BLH3310 Aesthetics and Special Needs – Nordic Childhoods Emneplan

Aesthetics are important for everybody, also 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. Because some children and young people lack verbal language; have problems with emotions, communication and interaction or find it hard to take others perspectives; aesthetic communication becomes extra important. The aim of this course is

1)    to enhance the knowledge of and discuss the relation between children and young people with special needs and aesthetic expressions,

2)    to introduce ways of working practically with different kinds of aesthetic expressions when targeting various kinds of special needs.

The study is interfaculty and explore different disciplines- ways of conceptualizing and practicing aesthetics with respect to a variety of special needs.

Target group

The course addresses students encountering children and young people with special needs in professional study programs and fields such as Health Sciences, Social Sciences, Educational and International Studies, and Technology, Art and Design.

Admission

For students at Department of Early Childhood Education:

-       Admission to Bachelor Programme in Early Childhood Education. Special requirements applies, please see "Programplan for bachelorstudium i barnehagelærerutdanning, heltid"/"Programplan for bachelorstudium i barnehagelærerutdanning, deltid". Students in their third or fourth year of the Primary School Teacher Education program at Oslo and Akershus University College may also apply.

For students at Faculty 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 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 have acquired the following learning outcomes, defined as knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

The student

·         has knowledge about aesthetics and different aesthetic approaches

·         has knowledge about connections between body, gender, sexuality, feeling, cognition and aesthetics

·         has knowledge about historical changes in the view upon children and young people, normality and deviance, inclusion and exclusion

·         has knowledge about receiver orientation in communication and collaboration with children with special needs and media

Skills

The student is able to

·         accomplish and perform an aesthetic project for children and young people with special needs

·         transfer her/his understanding of what characterizes children and young people with special needs and aesthetics in and between different institutional frames

·         reflect about work with children and young people with special needs

·         communicate to smaller children and young people through aesthetics

General competence

The student

·         has an understanding of the importance of the physiological and psychological health for mastery, experience and community

·         has a understanding of aesthetics and its value for children and young people with special needs

·         has an understanding of the value of autobiography as a method to be critical about own learning

·         is able to analyze and discuss how to understand and respond to children and young people with special needs from their own perspectives

The course is organized as a full time study for one semester.

The course have the following content:

·         Special education

·         Inclusion

·         Children and young people with special needs

·         Aesthetics

·         Ethics

·         Physical and psychological health

·         Play, development, identity and relations

·         Genres, multimodal texts and digital platforms

·         Verbal language, aesthetic perceptions and expressions

·         Music, drama, puppet play, storytelling and other performances and aesthetic acts

·         Aesthetic communication

·         Cultural sharing

·         The sensing body/The body and its surroundings

·         Literature studies/theories

·         Lectures and supervisions

·         Excursions, workshops, seminars

·         Cultural exchanges/discussions

·         Individual and group papers/performances

·         Self-study

·         Project work

·         Digital blog

·         Dramatization

·         Stop animation/radio theater

·         Story telling

·         Visits and practice in school, kindergarten and other institutions

·         Interactive learning forms, including digital media

Four individual and three group requirements must be passed in order to take the exam. Aesthetics and/or children and young people with special needs are supposed to play an important part in the work requirements.

Individual:

1. Story telling (maximum 5 minutes)
2. Theory presentation (maximum 7 minutes)
3. Participate in at least two excursions
4. Make an aesthetic production for children and young people with special needs.

In group:

1. Production of a drama (participate in the production of a drama, the production must last maximum 15 minutes)
2. Production of radio theatre/ stop-motion animation (participate in the production of a radio theatre or stop motion project, the radio theatre production must last maximum 7 minutes)
3. Blog production (participate in the production of a blog) about the course to help the students evaluate the course and his/her learning process

Coursework requirements shall be met within fixed deadlines. Coursework requirements are evaluated Passed/Not Passed.

Valid absence documented by such as a medical certificate is not an excuse from not meeting the coursework requirements. Students who, due to illness or other valid and documented reasons, do not meet the coursework requirements within the fixed deadlines, may be given a postponed deadline. A new deadline for meeting the coursework requirements is in each case agreed upon with the relevant teacher.

Students who meet the coursework requirements within the fixed deadline, but are evaluated as Not Passed, shall be given the possibility to meet the coursework requirements one more time. A new deadline for meeting the coursework requirements is in each case agreed upon with the relevant teacher.

The final exam consists of three parts:

Part 1: Aesthetic production in group for children and young people with special needs

Part 2: Individual reflection paper about the aesthetic production (around 3000 Words)

Part 3: Individual autobiographical and multimodal (for instance a movie) project where the student documents and reflects about his/|her process about making an aesthetic production for children/young people with special needs (maximum 3000 words or a movie on maximum 15 minutes).

New or postponed examinations

In case of failing the exam or in case of valid absence at the time of the exam, the student is entitled to make a renewed attempt the next semester. The re-examination will be arranged in the same manner as the regular exam, but the group exam will be individual. Regulations for new or postponed examinations are available in Regulations relating to studies and examinations at Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences. Students must register for a new or postponed examination.

Suitability assessment

(Applicable to Norwegian students only)

The teacher training institution is obliged to assess whether the students are suitable for the profession. Students who show poor aptitude in mastering the teaching profession, must as early as possible during the study, be informed about their position in relation to the requirements of teacher suitability, and, if applicable, obtain advice and guidance on how to improve, or be advised to terminate their study. Assessments on suitability may be made throughout the study period. The assessment of suitability must be based on a comprehensive evaluation which includes academic as well as pedagogic and personal qualities necessary to be able to function as a teacher.

See also regulations concerning assessment of suitability for teacher training.

All examination support material allowed

Part 1 will be evaluated pass/fail

Part 2 and 3 will be evaluated according to the ECTS-grading scale, with A-E as pass grades and F as fail grade. Criteria for the different grades will be presented to the students at the beginning of the course.

Part 2 is 60% of the total grade and part 3 is 40%.

The completion of the three parts will result in one final overall grade A- F

Part 1 will be reviewed and approved by internal examiner.

Part 2 will be reviewed and approved by internal and external examiners.  

Part 3 will be reviewed and approved by internal examiners.