SOS2120 Professional interaction with children, youths and families in local communities Course description

In this course, the students will participate in skills training in groups to further develop their competence relating to the performance of social work, focusing on children, youth, families and local communities. Students will practise working with people in difficult life situations, and they will gain insight into and knowledge of how different power relations can affect relationships and professional collaboration with others. To acquire the professional competence required to work as a social worker, students must acquire self-awareness and knowledge and practise realistic situations.

By filming their training, the students are able to watch themselves and analyse their own conduct as future professionals. 

The course is taught in parallel with SOS2110 Social work with children, youth, families and groups. The courses develop the students’ understanding of how the practice of social work is rooted in the discipline’s theoretical and knowledge basis.

Students must have completed and passed the first year of the Bachelor’s Programme in Social Work.

After completing the course, the student should have the following overall learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

The student:

• has broad knowledge of communication and interaction skills when conversing with children and families
• has knowledge of how to cooperate with different agencies in a local community 
• is familiar with how to establish, coordinate, organise and lead cooperation meetings 
• has broad knowledge of group work as a method in social work and key elements of the organisation and management of groups

Skills

The student:

• can carry out conversations, and assess and prioritise relevant measures targeting users in different arenas 
• can recognize and assess undesirable incidents and risks in encounters with users in different arenas
• can apply their knowledge of interprofessional collaboration, organisation and management of cooperation meetings 

• can use an interpreter in interactions with users 
• can use digital platforms for communication
• can establish, organise and lead groups in different arenas and with different social problems
• can reflect on innovative solutions for inhabitants in a local community, based on the population’s participation

General competence

The student:

• can critically reflect on what affects professional interaction with individuals and families
• can reflect on their own values and attitudes and how they affect their professional practice
• can exercise professional judgement 

• can reflect on the importance of digital communication in professional practice and interaction

Teaching methods vary between lectures/seminars (e-lectures) and skills training with and without the use of filming.

In this subject, students will learn how work, housing, health, and health impact the quality of life. Work inclusion and social housing are essential parts of this knowledge. Work is a central arena for preventing social problems, fostering inclusion, and promoting social participation. Housing and living conditions are fundamental to an individual's well-being. How we live creates opportunities and limitations that affect our life chances in other areas, including in working life. Paid work contributes to self-understanding, providing extended rights and access to central benefits from the welfare state.Both characteristics of the labour market and challenges at the individual level, such as drug addiction, mental and somatic illness, functional impairment, and language barriers, can affect opportunities in the labour market. This is part of the social worker's knowledge of working life, where holistic follow-up may be necessary to obtain and maintain a job. The subject focuses on how the social worker can work purposefully with people in vulnerable life situations, including assisting them in establishing a suitable living situation and achieving inclusion in the workforce.

Students must have completed and passed the first year of the Bachelor’s Programme in Social Work.

After completing the course, the student should have the following overall learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

The student:

• has broad knowledge of the importance of work in relation to people’s health and welfare 
• has knowledge of the factors that regulate Norwegian working life
• has knowledge of the consequences of health-related and social challenges, including living conditions, substance abuse and mental health at the individual level 
• has knowledge of inclusion work involving marginalised groups in the labour and housing markets 
• is familiar with exclusion and inclusion mechanisms in the labour and housing markets 

Skills

The student:

• can apply professional knowledge and methods in their work on inclusion in the labour and housing markets

• can make overall assessments of the individual's living situation 
• can assess various inclusion and qualification measures in the labour and housing markets 
• can cooperate with job seekers on mapping their work-related challenges and possibilities 

General competence

The student:

• has knowledge of work as an objective and means in inclusion work and the combating of poverty 
• has knowledge of the preconditions for access to the housing and labour markets 
• can critically reflect on their own role in inclusion work 
• is familiar with the main characteristics and concepts of labour law

Teaching methods vary between lectures and student-active learning methods. The students will work on cases and practise methodically in groups.

No coursework requirements/compulsory activities.

An individual written home exam, 48 hours. The answer paper should be10 pages long (+/- 10%) . Font and font size: Calibri 12-point. Line spacing 1.5. The approved citation style APA 7 for assignments must be complied with. Candidates who fail or who were absent from the ordinary exam for a valid reason can take a resit/rescheduled exam.