PURSUING THE WELFARE OF SOCIETY

BY DR. STEPHEN M. GARRETT

Basic Competencies and Values of a Social

Pedagogue

Basic Competencies & Values of a Social Pedagogue

What is the function of a social pedagogue in society?

What is a Society?

“The state or condition of living in company with other people; the system of customs and organization adopted by a group of people for harmonious coexistence or mutual benefit.”

“A community of people living in a particular country or region and having shared customs, laws, or institutions.”

--Oxford English Dictionary

What is a flourishing society?

What does it mean to flourish? To grow. To thrive. To bloom or blossom.

In what ways? Health? Wealth? Emotionally?

Can human beings flourish without perfect health or wealth?

Beliefs, Values, and Society

“Behavior is belief” in that “what is part of our culture is also part of our lived religion.”

--T. S. Eliot, Christianity and Culture, 104

“Culture is not simply a humanistic endeavor but is often the place where people within a society express, whether they realize it or not, their beliefs about God, the world, and themselves.”

--Stephen M. Garrett, “Pursing the Peace of the City”

Source: http://www.tamu.edu/classes/cosc/choudhury/culture.

html

Beliefs&

Values

Rituals

Heroes

Symbols

Practices

Relationship of Beliefs & Values to Society

Values of a Social Pedagogue

Love, Compassion, and Empathy

Patience

Tolerance and Understanding

Values of a Social Pedagogue

Honesty

A Sense of Justice

Hope

Basic Competencies of a Social Pedagogue

Understand what it means to be a human being

Understand what it means for a society to flourish

Understand what it means to believe or not believe in God and its impact on how you

live

Basic Competencies of a Social Pedagogue

Be quick to listen and slow to speak

Be solution oriented

Be imaginative and creative

Ideas for Developing Values and Competencies

Find a place of service, a place to volunteer

Volunteer in a place where you are uncomfortable

Read, Read, Read……History, Poetry, and Literature

Resources

Robert Bolton, People Skills: How to Assert Yourself, Listen to Others, and Resolve Conflicts (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1979)

Parker Palmer, The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher’s Life (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1998)

Inga Balciuniene and Natalija Mazeikiene, “Educating a Socially Active and Tolerant Citizen: Compatibility Between Religious and Civic Education,” Socialinis Ugdymas, 12(23) 2010: 106-119.