Charlotte Vange Løvstad is assistant professor in continuing education and research, with a special focus on marginalized groups. She is also a board member in two organizations that works to improve living conditions for people who are marginalized in the Danish society. Mail: chvl@via.dk 

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Social pedagogy, evidence-based manuals, and gut feeling

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Presentation:

In many countries, social pedagogical practice is increasingly expected to be evidence-based. This presentation focuses on what happens in situations, where social pedagogues deviate from an evidence-based manual. We will draw on Lotte’s recent research with social pedagogues using Aggression Replacement Training and their reasons for deviating from the manual they are meant to follow. Her research suggests that, in a social pedagogical understanding, the rela-tion between fidelity to evidence-based manuals and responding meaningfully to complex practice situations produces different problems. Social pedagogues handle these problems by activating social pedagogy in different ways, for in-stance by responding to their gut feeling.
Based on both our practical experiences as a social pedagogue and social worker and on recent research, linked to social pedagogical thinking, we explore the dilemmas that can emerge from deviations like these.