeness. The matter in question in this article is that in group homes both staff member and resident influence the situations they are in together. The staff cannot not-want to be contact-minded in the daily togetherness with the residents as they intervene. The resident’s contribution to the situation and their personality are central to the social pedagogy, and in the interpretation of social pedagogy from an anthropological, fieldwork based, viewpoint.

14.1. Introduction

According to the Danish Act on Social Services (see Bekendtgørelse af lov om Social service) the local council is responsible for making available the necessary number of housing facilities for people with disability. The housing facilities typically consist of homes in clusters or floors in apartment houses, as well as they can be located in detached house areas. Each group home or ward of a larger group home typically consist of 6-8 residents and a number of employees with educational social pedagogy background, social care assistants, students and night staff¹. Citizens can be placed in the group homes as to when room is available, while in others they are placed by their type of disability. Five days of the week the residents go to activity day centers or sheltered work during the daytime.

Social pedagogy practice in group homes for adults with mental disability is a challenging field of study. On the one hand life in group homes expresses predictability, quietness and everyday life. “You and I?” a resident asks a staff member looking the staff member closely into theeir eyes. As a fieldworker I understand implicitly the meaning of both the resident’s need for the staff member’s professional closeness, support and care, and the staff member and resident’s mutual trust, build from hours and days of togetherness, that results in that the resident precisely wishes that they are going to go through the different difficult and happy activities and doings of the day together.

On the other hand, the everyday life in group homes is complex and faceted and difficult to get hold on. All the time contact is going on at many different ‘levels’ crisscrossing the different agents in the field. During the field studies I often wanted to write in several notebooks simultaneously. One for each resident, because I learned that all the residents had their individual interaction going on with the staff at work - only “interrupted” by the other residents’ interaction with the staff or activities including several residents.

In anthropological fieldwork, with participant observation as methodological focus, the interaction between residents and staff members is closely studied. As a fieldworker I become part of the interaction going on, and I meet ‘all of it’ as well as I can, want and dare in the work of understanding how interaction is meaningful, and how all the experiences in the field can be understood according to the research interest.

In social pedagogy experienced closely, I learned the words, expressions and whereabouts preferred by each resident, as well as daily rhythms repeated by all agents in the field became clear to me. And I felt which kinds of contact the individual resident prefers, as well as particularly attractive activities and favorite places to be of the individual resident. And I became familiar with the many different ways it is met by the staff members - as well as structuring of the work with the residents was noticed.

I aimed to understand what the interaction express about what is significant in the resident’s life at home and the staff member’s working life together inside group homes. Therefore, the experience of everyday life was subjected to systematic analysis in order to make it possible to communicate both the quiet predictable everyday interaction, that soon come so familiar, and all that complex interaction which contributes to the experience that life in there is exactly quiet and recognizable.

I define social pedagogy in group homes as “shared everyday life” according to Schmidt (1999a), who defines social pedagogy as “social get-togethers” or social encounters between positioned agents in mutual interpretation of the situations they are in together. In this project they are residents and staff members. In line with Wadel (1999) I define staff members and residents as relational categories for analysis, because it is through their relation in practice with each other that they are social agents. That is to say to understand individual agents by their social relations. Their mutual actions can be interpreted as social get-togethers Schmidt (1999a). Thereby the frame of the study is multi-sited because it is the anthropological about the social setting studied that is followed (Marcus, 1998). As Broe (2003) puts it:

“Rather than to consider the ethnographic practice as a ‘collection work’ where one travel ‘out in the field’ and find Something … [one must] … consider fieldwork as the ethnographers appearance in situations ‘where something’ takes place” (Broe, 2003) (Translation: Højmark)

My area of field study consisted of two group homes. In there I participated in and observed the contact and relations between the staff members and the residents.

Along the way of the project I challenged myself with interpretive and analytical work. For it is essential in anthropological research practices to work with nearness and involvement as well as analytic distance and wondering in various ways through all the phases of the study (Hastrup, 1992).

The participant observation in the two group homes was completed in parallel with seven qualitative interviews with staff members in two group homes, with one group home overlapping so that in total there were three group homes involved in the project. They were geographically scattered and inhabited with residents with various diagnosis of mental disability, age from early twenties to mid sixties (Højmark, 2009).

14.2. Social pedagogy in group homes is a complex field of social pedagogy action

One of the key insights in social pedagogy work in group homes, which this project has given rise to, concerns the staff members’ professionalism. There has been considerable criticism on the professionalism (Larsen, 2008; Rasmussen, 2008).) as well as on the living conditions in group homes in the past few years (Schollert Hvalsum, 2008; Socialpædagogerne, 2009).). Not least because of some ‘cases’ in the early 2007 about hidden away, forgotten, neglected and humiliated mental disabled adult residents in several group homes in Denmark (Carlsen & Richter, 2008; Gjertsen, 2008; Socialpædagogen, 2007).). Cases that of course must be taken seriously, acted upon and changed for both the residents and the staff. At the same time it can be said that the professional area of work with adults with mental disability is characterized with concerns of the professionalism of a more general nature coming from ‘outside’. One evaluation concludes as follows:

Volume I	Volume II
Part One. Theory	Part Five. Adult Life: Social Problems
Part Two. History	Part Six. Adult Life: Disability
Part Three. Childhood	Part Seven. Old Age
Part Four. Youth	Part Eight. Perspectives

Table of Contents

Introduction to Volume II (Adult Life, Old Age, Perspectives)

Social Pedagogy – Not only for the Young

Adult Life: Social Problems

Adult Life: Disability

Old Age

Perspectives

Acknowledgements

References

Part Five. Adult Life: Social Problems

Chapter 13. Street-Level Outreach Work with Prostitutes: a Field of Social Pedagogy Practice in Denmark

13.1. Introduction

13.2. Prostitution: Denmark in an international perspective

13.3. “Outreach” work, “bridge-building” and social pedagogial “bridge-builders”

13.3. Why is this social pedagogy?

13.4. Conclusion: issues for transnational research

References

Part Six. Adult Life: Disability

Chapter 14. Contact-Mindedness, Personality and the Residents’ Contribution: an anthropological study of social pedagogy for adults with mental disability in group home facilities in Denmark

14.1. Introduction

14.2. Social pedagogy in group homes is a complex field of social pedagogy action