News & Blog

Summary from our Zoom event on 20 Nov, 2023

At the outset of the session, we stressed the importance of Global Alliance members getting to know each other beyond their professional roles and encouraged the sharing of ideas for the future of the Global Alliance.

The new Global Alliance logo

Dana Keller revealed the new logo, which had been chosen via a voting process engaging Global Alliance members.

Our journey so far

Kara O’Neil explained the organic growth and democratic nature of the Alliance, emphasizing that it was not led by any one individual. Kara discussed the formation of six coordinated teams within the organization, including Central Communications, Research Initiatives, External Engagement, Networking, Development of Practice, and Journal Collaboration. Lotte Harbo briefly explained the Research Initiatives team, emphasizing its broad scope and ongoing formation. Mette Christiansen, head of External Engagement, mentioned an upcoming event and expressed interest in expanding the team. Finally, Gabriel Eichsteller, a representative from the Networking team, discussed the team’s formation and plans, including more face-to-face events and regular activities.

Plans for a podcast

Lotte proposed a plan to conduct interviews with social pedagogy practitioners from across the globe and turn them into podcasts. The interviews would focus on five specific questions and be conducted in English or their native language, which would then require voice overs. Following the interviews, thinkers, scholars, or researchers would be invited to reflect on these practices from their theoretical perspectives. The ultimate goal was to provide insights into social pedagogical practices worldwide. The group discussed potential benefits, such as using the podcast series as a teaching tool for social pedagogy programs and a way to map the global landscape of social pedagogy. The idea was well-received, with may participants expressing strong support. The team also considered the possibility of collaborating with national associations for each episode.

Learning Out Loud – virtual learning sessions

Gabriel shared plans for “Learning Out Loud”, a monthly online space for sharing learning experiences and insights. This offers an opportunity for anyone interested to learn with like-minded people and cultivate the art and habit of learning. The free 45-min sessions will start on Friday 8 Dec at 1.00pm UK time. To find out more and register, please click here.  

Developing ideas for 2024

Participants then joined one of 4 breakout rooms to help shape further ideas for each team of the Global Alliance to work on. Here is what we came up with:  

• Journals Collaboration Team: We shared ideas about collaborating with different journals to focus on social pedagogy and creating a database of all articles published on social pedagogy for the year.
• Development of Practice Team: The team discussed the need to bridge the divide between theory and practice in social pedagogy and identified a need for a platform to share ideas and practices.
• Networking & External Engagement Team: The team discussed having meetings with heads of global network organizations and creating a timeline of social pedagogy in different countries, as well as mapping out social pedagogy associations across the globe. There will also be more regular networking events in 2024.  
• Research Initiatives Team: The team found potential research topics, particularly the role of community in empowering young people and the ethics of social pedagogy.

We’ll be in touch again in 2024 to share further details and plans!

We warmly invite you to join us for this year’s virtual annual Global Alliance gathering to jointly identify our aims for the upcoming year and how we can best work together to pursue these. We’ll share further details about our plans and invite you to contribute to the 5 teams on research initiatives, development of practice, journals collaboration, networking, and external engagement. We’ll send you further details nearer the time and hope you’ll be able to join us! Simply click the button below to get the details for the Zoom meeting (free to join):

Back in 2020, we started exploring ideas for developing a truly global movement of people, organisation and associations engaged in social pedagogy and social education. Since then we’ve made some exciting progress. We’re therefore delighted to invite you to join our next meeting of the Global Alliance for Social Pedagogy and Social Education on the 5th of December from 15.00-16.30 GMT (click here to find your local time).

At the meeting, we’ll share an update on where developments with the Global Alliance have progressed to and give you the opportunity to shape the various teams that form the Global Alliance (see image).

The Global Alliance is free for anyone who wishes to contribute to its purpose and activities. We’re eager to build on the momentum and put each team into the best position to take action in 2023, so we hope you’ll be able to join us! Simply leave your email address in the registration form below and we’ll send you the meeting details.

We were delighted to formally launch the Global Alliance for Social Pedagogy at the People’s Global Summit ‘Co-Building a New Eco-Social World: Leaving No One Behind’ from 28 June to 2 July, 2022. Togetherness and connection as part of a global community are critical if we want to make a positive difference in the world and co-build a new eco-social world. Over the last year, we have actively collaborated with national associations for social pedagogues and social educators across much of Europe, the US and Latin America, to realise the idea of forming a Global Alliance for Social Pedagogy and Social Education. We’ve conceptualised this alliance as a dynamic community of people across the globe who are interested in social pedagogy and social education, powered by everyone’s active contribution and free to anyone who wishes to strengthen global connections.

We decided to launch this Global Alliance at the People’s Summit, as it closely aligns with your principles and purpose. So far the initiators have included Kara O’Neil (co-president of the US Social Pedagogy Association), Gabriel Eichsteller (co-editor of the International Journal of Social Pedagogy), Elina Nivala (president of the Finnish Society of Social Pedagogy), Xavier Ucar, Lotte Harbo (co-editor of the Danish Journal of Social Pedagogy), and many others both from countries with an established tradition of social pedagogy (or social education) and those where these perspectives are still in their infancy. We see the Global Alliance as a movement, a community of people interested in social pedagogy and social education as perspectives supporting a more eco-socially just world. Our video contribution consisted of a series of short videos outlining what the Global Alliance’s purpose is, how it complements existing associations, and how people can join this community (free of any charges).