Educational outcomes for pupils in disadvantaged circumstances in Europe lag behind those of their more fortunate peers (Breen, 2004; Husbands, 2010). In recent years a number of initiatives have taken place in Europe to explore whether a more personalised system of support for pupils experiencing difficult circumstances can better meet the needs of at-risk pupils, particularly for those children living in relatively deprived urban settings (Cameron and Moss, 2007; Coussée et al., 2010). Social pedagogy has a long tradition in Europe of helping to meet the needs of such children, including those in residential care (Kornbeck and Jensen, 2009; Petrie et al., 2006). This paper explores whether adopting a social pedagogic approach in schools could play an important role in addressing the needs of a broad range of at-risk pupils. The theoretical framework for this paper was driven by the writings on social pedagogy of Natorp at the beginning of the 20^th century, and contemporary attempts to incorporate his key ideas into a modern theory of social pedagogic practice (Stephens, 2010).

     This paper draws on the findings of a study which aimed to identify how a sample of over 500 student teachers in England and Norway viewed the role of the school in addressing the needs of pupils identified by schools as giving a cause for concern. This study arose out of an on-going collaboration between researchers in England and Norway based on a common interest in improving teacher education and contributing to social justice. This collaboration has led to publications which have covered issues such as the policy and practice regarding teacher education in the two countries, the views of student teachers concerning their motivation for becoming a teacher, and the views of student teachers concerning how best to deal with pupil misbehaviour (e.g. Kyriacou et al., 2007; Stephens et al., 2000). More recently, this collaboration has begun to explore issues concerning the role that could be played by social pedagogy in schools (Kyriacou et al., 2009).

     Two research questions guiding this study were: firstly, to what extent do student teachers in England and Norway feel the school should take the lead role in addressing personal and social problems experienced by pupils that the school has identified as a cause for concern?; and, secondly, are there differences in the views expressed by student teachers in England and Norway.

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