Pedagogical approaches in relations and community development

Abstract

In this short theoretical work, the understanding of community, its functioning and the characteristics of a well-functioning community will be presented. It also describes the importance of pedagogy in community development. It is crucial that professionals working with communities have this knowledge to help them to be effective in their work. A community can be taken as a cluster (Ewles and Simnett, 1999) or as a ‘dynamic social unit’ (Szécsényi, 2009), but it cannot be equated with the term group (Gergencsik, 2005). When a community functions well, whose characteristics are known in the literature, a sense of community is created. We become members of many communities throughout our lives. As a member of communities, relationships are formed between individuals, sometimes characterised by conflicts. As long as a community has not achieved its purpose, it exists, and there is room for improvement. The community development activity is based on understanding the potential of the community and its individual members, and fosters cooperative action. In doing so, we promote experiential learning, which helps to create a sense of community. There are many ways of learning about communities, one of which can be drama pedagogy. The game as a method can contribute to the development of communities.