Course Objectives
The aim of main course III is to help students expand their knowledge of, 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 roots of practice-oriented professions, and the range of actions and potential for change inherent in them. Main course III provides the students with an opportunity to develop their understanding and skills in practice areas which they may consider particularly challenging and interesting. The main course will provide the students with a basis for enhancing their abilities to reflect, argue and re-orientate themselves when engaging in professional health and social work. The intention is to make one’s own working role and profession into an object of continual assessment with respect to traditional interpretations, and contribute to professional practices encouraging increased solidarity and 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: ORGANISATION AND SYSTEMS
7 ECTS
The aim of course unit 9 is that students will acquire in-depth knowledge and understanding of organisational structures, culture and the current political and ideological transformation underway in, among other things, public services in a global context. The students will reflect over how the logic of liberal free-trade ideology influences the ethical and moral considerations which the accepted administrative tradition imposes on the public sector, and exercise the ability to critically reflect on how the professional role of the child-welfare worker is influenced by political and organisational changes.
The content of the course unit consists of theories and research regarding the principle theoretical approaches to organisations, various ideologies of management, health and social policies, globalisation, relevant legislation, role-interpretation and ethical reflection.
Teaching and learning methods: The course unit is built on teaching and learning methods that provide students with an understanding of organisation and systems, and provide an opportunity to practice how to handle professional and ethical dilemmas which appear when, for example, the public sector is organised with greater focus on market-liberalism-orientated values. Lectures and group work will be used through the entire course unit.
Assessment: Course unit 9 includes one assignment for the assessment portfolio.
Course unit code: 070HEMN3 9-1
Assessment assignment 9-1: Organisation and systems
The assessment portfolio is based on a written text and will give the students an opportunity to discuss the relationship between the value-foundation of an organisation and the choice of concepts. Individual answers. 2000 words. The letter grade achieved constitutes 30% of the grade for Main Subject III.
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 students identify elements that will promote or obstacle cooperation, and develop the students’ awareness of their own cooperative skills.
For the BA in Social Education and the BA in Child Welfare Work Studies Studies, course unit 10 contains, in addition, an introduction to the basic theory for working in 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 functionally disabled children and in evaluating deficit of parental care and problems associated with 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 practice exercises and presentations in plenary, fieldwork and self-study.
Assessment: Course unit 10 contributes one assignment to the documentation portfolio:
ourse unit code: 070HEMN3 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 STUDIES
16 ECTS
The objective of course unit 11 is to provide the individual student with an opportunity of professional specialisation through internship studies. The course unit is organised so that students will learn how to work methodically and gain experience in a field of practice they are particularly interested in. In addition, the organisation of the internship will provide students with more awareness of the diversity of professions in their own field of study, 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 studies representing a wide range of practice arenas in Norway and abroad. The assignment of specialisation subjects 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 Child Welfare Work Studies and BA Social Education Studies at Telemark University College provides the opportunity of conducting internships abroad. The students’ specialisation assignments and internship placement are organised to be professionally challenging and relevant to the respective curriculums’ intentions and aims.
Teaching and learning methods: Course unit 11 is organised in the same way for both BA Child Welfare Work Studies and BA Social Education Studies. The internships are 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 plenary.
Assessment: Course unit 11 requires one assignment for the assessment portfolio, and one assignment for the documentation portfolio:
Course unit code: 070HEMN3 11-1
Assessment assignment 11-1: Reflective note on methodical specialisation
During the internship, the student will write a professionally oriented and analytical reflective note based on the students’ interest for the area of specialisation and experiences from the internship. Students will individually draft problem approaches relevant for the internship. Based on their personal experiences from the internship students should be able to reflect in their reflective note on the professional aspects of the internship institution’s activities, teamwork and relationships. Students will be challenged 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 problem to be analysed in the reflective note, together with reasons and arguments, should be submitted to the subject teacher within three weeks of beginning 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: 070HEMN3 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 an opportunity to take a critical look 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 vulnerable groups.
The content of the course unit includes three main areas: scientific theory and methods, an in-depth 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 specialisation 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 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 marginalised and groups at risk, and the preservation of their human dignity. In addition, the course unit discusses the importance of a critical approach towards one’s own professional practice regarding being aware 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 specialisation 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: 070HEMN3 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 of study.
Written specialisation 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 Subject III. 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: 070HEMN3 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.