Graduate study of Social Pedagogy

Holder of the graduate study of Social Pedagogy:
Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences University of Zagreb

Executors of the graduate study of Social Pedagogy:

• Department of Behavioural Disorders
• Department of Criminology

Head of the graduate study of Social Pedagogy: Assoc. Prof. Dalibor Doležal, PhD; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Duration of the study: two academic years or 4 semesters

ECTS: 120

Academic degree: Master of Social Pedagogy

The graduate study of Social Pedagogy has been taught since the academic year of 2008/2009. The Ministry of Science, Education and Sport of the Republic of Croatia issued the accreditation for conducting this programme on June 18, 2004, and the license on June 2, 2005. Since the academic year of 2010/2011 it is taught according to the updated programme.

The study programme is organized in two modules:

1. Children and Youth
2. Adults

Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences does not offer full degree study programme of Social Pedagogy in English language.

The graduate university study of Social Pedagogy is mostly committed to acquiring specialist knowledge and competences from the narrow field of profession and serves as the basis for lifelong learning. The Social Pedagogy encompasses knowledge of developmental characteristics of the individual, individual differences which are important in learning, learning environment and social interactions, behavioural disorders of the individual, biopsycho-social structure of the individual as the basis for development of behavioural disorders, including knowledge of criminal offences, delinquents, victims of delinquent behaviour, criminality as a social phenomenon, and society’s reaction to that criminality. This study programme fosters competences in understanding behavioural disorders, stigmatization process, marginalization, personal and social violence, and ability to evaluate key features of the individual and social environment, and the needs of the individual and social environment.

Competences acquired upon completion of the graduate study of Social Pedagogy:

• planning and conducting expert work - planning individual and group work, educational and counselling work, non-institutional, institutional, and semi-institutional work, work focused on the individual’s living space
• communicative-reflexive competences - empathy, responsibility for one’s own professional development, selfobservation, interpersonal communication
• cooperation - with the users’ families, other participants in the user’s environment, and with interdisciplinary teams
• preparation, conducting, and evaluation of social-pedagogic projects, and analytical and research work for the needs of practice

The study of Social Pedagogy trains the experts for scientific-research and practical work on the prevention, detection, evaluation, early interventions, and treatment, processing and subsequent care for children, youth, and adults at risk of behavioural disorders or with manifested behavioural disorders, and their social environment, in the function of education, socialization, rehabilitation, and social integration.

This study provides the needed education and prepares the experts for the work in:

• institutions of social welfare (social welfare centres, juvenile correctional institutions, children’s homes, counselling centres)
• institutions of judicial system (state attorney offices, courts, correctional facilities, penitentiaries, prisons)
• institutions of education (preschool institutions, primary and secondary schools, pupils’ dormitories, and various leisure centres)
• organizational units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
• health institutions (outpatient clinics, public medical centres, hospitals, mental health centres, psychiatric clinics, addiction treatment centres)
• institutions in the local community (private practice medicine, family centres, non-governmental organizations, etc.).

The student has to pass all compulsory and elective courses, complete the obligatory practical work in elected institutions, write a thesis under Mentor's guidance (research or overview), and defend it before a three-member commission.

The holder of this qualification is authorized to perform expert tasks in the field of his/her academic degree.

The study is based on fundamental and specialist knowledge of social pedagogy which implies all processes and functions linked with behavioural disorders of children, youth and adults. The students acquire necessary knowledge and skills for solving complex tasks in the work with individuals, groups/communities at risk or with manifested difficulties and problems in social integration.

Upon the completion of this study, the student acquires competences which make him/her eligible for employment on tasks of high complexity.

ECTS Information Package for the Academic Year 2018/2019 - Graduate Study (.pdf)