Professor in Social Pedagogy at the Department of Pedagogy and Primary Education at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in Greece

Iro Mylonakou - Keke is a Professor of Social Pedagogy at the Department of Pedagogy and Primary Education (PDPE) of School of Education at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) in Greece.

She studied Educational Studies, Pedagogy, Business Administration, Marketing, Music, and Music Kinetic Education. 

Her academic interests include: 

• Social Pedagogy 
• Synergies between School, Family and Community
• Children Education 
• Adults Education 
• Systems Science 
• Innovative Pedagogies
• Transdisciplinary Education 
• Innovative interdisciplinary research
• Interdisciplinary synergies between Social Neuroscience, Social Pedagogy and Education
• Interdisciplinary synergies between Social Pedagogy and Law
• Developing of Creativity in Education and in Society 
• Art and Education
• Syneducation (Synergy + education)
• The psychopedagogical utilisation of children drawings 
• Teachers’ education and professional development
• A sociopedagogical approach to issues such as Human Rights Education, Emotional and Social Education, Otherness and the Uniqueness of every human being, Democratic Education, Intercultural Education, Vulnerable social groups, Prevention and addressing of antisocial and antidemocratic behaviour.

She has overseen and conducted numerous research programmes, many of which focus on dealing with various sociopedagogical issues that highlight the establishment, consolidation and application of the “social pedagogical ethos” to individuals and groups. This “ethos” leads to a systemic transformation of culture (i.e. of the school, the family, the wider school environment, the local community etc.), so that it can eventually be imbued with democratic values and principles and create the respective attitudes and behaviours in individuals and groups.

Her research work led to the creation of the following three Models:

Α) Transdisciplinary Social Pedagogic Model / “Syn-epistemic Wholeness” (focused on dialectic synergies among disciplines, epistemologies, methodologies, research strategies, practices, ways of learning, knowledge and among scientists, researchers and all other stakeholders)

Β) Social Pedagogical Intervention Model for Refugee families by Students / SPIM4ReSt Model (with a focus on the emotional and social education and support of unaccompanied refugee children and refugee families by the students)

C) Syneducation Model [with emphasis on interactive education, mutual mentoring, collaborative learning between children and adults, in collaboration with Ioannis Kekes, with whom they coined the term “Syneducation (Synergy + education)” in 2005]

She has been teaching modules pertaining to her aforementioned academic interests over a number of years at both the Undergraduate and Postgraduate levels at NKUA as well as at other Universities that she works with.

Undergraduate modules (current):

1. Social Pedagogy: Theory and Practice 
2. Communication between School, Family, and Community 
3. The Pedagogical Utilisation of Children Drawings 
4. Creativity in Education and in Society 

Postgraduate modules (current):

1. Social Pedagogy 
2. Instructional/Educational Design utilising Social Pedagogy and Social Neuroscience
3. Intercultural  Education

As part of the Social Pedagogy modules, she teaches at Undergraduate and Postgraduate level, she has been organising Workshops and Practicums for her students taking place in primary and secondary schools and within sociopedagogical institutions with a focus on methods and techniques which help foster and enhance the concepts of Social Pedagogy.

In 2015, she founded the first Master’s Programme in Greece with the title: “Social Neuroscience, Social Pedagogy and Education” (joint collaboration between the Pedagogical Department of Primary Education, the School of Medicine and the Department of Biology of the NKUA), which she directs to this day. The Programme explores and puts to use the inter- and transdisciplinary synergies between the aforementioned fields.

She is also Director of the Laboratory of Experimental Pedagogy at the PDPE of the NKUA.

She was the NKU representative for Innovative Pedagogies at CIVIS / European Civic University.

She collaborates regularly with distinguished Universities abroad where she has been a research fellow and a visiting professor multiple times.

She has published a number of books (16) and has contributed several articles (in excess of 130) to various international and national peer-reviewed journals and publications pertaining to her aforementioned academic interests.
Among other editorial activities, she was the Guest Editor of the first Special Issue of the International Journal of Social Pedagogy titled ‘’Social Pedagogy in times of crisis in Greece’’ (2015, London: UCL Press /Institute of Education).