AIEJI board meeting spring 2012
On the 26th and 27th of May, the board of AIEJI gathered for the semi-annual board meeting. The meeting was held in Barcelona as this seems to be the most convenient location for most members coming from both Europe, Latin America and the Middle East and was hosted by the regional European office, our local member organisation CEECS.

Among the main items on the agenda to be discussed was:
-    The answers of the member survey
-    The visions and aims of AIEJI: Future activities
-    World Congress 2013
-    Survey on social educators in Europe

Member survey
As reported in regards to the member survey, our members are quite happy with being members and also happy with what we do.

The main discussion among the board was how we can strengthen local activities as well as online communication amongst members. In terms of local activities the main proposal was that through funding local seminars, workshops or conferences we can inspire local members to arrange activities for the local community of social educators. The funding will only take place when a local member organisation is involved in arranging the activities or otherwise able to approve of the activities – i.e. a local educational institution may want to arrange a seminar, and the local member organisation can then approve of this and seek for funding without being the head coordinator.

In terms of enabling online discussions among members and users of our website, it was decided that we will look further into the possibilities of this can be done – both technically but also in terms of the human resources overlooking the discussions and inspiring discussion with relevant questions and dilemmas. So this will be discussed further at the next board meeting.

The member survey also received some very good suggestions about how to collect and disseminate knowledge amongst our members and affiliates – i.e. users of the website.

Visions and aims: Future activities
At the first board meeting after the World Congress in 2009, held in Barcelona October 2009, the board decided to make two publications before the next world congress in 2013. The first publication “Working with persons with disabilities – the role of the social educator” was published at the end of 2010. The next publication will be about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the role and responsibility of social educators working with children placed outside the home. The board decided to arrange a seminar in the autumn of 2012 on the subject and preferably publish the paper at the end of 2012. Then, at the congress in 2013, there will be a workshop on children’s rights and the conditions of placed children while the board will also instigate local seminars to take place in the aftermaths of the congress. This we ensure that the paper is discussed between as many members as possible.

World Congress 2013
The next world congress is less than a year away. So it is now time to promote the congress more extensively. All member organisations will put a banner on their website leading to the congress website and do their best to keep members updated when there are news regarding the programme, keynote speakers, call for papers, important practical information etc.

The Nordic member organisations reported they are considering to have a Camp Nordic at the congress and meet a day before the congress starts to discuss joint issues and common initiatives.

Survey on Social Educators in Europe
The European regional office has carried out a larger survey in regards to the professional qualifications of social educators in Europe. The survey is part of the investigation into the possibilities of making a directive of professional qualifications in Europe for a wide range of different professions such as doctors, nurses, midwifes, ski instructors, veterinarian etc. The survey included an investigation of the educational level of social educators in Europe, of the existence of individual professional organisations, to which extent social educators are defined as a sub-group of social workers or of it is seen as a distinct, individual profession.

The results of the survey will soon be posted here.

If you have any questions regarding any of the above feel free to post your question here.

Dear friends,

As you may already have noticed we have integrated PayPal’s online payment solution on our website. This means, it is now possible to pay your membership fee by clicking on the PayPal “Donate” bottom on the left hand side. The system is very easy to use and you can use all the major credit cards.

For those of you who have not received the invoice of 2012 yet, please let me know.

For any questions regarding payments or the use of PayPal, feel free to contact me.

Regards,
Dea Engberg

Dear friends and colleagues

AIEJI has just concluded a survey amongst its members regarding their membership of AIEJI and what they think AIEJI should be and do for its members.

The two questions of the survey were:

1.    What does it mean to you/your organisation to be a member of AIEJI?

- It strengthens my professional identity/the professional identity of our organization and our members

- It is important for me/our organisation to be part of an international, professional network

- I/Our organisation want(s) to take part in strengthening, developing and discussing social education at an international level

- It gives me/ our organisation access to knowledge on social education in other countries and the possibility of sharing experiences with colleagues from other countries

The main conclusion of that question was that our members are very happy to be members. Which is good. Most members agree that it is important to be part of an international professional network in order to share knowledge and experiences. They want to take part in discussing and developing the profession and want to use AIEJI as a platform to network with colleagues from other countries. Members from countries where social education is still a new profession and where the profile of the profession is not so strong also emphasised the importance of feeling part of something bigger and having a network of colleagues – since they don’t have many colleagues in their home country or a network to find inspiration.

2.    What kind of activities should AIEJI initiate or take part in?

- Publish professional documents that discuss and develop  the framework of social educational work

- Be a global network of social educators which our organisation and its members can use to get in touch with colleagues, organisations, institutions and other relevant entities in other countries

- Support local events such as seminars, workshops or presentations that organisations, members and other relevant parties at a local level can use in their professional development

- Collect and disseminate knowledge on social education

Again, most members agree with the answers above. The overall conclusion was that the publications AIEJI has made such as the “Professional Competencies of Social Educators” and “Working with Persons with developmental Disabilities – the Role of the Social Educator” together with the world congress every fourth year are some of the main activities. Additionally, local seminars and conferences could be something to consider in order to keep up activities between congresses and to involve a greater number of local members. To strengthen the communication between our members as well as users of our site, many members pointed to the fact that the web could be used to a greater extent to create discussion forums etc.

As you see, it was a very simple survey – which was our aim. We wanted to get a feeling of what our members think of us, why it is important for them to be members and what kind of activities we should do. Basically, we are doing the right thing although there is room for improvement. Fx creating discussion forums could be a great way to get people more engaged and share their knowledge and experiences. But keeping discussion forum vital and alive, creating new questions and dilemmas to be discussed takes time and is often easier said than done. Many websites have empty discussion forums where nothing happens. However, this is an important matter so we will look into the possibilities.

As for local activities, arranged or somehow qualified by a local member organisation, this is also something we will look into in terms of how we can inspire local organisations to use this opportunity to gather local social educators. As with most other things, it requires engaged people willing to spend their time on making things happen in their community.

On behalf of the board, I want to thank everybody who took time to answer our questions. It meant a lot to us and is a great contribution to the way forward for AIEJI.

Your sincerely,
Benny Andersen

March 20th is World Social Work Day. This is the time to acknowledge the significant role of social workers around the world. In every country Social Workers work in the most complex and difficult situations to enable people to be healthy and happy. In some countries the role of the social worker is supported by governments and legislation, in other countries, social workers must struggle to support the people they work with. But all over the world their jobs are bound by the same principles: The belief in social justice, human rights, social interdependence, and self-determination.

Read more

By Arlin Ness, former president of AIEJI:

On February 14th 2012 the friends of AIEJI lost a special colleague.  Herb Barnes died in Florida, U.S.A., from a massive heart attack which he had experienced a few days before his passing.

Herb served on the AIEJI Board for a number of years.  During this time he was a tireless advocate for bringing the” Educature” philosophy of a “holistic” approach to the U.S. to strengthen services to young people.  In this regard he had established the ILEX program a professional exchange between the U.S. and Europe.  Numerous professionals from Europe over the years experienced a year or two in child care facilities across the U.S modeling the holistic approach for their American colleagues.  Herb was courageous in taking on “systems” that he believed were not serving Children and families in their best interests.

ON a personal note as his wife, Liese, wrote about Herb “His zest for life was infectious and he always was ready to take on a new challenge”.  Arlin Ness, former president of AIEJ writes, Herb Barnes was not only a personal friend but a colleague who enriched you by his friendship and his creative mind.  Emmanuel Grupper, Israeli AIEJI board member, writes “Herb was a unique and fascinating personality, always so optimistic on the one hand and realistic on the other.  We will always remember him as a great humanist and professional and especially a devoted friend to so many who already miss him so much”.

Here is another interesting article about social work in the UK. In the UK, this also includes the care and support given to persons with developmental disabilities, but not people working in child services.

The article discusses the fact that a lot of social work is now being transferred to “social health assistants” who do not need the same level of education as social workers. So they do not have the same kind of expertise.

Another issue is the fact that there is such a tight focus on tasks carried out and the time spent – what is referred to the “care management straitjacket” – meaning social workers spend more and more time in front of the computer rather than with the citizens with needs.

To get an insight to social work in the UK, read the article here.

In the UK there is a new and very interesting development going on concerning social pedagogy. Social pedagogy in the UK covers child and youth care work and has become a subject of focus for researchers, practitioners, teachers and other professionals working in the field as a way to understand and improve the life of children, especially those in public care.

To read more about what our colleagues in the UK are up to please go to the following websites where you will also find references to articles and relevant publications:

Social Pedagogy UK

ThemPra – Theory Meets Practice

Jacaranda Recruitment – Helps professionals from Europe find social care work in the UK

Social Pedagogy UK, ThemPra and Jacaranda Recruitment are the three forces that together push the development in and interest of social pedagogy in the UK forward.

Even before the ‘credit crunch’ of 2008 and the economic crises of 2011, the globalization of neo-liberal economic and fiscal regimes was generating growing social, economic and cultural polarization.

This has resulted in ever increasing numbers of children, young people and families finding themselves located in areas of concentrated social disadvantage on the margins of society.

These forms of offending are also evident amongst marginalised young people in other North American and European cities and, as Malcolm Stevens the IJJO’s UK Commissioner has observed, they represent….. a new and quite different entrée into crime and delinquency, with different justification values and a different perspective of safety and respect.

Therefore, the International Juvenile Justice Observatory is pleased to announce that the 5th Biennial Conference will be held at the London 2012 Olympic Park on Monday 5 to Wednesday 7 November 2012.

The conference aims to address the reality that, as a result of social and economic polarisation and global financial crises, growing numbers of children, young people and parents are finding themselves located in areas of concentrated social disadvantage on the margins of society.

To read more about the convention, please see here.

In the USA our colleagues are struggling to achieve recognition and a fair pay for what they do.  This is an extract of the most recent newsletter from the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP) in America:

“The National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP) has been working to enhance the status of direct support professionals and promote the development of a highly competent human services workforce for more than fifteen years. As the leading advocacy organization that represents 1.2 million direct support professionals who support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, we strongly support the United States Department of Labor’s proposed regulations (RIN 1235-AA05) to ensure that all direct support workers receive the same labor protections as other American workers.

Fewer people are being drawn to direct support as a career due to extremely low entry-level wages, where the national average is $9.40 per hour, while turnover and vacancy rates remains extraordinarily high. Given that the average Direct Support Professional may be a single parent of two children or more, many of these workers qualify for public assistance, are uninsured and are forced to work more than one job to make ends meet.”

To learn more about the issues and problems faced by our American colleagues, continue reading here.

Fair Start – a free e-learning and organizational development program for orphanages and foster families in quality care giving.

The free online education program in quality orphan care is now spreading from Europe to 3rd World countries.

The program was developed in the European Union project www.fairstart.net and tested by orphanages and foster family managers in 7 EU countries for two years, before launching the 15 session education www.fairstart.net/training  for staffs and orphan care leaders, in 8 language versions (English, German, Romanian, Turkish, Spanish, Italian, Catalan and Greek).

The sessions demonstrate quality infant stimulation, attachment based care and social organization of daily life to ensure continuity in care. Video examples of quality care – produced by participants – makes the program hands-on and practical, it’s child care research transformed into simple principles of quality care. Have a look!

Thanks to volunteer researchers and caregivers, many new language versions are being produced: Arabian, Brazilian Portuguese, Bahasa (Indonesia), Bulgarian, Burmese, Egyptian, Ethiopian, French, Hungarian, Karen, Latvian, Persian, Polish, Russian, Thai, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Mandarin Chinese, Urdu, Vietnamese.

In this paper, read further about the background of Fair Start and find instructions on how to use www.fairstart.net/training for educational and organizational development. Feel free to use this tool for your professional development and child care work.