Abstract

For those working with children, effective communication is a crucial part of building relationships and encouraging children's emotional and intellectual development.

This practical guide identifies the child and their relationship with the adult as the basis upon which real communication can be made. Topics covered include non-verbal communication, attentive listening, empathy, the part played by questions, working constructively with conflict and criticism, and communicating in groups. It also draws on the innovative ideas found in social pedagogic theory and practice, such as communicating with your head, hands and heart and how to differentiate between the personal, the professional and the private in your interactions. The book contains exercises, topics for personal reflection or group discussion, and suggestions for observations.

This will be an excellent source of advice and ideas for all those in the children's workforce including early years professionals, teachers, social workers, counsellors and practitioners working with children in care, including foster carers.

Petries's book, now in its third edition, is intended for people who work with or intend to work with children and young people in settings that range from nurseries to child minding, adventure playgrounds, clubs, play schemes, fostering and residential care. The third edition enlarges on previous editions with ideas from social pedagogy and interpersonal communication... The book aims to introduce ideas and values of social pedagogy that help practitioners become aware of the centrality of relationships and interpersonal communication to their practice, understand that effective interpersonal communication depends on acquiring relevant skills, and learn to communicate with respect and recognition of service users' equal worth... Petrie's deceptively simple approach succeeds in explaining how to deal with some complex practice situations... Petrie succeeds in conveying useful knowledge that could help practitioners to develop their skills.
European Journal of Social Work
This is a most accessible and readable book that will reach and engage the very wide range of professionals who work with children, young people and families. Pat Petrie has managed to make a practical handbook lively with excellent and imaginative case studies. It should prove to be very useful stimulating course material, drawing students into the kaleidoscopic world of social pedagogy. The author’s realistic, optimistic and thorough understanding of the subtleties of interpersonal relations and group dynamics gives the reader many insights and confidence in her professional expertise.
Mary Fawcett, early years consultant and author of Learning Through Child Observation
[This] is a clearly written and well-structured introduction to developing interpersonal communication skills in the "people work" of health, social care and education... The book is an excellent resource for workers at all levels in these settings, and could also be used to develop training days for staff. Full of practical tips and examples, observations tasks, opportunities for reflection, and learning exercises, the reader is helped to apply the ideas in a very practical way.
Chris Taylor, children’s home manager, trainer, and author of A Practical Guide to Caring for Children and Teenagers with Attachment Difficulties
This book makes social pedagogy accessible, and places "relationships" as the central core of all work with children and young people. It is aimed at individuals and groups and is a good, easy to read introduction to the theories of social pedagogy. It should be accessible to all workers who are either in training, learning how to understand children, and for more experience workers who wish to reflect on their own practice by taking as its central tenet how we understand "ourselves" in relation to those children... This book appears to offer a simple approach to learning about supporting children's pro-social development, relationships and language growth. It is much more than that. It challenges our individual conceptual frameworks of "who we think we are" and "what we think we are doing" when we work with children. There is much tolerant here.
Young Minds Magazine
Pat Petrie is Professor of Education at the Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute of Education, UK, where she leads the Centre for Understanding Social Pedagogy (CUSP). Her interests lie in social and educational policy and practice towards children in the UK and elsewhere, with a strong focus on social pedagogy. Her work has included research into play and childcare, services for disabled children and their families, the place of creativity and the arts in social pedagogy, and children in residential and foster care. She is part of the team at the Thomas Coram Research Unit carrying out the Department of Education-funded pilot project investigating the impact of a social pedagogic approach in residential child care. Her publications attract national and international attention.
A range of practitioners working with children and young people can use this book. In supporting students, supervisors and workforce development it offers a wealth of sources for courses and study... It is wonderful that this book does not assume that all problems can be solved but is grounded in the reality that things can be made better. It includes frequent reminders about how to overcome everyday obstacles to communicating with each other... Using this book we will help practitioners to start in the right place, as the development of children starts with communication.
Children & Young People Now