Course Objectives

The aim of main course IV is to help students expand their knowledge, and gain a deeper ideological, professional and ethical understanding of the foundation and positions within practice-oriented professions. Students will develop a greater awareness of the foundation of practice-oriented professions, and the range of actions and potential for change inherent in them. Main course IV provides the students with an opportunity to develop their understanding and skills during their internship placements which they may consider particularly challenging and interesting. The main course will provide students with a foundation for enhancing their abilities in reflection, argumentation and reorientation in the exercise of professional health and social work. The intention is to make the professional’s working role into an object of continual assessment with respect to traditional interpretations, and contribute to professional practices encouraging increased solidarity, an unflagging dedication to people in distress and the protection of human worth and human rights in a globalised world.

Course Description

COURSE UNIT 9: ASSESSMENT OF THE LEGAL RIGHTS AND LIFE SITUATION OF THE PHYSICALLY DISABLED

7 ECTS

The aim of course unit 9 is to provide students with the opportunity to study legal topics in depth, especially in relation to the legal rights of the physically disabled in a welfare state. The course unit will contribute to providing students with a deeper understanding of functional disability as a social and cultural phenomenon, and of the functionally disabled’s own contribution to identity and cultural understanding and various forms of separate organisation.

The content of the course unit includes administrative procedures and caseworker’s positions in public administration, relevant contributions to organisation and leadership theory with special emphasis on the development of the public sector and the topic of culture, identity and functional disability. The topic of administrative procedures takes as its starting point chapter 4 of the Norwegian Social Services Act and the Act’s objects clauses. The introduction to organisation and leadership theory will focus on the role of team members in organisations. The topics culture, identity and physical disability will provide students with knowledge of and insight into cultural aspects of physical disability. The course unit will discuss the functionally disabled’s self-perception and the various explanations of functional disability in relation to how this remains stable and changes through social relations. Further, an examination of the opportunities and barriers the functionally disabled meet, and which conditions give functionally disability relevance.

Teaching and learning methods: The course unit employs self-study, lectures, discussion groups and presentations in class. Students will be given the opportunity to practice writing a case report and the possibility of individual response by the subject teacher.

Assessment: Course unit 9 requires one assignment in the assessment portfolio:

Course unit code: 060HEMN4 9-1

Assessment assignment 9-1: Case presentation

The assessment assignment is a complete case presentation (document in administration). The case presentation will deal with social services available to the functionally disabled according to the Norwegian Social Services Act, and the assignment must satisfy the minimum requirements regarding case procedure in public administration.

Individual assignment. (1000 words). Letter grade which counts for 30 % of the course grade for Main Course IV.

Course unit 10: CROSS-PROFESSIONAL COOPERATION

7 ECTS

The aim of course unit 10 is that students will acquire an understanding of and interest in cooperation with various professions with a wide spectrum of specialties in their future professional work. The course unit will provide students with theoretical, attitudinal and experience-based contributions to a reflective professional development. Particular emphasis is placed on understanding the need for cooperation with clients, client-groups, and various public services across administrative boundaries and cooperation with volunteers. In addition, the course unit forms part of a common commitment to the promotion of a comprehensive view of humanity which applies to all health- and social-worker training. Such an approach necessitates a common reference framework for professional practices in the health and social services and within other welfare-related arenas. At Telemark University College, this is among others expressed in course unit 10, in which all foundation courses at the Faculty of Health and Social Studies are responsible for participating in a common learning arena. A point which is stressed is that the students must acquire knowledge about shared challenges for health and social workers with respect to coordinating responsibility and professional contributions to the clients’ rights with respect to individual plans.

The content of the course unit is based on understanding the policy, formal, and legal conditions for cooperation, including a detailed review of the law concerning professional confidentiality which applies to the various services. It also includes a brief introduction to cooperation in various areas, and cooperation as a source of diversity, opportunities and limitations. Attention will be paid to cooperation with respect to clients, relatives, user-groups, various professional groups and interests, the significance of administrative levels, the importance of the market and the public sector’s cooperation vis-à-vis voluntary and private initiatives and organisations. The course unit will help the students to identify what elements will promote and or obstacle cooperation, and develop the students’ awareness of their own cooperative skills.

For the BA in Social Education Studies and the BA in Child Welfare Work Studies the course unit 10 contains, in addition, an introduction to the basic theory for working with groups and practice in using meetings as a form of cooperation. In addition, methodological guidelines based on solution-focused approaches, ‘empowerment’ values and the ‘independent living’ traditions will be presented. The course unit will also establish a basis for working with issues concerning the cooperation between child-welfare workers and social educators, for instance in working with physically disabled children and in evaluating deficit of parental care problems related to drug abuse, mental illness and the mentally challenged.

Teaching and learning methods: Course unit 10 demands a great deal of engagement, curiosity, participation and cooperative ability of the students. The work will take the form of lectures, group work with practical assignment and presentations in plenary, fieldwork and self-study.

Assessment: Course unit 10 contributes one assignment to the documentation portfolio:

Course unit code: 070HEMN4 DO1

Documentation assignment: The individual student must document an attendance rate of at least 75% for the entire course unit period. Instruction in the form of group work also counts towards this documentation requirement.

COURSE UNIT 11: METHODICAL SPECIALISATION/INTERNSHIP

16 ECTS

The objective of course unit 11 is to provide the individual student with an opportunity of professional specialisation through internship. The course unit is organised so that students will learn how to work methodically and gain experience in a field of practice in which they have a particular interest. In addition, the organisation of the internship will provide students with more awareness of the diversity of professions in their own field, and they will develop greater insight into the similarities and differences in methodical working practices of health and social workers in various fields.

The content of the course unit consists of internship representing a wide variety of practice arenas in Norway and abroad. The specialisation assignment is based on dialogues between the subject teacher and the students. The students will be given an opportunity to suggest practice arenas, but it is the university college’s responsibility to evaluate, quality assure and obtain agreements for practice contracts. Course unit 10 of BA Social Education Studies and BA Child Welfare Work Studies at Telemark University College provides the opportunity of conducting internship abroad. The students’ specialisation assignments and internship placement are organised to be professionally challenging and relevant in relation to the respective curriculums’ intentions and aims.

Teaching and learning methods: Course unit 11 is organised in the same way for both BA Social Education Studies and BA Child Welfare Work Studies. The internship is followed up with supplementary work. A substantial part of this supplementary work will take place in groups in which the students may exchange, compare and reflect over their own and others’ experiences. The students will discuss their knowledge and experiences from the practice training in the plenary.

Assessment: Course unit 11 requires one assignment for the assessment portfolio, and one assignment for the documentation portfolio:

Course unit code: 070HEMN4 11-1

Assessment assignment 11-1: Reflective note on specialisation in methodical working

During the internship, the student will write a professionally oriented and analytical reflective note. Based upon the students’ interest for the area of specialisation and experiences from the internship, each student will draft issues relevant for the internship. Based on their personal experiences from the internship the reflective note should reflect the student’s ability to reflect on the professional aspects of the internship institution’s activities, teamwork and relationships. The students will be challenged to try to identify ideologies, values, professional foundations and attitudes at the internship institutions and to analyse how these are expressed in the internship institution’s activities.

The issues approached in the reflective note, the relevant reasons and arguments, should be submitted to the subject teacher within three weeks after thebeginning the internship period, and the contact teacher will give a written and supervisory response to the student. Individual answer (1800 words). Pass/Fail.

Course unit code: 060HEMN4 DO2

Documentation assignment: The individual student must document a minimum of 75% attendance in the joint follow up sessions after the internship placement period in course unit 11.

Course unit 12: CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE ON THE STUDENT’S PROFESSIONAL SKILLS

30 ECTS

The aim of course unit 12 is to provide students with a critical attitude at their own professional practice in order to improve their ability to reflect upon and discuss issues in the field of health and social work. The students will become acquainted with current discourses in their own field of practice and discourses regarding the health and social professions’ contribution to social development and the legitimacy of their position in society. The students will work on assessing their future professional role and that of their own profession, and critically evaluate users’ needs and perspectives in the context of the scientific validity of the profession. In addition, the course unit will enhance students’ insight into the contexts which form the conditions for practicing health and social work, and further develop their skills in working methods which can help to improve the living conditions, quality of life and social status of groups at risk.

The content of the course unit includes three main areas: scientific theory and methods, a specialisation assignment, and a critical approach to health and social work. In the field of scientific theory and methods, we assume that our interpretation of reality, knowledge and view of human value are strongly influenced by scientific paradigms. Insight into the various scientific theories such as positivism, hermeneutics and critical theory will help us to achieve personal insight and gain distance (to enable reflection) from our own actions. Emphasis is placed on students’ understanding of scientific methods, so they will be able to understand and interpret research findings, adopt a critical approach to sources and carry out their own investigations. In addition, students will learn how scientific knowledge is acquired, so as to provide a foundation for practice, a principle condition for participation in discussions and the processes of change.

The in-depth assignment, in which the students will be given an opportunity to investigate a professionally relevant theme, will count for a minimum of 12 ECTS in course unit 12. The guidelines for the specialisation assignment will be described in more detail in a separate requirements document.

A critical approach to health and social work implies knowledge of the fundamental aspects of the modern and global society in which the main characteristics are fragmentation, polarisation, marginalisation, mobility and change. The course unit considers relevant approaches and aspects in the field of health and social work, seen in the light of processes and developmental trends in society. The students will learn about the human consequences of globalisation, as reflected by the professional challenges within the field of health and social work. Child-welfare workers and social educators have a special joint social responsibility for the care of groups at risk and marginalised people and the preservation of their human worth. In addition, the course unit discusses the importance of a critical approach towards one’s own professional practice regarding the awareness of power relations and disenfranchisement in the field of health and social services and society in general.

Teaching and learning methods: Course unit 12 employs individual study, lectures (both related to specific professions and common topics), and discussion and reflection groups as pedagogic tools. In addition, supervision and presentation of specialised assignments form an important part of the learning process for course unit 12.

Assessment: Course unit 12 provides one assignment for the assessment portfolio, and one assignment for the documentation folio:

Course unit code: 070HEMN4 12-1

Assessment assignment 12-1: Specialisation assignment and oral examination

The specialisation assignment will, as a rule, take the form of a written group project. The groups may either be composed of students from similar or different programmes.

Written in-depth assignment. 10 000 words. Letter grade which counts for 70% of the grade for Main Subject III.

The individual oral examination will be based on the specialisation assignment. In addition, the student may be asked questions from the obligatory or self-chosen syllabus in Main Course IV. The specialisation assignment must receive a passing grade prior to taking the oral examination. The grade for the specialisation assignment is given before the oral examination. The oral examination may influence the grade for the assessment folio 12.1. If the grade is F, the student will be permitted to re-sit by taking a weeklong individual written home-examination, followed by an oral examination along the lines previously described above.

Course unit code: 070HEMN4 DO3

Documentation assignment: The individual student must document an attendance rate of at least 75% participation in instruction connected with the themes of scientific theory and methods and critical approaches to one’s own professional health and social work.

Minor adjustments may occur during the academic year, subject to the decision of the Dean