Editorial: Special issue on social pedagogy in the Nordic countries

This International Journal of Social Pedagogy special issue on Social Pedagogy in the Nordic Countries generally stems from Hämäläinen’s (2012) definition of two main developmental lines of social pedagogy: a line of social care and welfare activities preventing and alleviating social exclusion, and a line of social education supporting growth into membership of society. In the Nordic countries, both of these lines exist in social pedagogical discussion, research and practice. The special issue aims to both discuss the existence of these lines as such and show examples of social pedagogical work in the arenas of both general and special social education.