ØASPR2300 Professional English: Course B for exchange students Emneplan

Aesthetics and Special Needs is one of the courses under Nordic Childhoods. It focuses on Nordic culture where nature plays an important role in society, aesthetics and in work with children. Joint events with the other Nordic Childhoods courses, are integrated as overnight trips and outdoor excursions. We also visit schools, kindergartens and other institutions. We focus on play, learning by doing, experience and workshops.

Aesthetics has not been a common way of approaching children with special needs. This course tries to change this by focusing on the value of aesthetics for children with special needs. The course is interdisciplinary, and takes a holistic approach to the field.

Aesthetics are important for everybody, also including children and young people with special needs. Through literature, storytelling, music, dance, drama and other aesthetic acts we perceive and understand the world and ourselves. Through aesthetics we perform and collaborate with others. For some children and young people lack verbal language; have problems with emotions, communication and interaction or find it hard to take other perspectives; aesthetic communication becomes is particularly important. The aim of this course is

1. to enhance knowledge about and discuss the relationship between children and young people with special needs and aesthetic expressions,
2. to introduce ways of working in practise with different kinds of aesthetic expressions when targeting various kinds of special needs.

The course is interfaculty and explores different disciplines, and ways of conceptualising and practicing aesthetics with respect to a variety of special needs.

Target group

The course is designed for students who want to learn more about children and young people with special needs in programmes of professional study programs and fields such as Health Sciences, Social Sciences, Educational and International Studies, and Technology, Art and Design.

Admission

For students at the faculties of Health Sciences, Social Sciences, Educational and International Studies, and Technology, Art and Design:

Students must have completed at least one year of their undergraduate degree studies in order to be accepted.

For international exchange students:

• Admission as an international exchange student at Faculty of Education and International Studies. Students from other academic areas may also be accepted. Students must have completed at least one year of their undergraduate degree studies at their home institution in order to be accepted.

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

Knowledge

The student

• has knowledge of aesthetics and different aesthetic approaches
• has knowledge of historical changes in the views on children and young people, normality and deviance, inclusion and exclusion

Skills

The student is able to

• work creatively with aesthetics and children and young people with special needs
• reflect on work with children and young people with special needs
• communicate with children and young people through aesthetics

General competence

The student

• has an understanding of aesthetics and its value to children and young people with special needs
• has an understanding of the value of perspectives from different subjects, professions, trades, arts and sciences
• is able to analyze and discuss how to understand and respond to children and young people with special needs

Managerial accounting requires development of knowledge and skills through practice. The course content is presented by means of lectures, discussions and group work based on cases and exercises.

The teaching consists of about 55 periods.

In addition to lectures there are case studies, group work, assignment review, discussions, student presentations, and written assignments. Regular attendance and active participation in classroom activities are expected. Independent study is required.

All examination support materials are permitted. However, sources must be stated in accordance with applicable rules for source References.

An individual written and oral exam will be held at the end of the spring semester. The student gets two separate grades, one for the written and one for the oral exam, and the exams can be taken again separately. The written exam counts 53% of the final grade and the oral exam counts 47%.

Written exam (5 hours) consisting of three parts:

• a Norwegian-English translation and vocabulary exercise
• a text for comprehension and analysis, and questions from the syllabus in English for Business Studies
• an essay on a topic from British society

Oral exam (20 minutes) consisting of:

• presentation of a topic from British society
• discussion/reflection on one of the cases, a work of fiction or selected texts called 'British Perspectives'.

Both exams must be passed in order to pass the course.

Part 1 will be reviewed and graded by internal examiner.

The second assessment will be reviewed and graded by internal and external examiners

The exam will be evaluated by an internal and an external examiner.