SOS2140 Social work in welfare services Course description

This course focuses on the mandate of the labour and welfare administration, specifically the social services’ tasks, measures and benefits. Law and social work are integrated in the course. The students will also gain insight into the relationship between help and control and the exercise of power that may impact voluntary and involuntary measures proposed for users of social services. The students will practise applying rules of law using authentic, but fictitious, case studies as their point of departure. The students will meet ‘fictitious’ people in vulnerable life situations who require financial counselling, financial assistance and/or other practical assistance. The course entails close collaboration with NAV Sagene university clinic.   

The inter-professional teaching programme ‘Communication with Children, Youth and their Families’ INTER1200 will be taught at the start of the course. See INTERACT’s website for a more detailed description of the content of INTER1200: https://www.oslomet.no/forskning/forskningsprosjekter/interact

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 follow-up of individuals with complex needs for assistance in the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV)  

• has broad knowledge of the requirement for individual assessment of assistance needs in NAV  

• has knowledge of poverty, financial problems and unemployment  

• has knowledge of key financial benefits, financial counselling and the Debt Settlement Act to prevent and remedy individuals’ problems with debt and finances   

• has knowledge of counselling, health clarification work and the implementation of measures in practice  

• has knowledge of how to facilitate user participation through mapping and case processing  

• has knowledge of the importance of documentation in case processing and proper record-keeping   

• has broad knowledge of the Act relating to social services in the labour and social welfare administration (Social Services Act), circulars and general administrative law   

Skills  

The student:  

• can apply rules of law, provide information about rights and obligations and exercise judgement in a legal and social work context.   

• can prepare basic patient record notes and draw up decisions that, from a social work perspective, are ethically justifiable and legally correct   

• can meet and assist individuals with different needs with respect to counselling and financial assistance  

• can apply professional knowledge of work-related inclusion when working with job seekers, employers and other partners  

• can reflect on dilemmas surrounding the choice of voluntary vs mandatory measures  

• can analyse how policy and structural framework conditions affect social work in NAV  

General competence  

The student:  

• has insight into work as an objective and means of securing an income to ensure financial independence  

• has insight into the responsible conduct requirement in connection with assessment, mapping and guidance  

• has insight into how to exercise judgement in situations with inadequate and/or contradictory information  

• has insight into the relationship between help and control, the exercise of power and ethical problems relating to the social work carried out in NAV  

The teaching methods vary between subject-integrated teaching in plenary sessions, and assignments in groups based on up-to-date, authentic and anonymous cases. Feedback will be provided on the group-based assignments.

The following must have been approved in order for the student to take the exam: 

1. Three written coursework requirements in groups comprising a case where the students practise assessment, mapping and case processing in NAV.  

The groups will submit three written coursework requirements during the course. Continuous written and oral feedback will be given on the coursework requirements. 

If the coursework requirements are not approved, the student will be given the opportunity to submit an improved version once. The required coursework will be assessed together as approved/not approved.  

If the student fails to submit one or more of the coursework requirements, they will be given the opportunity to submit a compensatory coursework requirement within a stipulated deadline. 

An individual written home exam, 48 hours. The answer paper should be 8-10 pages long. Font and font size: Calibri 12-point. Line spacing 1.5. The approved citation style APA for assignments must be complied with. The point of departure for the exam is a case study, which will be published one week before the first day of the exam.   

Candidates who fail or who were absent from the ordinary exam for a valid reason can take a resit/rescheduled exam.

All aids are permitted, as long as the rules for source referencing are complied with.

Grade scale A-F.

The exam papers are assessed by one internal and one external examiner. At least 25% of the exam papers will be assessed by two examiners. The grades awarded for the papers assessed by two examiners form the basis for determining the level for all the exam papers.