Bachelor's Programme in Social Education Programme description

The Bachelor's Programme in Social Education is a three-year programme of professional study (180 credits). Students who complete the programme are awarded the Bachelor’s in Social Education, which forms the basis of applying for authorisation as a social educator in accordance with the Act relating to Health Personnel. The programme description has been drawn up in accordance with the National Regulations relating to a Common Curriculum for Health and Social Care Education and the Regulations on National Guidelines for Social Education Programmes adopted by the Ministry of Education and Research. The programme was established under the Act relating to Universities and University Colleges and the Regulations relating to Studies and Examinations at OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University.

According to the Regulations on National Guidelines for Social Education Programmes, the purpose of the education is to be an evidence-based and practice-oriented programme of professional study in the field of health and social care that qualifies graduates to practice health, care and welfare services in a lifespan perspective. The programme is also to ensure competence and attitudes that form a basis for equal provision of services for all groups in society, including the status of the Sami as an indigenous people and their rights to linguistically and culturally adapted services. The candidate is expected to have knowledge of impairments and societal conditions that create disability, and particular expertise in habilitation and rehabilitation, health promotion and health care. The candidate is also expected to have knowledge of complex needs and intellectual disabilities.

The programme qualifies students to cooperate with service users, next of kin, other service providers and parties to promote self-determination, participation, mastery of functional skills, health and quality of life. The education is intended to provide society with candidates that have the professional expertise necessary to ensure that disabled people have the same opportunities for personal development and self-realisation as others. After completing the programme, the candidates are expected to have a high level of ethical awareness, good communication and cooperation skills, and be capable of working in a goal oriented and systematic manner to provide services characterised by critical and innovative thinking.

This is a multidisciplinary programme that combines knowledge from the health sciences, psychology, educational pedagogy, and social sciences including law. The programme provides a systematic introduction to ethics, health promotion and health care, habilitation and rehabilitation, and inclusion and rights. Critical thinking, evidence-based practice and facilitating change and development are vital elements in the programme. Safeguarding participation and the rights of disabled people, particularly persons with intellectual disabilities, are recurring themes in the programme. The programme facilitates the development of multicultural competence, respect and tolerance.

The programme's academic profile is based on evidence-based and interdisciplinary change work with an emphasis on applied behaviour analysis.

Relevance to working life

A bachelor's degree in social education qualifies students for work in public and private health and care services, as well as in educational institutions such as kindergartens and schools. Social educators can also work in more specialised services such as substance abuse services, mental health, habilitation and rehabilitation, child and adolescent psychiatry, the educational and psychological counselling service, etc.

Relevance to further education

The Bachelor's Programme in Social Education qualifies students for admission to several master's programmes. Master's programmes in health and social care are particularly relevant. Some master's programmes in pedagogy may also be relevant.

The programme's target group is people who want to contribute to changes that promote coping and improve living conditions and quality of life for disabled people and people with different needs for assistance in cooperation with recipients of services and other service providers in different arenas.

Acts, regulations and guidelines in different parts of the health, care and education sectors use different terms to refer to disabled persons, children and pupils to whom services are provided. In this programme description, we use the term ‘service recipient’.

After completing the Bachelor's Programme in Social Education, the candidate is expected to have achieved the following overall learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

The candidate

• has broad knowledge of the development of the service provision for persons with intellectual disabilities and is familiar with the development and traditions of the social educator profession
• has broad knowledge of communication, interaction and cooperation
• has broad knowledge of habilitation and rehabilitation
• has broad knowledge of the relationship between health, disability, and illness in an individual, social and lifespan perspective
• has broad knowledge of symptoms and treatment of the most common somatic illnesses and mental disorders
• has broad knowledge of participation, inclusion, equality, non-discrimination and human rights, including the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
• has knowledge of research methodology, measurement, principles and concepts relevant for assessing scientific quality
• has knowledge of welfare technology and of how such technology can be used in services to support the resources of each individual and their opportunities for coping and independence
• has knowledge of social conditions and cultural diversity with a bearing on professional practice at the national and international level

Skills

The candidate

• can cooperate with service recipients in applying relevant methods in assessment and testing to identify goals, interests and needs to form a basis for measures and facilitating change
• can practice applied behaviour analysis in change, education and/or health and care work
• can contribute to good public health through empowerment, participation, health promotion and prevention of illness in a lifespan perspective
• can identify symptoms of illness and take necessary action, including obtaining assistance from other health professionals to ensure that health care is provided in a professional sound manner
• can carry out medication handling in a professional sound manner
• can apply up-to-date knowledge of the health and welfare system, applicable legislation, regulations and guidelines in their practice to ensure that service recipients receive equal and professionally sound services
• can apply academic knowledge, scientific methods and relevant research and development results as a basis for understanding practical and theoretical issues and make well-founded choices in his/her professional practice
• can plan, carry out and evaluate counselling/supervision of individuals and groups undergoing learning, coping or change processes

General competence

The candidate

• has insight into relevant academic and ethical issues related to social education practice and can identify, reflect on and deal with them with professional discretion in his/her practice
• has insight into new theories, processes and methods required to carry out coordinated, systematic and evidence-based milieu therapy, habilitation and rehabilitation for disabled people in general and intellectual disabilities in particular
• can, in cooperation with service recipients and other professions, plan, carry out, document and evaluate safe health care and habilitation/rehabilitation with an emphasis on applied behaviour analysis, including projects that take place over time 
• can use relevant forms of expression to communicate academic opinions and evidence-based practice in order to contribute to self-determination and equal participation in society for disabled people
• can be inventive and plan and carry out service innovation to contribute to systematic quality-enhancing work in cooperation with service recipients, next of kin, and other service providers and parties
• can reflect on his/her own academic practice and adjust it on the basis of feedback and supervision
• is familiar with global challenges facing disabled people and professional practice in an international perspective

The programme is a comprehensive course of study in that its academic content, teaching methods and practical training are linked. There should be a clear link between the learning outcomes described, learning activities and forms of assessment. The work and teaching methods and the areas covered in the programme are organised to promote both theoretical understanding and practical action competence.

The programme comprises fifteen compulsory courses. The courses include skills training and theoretical teaching activities at the university and practical training off campus.

Each academic year has a scope of 60 credits and lasts for 40 weeks. The programme is a full-time course of study over three years. Students are normally expected to spend 40 hours per week on their studies, and this also applies during periods of practical training. This includes organised learning activities, self-study activities, required coursework and exams.

Each course has a scope of 5, 10, 15 or 20 credits. The courses that make up the programme build on each other to ensure gradual progress, both in terms of theoretical knowledge and practical skills. All the courses conclude with a final assessment. The course descriptions provide more details about learning outcomes, work methods, coursework requirements and exams.

First year of the programme

The first year of study provides an introduction to the professional field and role of the social educator, the welfare state and important framework conditions for professional practice. The situation of service recipients is also highlighted as well as factors that influence their development and quality of life. Furthermore, there is a focus on health promotion, care and health care.

Second year of the programme

The courses in the second year of the programme build directly on the courses taken during the first year. The second year starts with practical training in health promotion, care and health care, followed by more in-depth studies of the service recipients’ challenges and mechanisms in society with a bearing on its view of people with disabilities. The mutual influence between individuals and society will be a key aspect of the course, together with what this means to the professional role. The fourth semester focuses on learning and habilitation/rehabilitation, with an emphasis on applied behaviour analysis. This year of the programme provides a thorough introduction to how to analyse behaviour and facilitate the environment to allow disabled people to lead the best possible life. Knowledge from different knowledge areas is synthesised.

Third year of the programme

The emphasis is on professional practice in two periods of supervised practical training. Habilitation and rehabilitation with an emphasis on applied behaviour analysis continues. The students choose an area for in-depth studies for their specialisation. The in-depth study includes the bachelor's thesis. Management and providing counselling/supervision are important elements during this year.

Interprofessional courses taught jointly with other professional education programmes at OsloMet

The Bachelor's Programme in Social Education includes the following joint courses that also form part of other programmes at the university:

VERB1060 Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) in Health Care, 5 credits

INTERACT (Interprofessional Interaction with Children and Youth), required coursework integrated into other courses in the programme description.

In VERB1060 students learn about evidence-baced practice with a focus on critical thinking and shared decision-making. For more details, see the individual course descriptions.

INTERACT(Interprofessional Interaction with Children and Youths) is an interdisciplinary teaching project at OsloMet, where students from both the health and social care subjects and the teacher/kindergarten teacher education programmes meet in interdisciplinary groups. The purpose of this is to ensure that the students acquire the skills needed to meet society’s demand for better coordination of services that concern children and young people. INTERACT is based on pedagogical principles of interactivity and spiral learning, with extensive use of digital learning and assessment tools to support learning. The teaching programme is carried out at the beginning of January each academic year. See https://www.oslomet.no/forskning/forskningsprosjekter/interactfor more details.

Study progress*

The following progression requirements apply in the programme:

• For the second-year course VERPRA10, the coursework requirements in VERB1210 and VERB1510 must be approved, and the courses VERB1100, VERB1600, VERB1300 and VERB1400 from the first year of study must be passed.
• For the second-year courses VERB2100, VERB2200, and VERB2300, the first-year courses VERB1100, VERB1600, VERB1300, VERB1400, VERB1510, and VERB1210 must be passed.
• For the third-year courses VERPRA21 and VERB3200, the coursework requirements in VERB2300 must be approved, and all other credit-earning courses from the second year of study must be passed.
• For VERB3100, coursework requirements in VERB2300 must be approved, and VERPRA21 as well as all other credit-earning courses from the second year of study must be passed.
• In order to start VERPRA35 all credit-earning courses in the 2nd year of study as well as VERPRA21 be passed.
• VERPRA21, VERB3100 and VERPRA35 must be passed in order to submit the bachelor's thesis VERB3900 for grading.
• There are requirements for participation in the interprofessional teaching programs in INTERACT (INTER1100, INTER1200 and INTER1300), which must be approved in order to be awarded a diploma.

* Exempt from progression requirements: The course VERB1060 Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) in Health Care and INTERACT are exempt from progression requirements in the programme and can be started even if the other courses have not been passed.

Internationalisation can help students to see their own discipline in a bigger picture and in a different cultural context, thus contributing to the development of the discipline and global understanding. The students gain international professional experience and experience of communicating subject matter in a language other than their 1st language. Internationalisation can also help to enable students to deal with national and international diversity and work in a multicultural society.

Internationalisation takes place both through activities on campus and by taking part of the programme at educational institutions or practical training arenas abroad.

OsloMet has exchange agreements with educational institutions and practice placements in Europe and worldwide. The autumn semester is adapted for incoming exchange students. The semester can be adapted in different ways depending on which courses the student wants to take, see the list below (week numbers may vary from one year to the next).

Courses adapted for incoming exchange students

The following courses are made available to incoming exchange students in cooperation with the Bachelor’s Programme in Psychology with an Emphasis on Behaviour Analysis:

• VERPRA21 Practical Studies in Social Education, 15 credits
• PSYK2100 Research Methods 1 – Introduction to Quantitative and Qualitative Methodology, 10 credits
• VERB1060 Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) in Health Care, 5 credits
• PSYK1420 Behaviour Analysis 1 – General Principles of Behaviour Analysis, 10 credits

Courses adapted for outgoing exchange students

Part of the fifth and the entire sixth semesters are adapted for outgoing exchange students. This covers the courses VERPRA21, VERPRA35 and VERB3900.

Reference is otherwise made to the criteria that apply to student exchanges and the information about stays abroad.

Required coursework is all forms of work, tests and compulsory attendance that are requirements for a student to be assessed/permitted to take the exam. Required coursework is assessed as approved/not approved. The rules concerning cheating in the Act relating to Universities and University Colleges, the Regulations relating to Studies and Examinations at OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University and the Guidelines for Dealing with Cheating and Attempt at Cheating in Connection with an Examination at OsloMet also apply to required coursework.

The coursework requirements for each course are described in the relevant course description. The purpose of coursework requirements is to

• contribute to students achieving the learning outcomes in the courses
• promote progress and academic development in the programme
• encourage students to seek out and acquire new knowledge
• facilitate cooperation and communication on social education issues

It is the students’ responsibility to ensure that coursework requirements are met by the deadlines stipulated.

Most of the coursework requirements in the programme concern compulsory attendance, written assignments to be submitted individually or in groups, multiple-choice tests, group work that may be supervised, oral presentations and feedback to fellow students.

Attendance requirements

A compulsory attendance requirement applies in some courses to ensure that the students have the necessary basis for achieving the learning outcomes. Compulsory attendance requirements are stipulated for skills training, group work, oral presentations and academic supervision. The specific attendance requirements are described in the course description; 90% for practical training and 80 or 100% for parts of theoretical courses.

If a student exceeds the maximum limit for absence, the person responsible for the course will consider whether it is possible to compensate for absence by meeting alternative requirements, for example individual written assignments. Whether or not it is possible to compensate for absence depends on the extent of the student's absence and which activities he/she has missed. Absence that cannot be compensated for may lead to delayed progress in the programme.

Written assignments

Several courses have written assignments as required coursework. Written assignments that are not approved must be reworked before re-submission. If the work is not approved on re-submission, the student cannot take the ordinary exam/assessment.

The student is entitled to a third attempt before the resit/rescheduled exam. If a piece of required coursework is not approved, this may lead to delayed progress in the programme. More detailed requirements for written work, deadlines etc. are set out in the teaching plan for the course in question.

Digital tests

In some courses, the students must take individual digital tests as required coursework. The tests are taken via the university's digital platform. Whether or not the test is approved depends on the percentage of correct answers. The requirement is usually 80–100%. Some of the tests can be taken several times until the minimum requirement is achieved. For other tests, there are deadlines for submission, and students are entitled to a third attempt before the resit/rescheduled exam.

A digital test must be approved within a set deadline in order for the student to be able to sit the ordinary exam. If a piece of required coursework is not approved, this may lead to delayed progress in the programme.

Different forms of assessment are used in the programme that are adapted to the learning outcomes of the different courses. Suitability assessments are carried out on a continuous basis. The forms of assessment used are intended to support learning and document that the students’ competence is adequate in relation to the applicable learning outcomes, and to be in accordance with the programme requirements. The students will receive advice and supervision and have their performance assessed during the programme.

Exams and practical training are assessed in accordance with the applicable rules set out in the Act relating to Universities and University Colleges, the Regulations relating to Studies and Examinations at OsloMet and the Guidelines for Appointment and Use of Examiners at OsloMet.

The forms of assessment are described in the individual course descriptions. All passed exams and practical training will be stated on the diploma, along with the title of the student's bachelor's thesis.

Suitability Suitability assessments of all students are carried out on a continuous basis throughout their studies, cf. the Regulations concerning Suitability Assessment in Higher Education. Diplomas for the completed programme will only be awarded to graduates who are suited to practise the profession. A student who represents a potential threat to the physical or mental health, rights and safety of his/her patients and colleagues is not suited for the profession.

Suitability assessments are made on a continuous basis throughout the study programme and will be included in the overall assessment of the students' professional and personal suitability for work as health personnel. Students who demonstrate little ability to master the social educator profession must be informed of this at the earliest possible stage of the programme. They will be given supervision and advice on how to improve or be advised to leave the programme. Special suitability assessments are used in special cases, cf. the Regulations concerning Suitability Assessment in Higher Education.

Exams and assessment All courses conclude with an exam. The assessment is based on the learning outcomes for the course and decides whether the student has achieved the specified learning outcomes. In theoretical courses, the grades used are pass/fail or letter grades from A to F, with A being the highest grade and E the poorest pass grade. The grade F means that the student has failed the exam, meaning that the learning outcomes have not been achieved. The grades pass/fail are used for the assessment of practical training.

Most courses have required coursework that must be approved before the student can sit exam. See the course descriptions for more details.

Resit and rescheduled exams are carried out in the same manner as the ordinary exam unless otherwise specified in the course description.

For exams where a percentage of the exam papers are selected for assessment by an external examiner, the external examiner's assessment shall benefit all the students. In such cases, one external and one internal examiner will first grade the selected papers. The internal examiner then continues grading the remaining papers together with another internal examiner. The assessments from the first part are summarised to serve as guidelines for the assessments carried out by the two internal examiners. The course descriptions state which exams this arrangement applies to.

The grade awarded for a written exam can be appealed, cf. Section 5-3 of the Act relating to Universities and University Colleges and the Regulations relating to Studies and Examinations at OsloMet. It is not possible to appeal the grades awarded for oral and practical exams. In a group exam, the result of an appeal will only have consequences for the candidates who have submitted the appeal. This means that all members of the group do not have to participate in the appeal.

Assessment of supervised practical training The supervised practical training is assessed as passed or failed. Three elements must be passed in order for students to pass a period of practical training:

• Compulsory attendance
• Learning outcomes
• Suitability

To pass the supervised practical training, the student must have met the compulsory attendance requirement. A minimum attendance requirement of 90% applies to practical training courses. If the maximum limit for absence is exceeded, the student can make up for the practical training/teaching activities missed if practically possible. If it is not possible to compensate for the absence, the whole period of supervised practical training must be retaken. This will result in delayed progress in the programme.

External programme supervisor

The study programme has an external programme supervisor in accordance with the Guidelines for Appointment and Use of Examiners at OsloMet. The external programme supervisor is charged with evaluating the programme's structure and coherence, including the relationship between the learning outcomes as described in the programme description, the work and teaching methods and assessment arrangements. The external programme supervisor should normally supervise all the courses in the programme over the course of a three-year period and provide feedback and advice that the academic environment can use in its further work on the quality of education.

Approval

The programme description is based on the National Regulations relating to a Common Curriculum for Health and Social Care Education, adopted by the Ministry of Education and Research on 6 September 2017, and the Regulations on national guidelines for social education programmes adopted on 15 March 2019.

Most recently approved by the Head of Department 9 April 2025.