Solidaric Learning Relations
Education as psychopsycho-social rehabilitation
John Bertelsen
Ressource Centre for Special Needs Education
Denmark
5th International Disability Studies Conference
2010 Lancaster University, UK
Key points in the presentation
• Focus at a reflective learning model
• Social foundation in the proces of learning
• When care went working
• Expanded learning activity and scaffolding
• Contribution from profession and user
• But first a short presentation of:
The Social Enterprise Saxenhøj, Denmark
The Social Enterprise Saxenhøj
a brief presentation
• Housing and support facility
• Social enterprise comprising the workshops
where the programmes take place
• Very differnt people; but they share serious
complex problems, including severe learning
difficulties
• Among the causes psychiatric conditions and
brain damages, often combined with social
problems
• Often sceptical attidude towards learning
• But, many have suffered defeats
• Confirmation (often) in the (sub) social culture
• Education generates obviosly new motivation
and improving selvselv-understanding and selfselfrespect
Educational programme
• The foundation of my presentation is an analysis
of about 170 individual education programmes carried out in our own workshops
• The number of participians at any given time is
about 30 persons
Short history
The Social Enterprise Saxenhøj is
built in 1866 as:
”Asylum for Labour, Forced Labour and Retards”
Next pages:
Photos from the (good
(good)) old days
and a few ones from today
The old history
• The facility was constructed to get rid of the
’human waste’ from the big manors of the region
where the rual proletariat worked
• Farming demanded a lot of hands
• Farm workers were imported from other parts of
Denmark, Sweden an later on from Poland
• But ”drunks, idle and obstinate persons”
were to be disposed of….
In the 1980s informed social policy toward the
abandonment of large institutions - but not
Saxenhøj !
In modern workshops, live and support center
and homeless housing is today home, workplace,
scholl/education for about 22-300 people
Last photo anyway: Graduation in our Organic
Garden with awarded certificate and diploma.
diploma.
Focus at a reflective learning model
Being
I object
Random
common
Problem solving
I / object
Common goal
Reflexivity
I / I /object
Necessary
cooperation
Position
• Essential opposite random
• Joint analysis opposite classification
• Focus on change rather than ’observation’
• The importance of the concrete above ’exampels’
Dialectical understanding of disability
Activities, requirements and expectations
in social practices
Secondary: Developmental functional problems
Difficulties with cultural ’signs’ and tools
Primary: organic, sensory, neurological
Social foundation for the proces of
learning
• Individualized learning and the social foundations
ignored
• Learning is a social process that requeres the
establisment of common goals.
• It means ”many scheduled collaboration”
• Learning is therefore operative movement
• New apprententiceship
• Situated learning
• Zone of proximale development
• Joint review and planning
When care went working
• Caring as part of the learning relationship is a
matter of course
• But carring is not a wateredwatered-down kind of
altruistic care.
• It developd through the joint processes involving
the foundation for the learning processes
Expaned learning activity
• The relationship of learning are particular
Its contains both something universal and
something special
• Dialougue must be based on understanding and
relevant emotions
In the effort we are interdependent
Without the friedship is the relationship exterior
• The communication must identify the common
it is interaction between persons and exchange
of information in order to coordinate and combine
effort to establish relations and reach common
goals
• Focus on the extension of counsil and learning is
on social basis
• Scaffoalding as a compensatory strategy
• Protection of individual counsil extended
• Ligitimate peripheral participation
• Making development participatory managment
• Breaking down isolation
• CoCo-operation as categorical imperativ
Contribution from the profession
Focus on (only on) knowledge about learning
and compensation for learning disabilities
Less on developing theoretical knowledge
and methods
Methods inferred uncritical of diagnoses
No linear relation between method and diagnostic !
Authority and right of disposal
Connection between education and ”Bildung”
is forgotten
Balance between authority and right of disposal
Meaning of common objectobject-related empowerment
overlooked
Ignoring learning specific cooperative
Contribution from users
• Activism as a guiding document
• Respect and human rights
• Developing common goals in a social context
• Change, development and recovery
• Users knowledge fund overlooked
• Right of weakness
• Education led by the users
• From participation to governance
Thank You for your attention
More information:
johnbertelsen.dk
visp.dk
saxenhoj.dk