Last week we welcomed a group of Japanese visitors to our Paisley campus to explore the range of services for children and young people.
The academic visitors have gathered from universities across Japan as part of The Japanese Society of Social Pedagogy. The newly formed group travelled to Europe to research how social pedagogy is accepted, promoted and practised in European countries. As part of their visit, the group was shown around Kibble’s residential care houses, Safe Centre and schools. The purpose of the visit was to share best practice and knowledge which could then be applied in a Japanese residential care setting.
At Kibble we pride ourselves in our commitment to social pedagogy, a practice that ensures the well-being, learning and growth of individuals. It ensures young people are connected with society in terms of their inclusion and contribution.
Kibble’s model of integrated care, education and support is one that organisations across the world come to see first-hand. In fact, the latest visit by Japanese academics is one of more than 40 international visits within the last 2 years. Jim Gillespie, chief executive of Kibble said, “We were thrilled to host the professors to learn about how social pedagogy informs practice, and it’s our hope that the trip has been informative and helpful in shaping how services move forward.
“As a care, education and employment provider for young people, it’s vital that we share information, learning and experiences that will improve services across the world; likewise, we are always very eager to learn about best practice from our colleagues, to ensure the best quality of life for our young people.”
Professor Shigeyuki Mori, clinical psychologist from Konan University, said: “Currently in Japan, we have a system for teaching and a system for social work but there has been no social pedagogy system until now.
“By visiting Scotland and other European countries, we’ve noticed many differences in the ways social pedagogy is practised varying on location, which we will consider among implementation across the many different regions of Japan.
“For extremely traumatised children, safety and care is not enough.
“Our visit to Kibble has been very beneficial to allow us to understand how we can introduce the approach within our services, learning from the young person’s response to care to provide more stimulus.”