Inclusion and obstacles : a social pedagogical analysis of narratives concerning work with unaccompanied young refugees with experiences of war in institutional care in Sweden

In the Swedish debate on social pedagogy, immigration issues have got a lot of attention, and social pedagogy has been seen a relevant theoretical framework for educational programs promoting social integration of immigrants. The practical function of social pedagogy is seen to deal with all kinds of social and psychosocial needs in all phases of life span in all kinds of educational and care institutions. It is about social-pedagogical know-how seeing to be relevant for working with people in different, sometimes very difficult life situations. This study purpose was to provide new understanding about: 1) institution personnel narratives about the day-to-day work of taking care of young people who experienced a war, fled to Sweden and were cared for and placed in institutions; and 2) interactive patterns contributing to constructing the category ‘social pedagogue’. The material was gathered through interviews with personnel who work with these young people at residential or care homes. Analytical findings with the following themes are presented: (1) “Empathy, collaboration and inclusion”, (2) “Stigma and inclusion”, and (3) “(In)competence of personnel and inclusion”. Analysis of the study’s empirical material reveals major variations in what is expected of a social pedagogue working in institutional care in Sweden with unaccompanied young refugees who have experiences of war. A common denominator is that the mission of and context in which the social pedagogue operates appear flexible enough to enable an individual to play the role in a variety of ways. Only when the individual social pedagogue adopts an active, assertive, independent, personal and relatively strong posture will there be a chance of being important to other professional categories and for the client. In practice, therefore, only when the individual social pedagogue transcends the expectations of the conventional role will there be a chance to be appreciated by other collaborators.Youth with war experiences in institutional care. A sociological study of young immigrants' stigma and social comparison