SP9260 Children in the Welfare State: Understandings and Research Approaches Course description

This course addresses children's position in a welfare state context, children's everyday life within Childhood institutions like Kindergarten and School, in families and in encounters with welfare services and state professional's. The course has particular emphasis on academic traditions that contribute to contextualized analyses of the everyday life, upbringing and development of boys and girls; sociocultural theory, intersectional theory and interdisciplinary childhood studies. The rights of children and young people, with particular emphasis on their right to participation, are a topic in the course. Methodological approaches to investigating connections between children's different everyday arenas with their varied relationships, activities and internal connections, are presented. Modes of knowledge compricing children's understanding of themselves and their situation are central  in the course. The reading list for the course includes classic and recent texts from Scandinavian and international childhood research.

No prior knowledge requirements

After completing the course, the candidates are expected to have the following knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

Candidates have

• thorough knowledge of selected important childhood research traditions and their theoretical and methodological aspects
• balanced knowledge about the rights of children and young people and participation processes in some of the welfare state's professional fields

Skills

Candidates have

• analytic knowledge about differences between children related to gender, social class, ethnicity, age and physical ability/disability, including how differences are created and interact, and how they are assigned general cultural meaning as well as specialised meanings in relation to how professionals understand and with children
• a scholarly and systematic basis for designing and conducting studies about and involving children (aged 0-18) who are directly or indirectly influenced by the welfare state system

General competence

Candidates are capable of

• assessing and identifying new research questions in the field
• taking part in debates in national and international forums

Teaching is organised as a combination of lectures, group work and presentations of the participants' own projects. 

Participation is mandatory, and candidates are expected to attend all days of teaching. A minor absence (up to 20 %) may only be accepted under certain circumstances and upon application. In the event of absences that are not approved, candidates will lose their right to have their essays assessed.   

An essay of 8-10 pages must be written in connection with the course. The essay shall take the candidate's project as its point of departure and be related to the course content. The essay must be handed in for assessment by the teacher responsible for the course no later than two months after the end of the course. A passed essay is a precondition for being awarded the 5 ECTS credits. If the essay is awarded a fail grade, the candidate can submit a revised essay once, by a specified deadline.

All examination support material is allowed as long as source reference and quotation technique requirements are applied. 

Passed - Failed

The essay will be graded by the course lectures.

The target group for the course are candidates from the PhD programme in Social Work and Social Policy, but it will also be open to PhD students on other programs who wish to study the field in dept.

Internal candidates register the course in their Studentweb and send a summary, maximum one page, of their project to the PhD administration.

External candidates apply through the Søknadsweb. The following documentation must be enclosed:

1. Confirmation on admission to a PhD program

2. Summary of your research proposal (approx.one page) and how this PhD course will be relevant for your research project

Maximum number of participants is 15.