This document summarizes the academic status and challenges of social pedagogy/social education in Europe. It provides historical context on the development of social pedagogy in Spain and different streams of thought that influenced its development. These include French, Anglo-Saxon, German, and Latin American influences. It distinguishes social pedagogy from social work and discusses current challenges, which include establishing it as an autonomous discipline, connecting theory and practice, clarifying its relationship to other social professions, and building new knowledge through research.