Social Work Virtual Campus The Curriculum Plan for Community Work from an International Perspective

Presentation by: XX At the XXX V

Agenda About Community Work The development of the Curriculum Plan The Pilot course

Community Work Community work is a planned process to mobilize communities to use their own social structures and resources to address their own problems and achieve their own objectives. Community work focuses on participation and fosters empowerment, emancipation and change through collective action. As community work is an ideological, theoretical and practical approach to social life and the risk of social exclusion, it is ideologically sustained by a basic trust in people’s ability to improve their life chances. Society is the outcome of collective action and is perpetuated and/or changed by action.

About “Community” ‘Community’ can be understood in different ways, as geographical areas, interest groups, organisations or institutions. Community work rests on a basic democratic ideal, anti-oppressive practice, equality and solidarity with the affected individuals. It aims to generate and communicate new insights with a view to effecting change.

Community Work (CW) in an International perspective: Background: Post Welfare State Vulnerable people at a greater risk Social work can: By doing CW promote active citizenship As ”street-level- bureaucrat” gives important information about peoples every-day life Play an important role within CW

Active citizenship “... Participation and active citizenship is about having the right, the means, the space and the opportunity – and when necessary the support-- - to participate in and influence decisions and engage in actions and activities so as to contribute to building a better society” (Council of Europe 2003)

The Curriculum Plan The course consist of several parts: Focus on different theories, methods and approaches from a comparative perspective Study, analyse and compare experiences from field visits/CW projects in their own country Make a project-plan for a CW-project based on a virtual community case

Competence Based Curriculum Plan This course is competence based. That is an integration of knowledge, skills and attitudes, which means that a student not only requires knowledge, but knows how to use it and what kind of attitude is needed in a specific situation. Competences: Theories and Methods in Community Work Cooperation Professional Development

Expected learning outcomes The student is able to collect and analyze relevant information about communities and is able to report the findings. The student is able to see opportunities on macro-, meso- and micro- levels in communities and is able to create a plan for a community work project. The student is able to reflect on the understanding of a specific situation and is able to justify the chosen methods for community work. The student is able to reflect on his/her own continuing professional development.

Study Methods E-learning Weekly Programmes Task centred/solution oriented focus Individually and group work Reflection on learning Collaborative comparative work The course consist of virtual learning material: recorded lectures, triggers, a virtual community case (video and blog) presenting different milieu. Chat, “café” (informal discussions forum), Readings Transparent portfolio assessment

The Pilot Course The course in Community Work starts 25 January 2010 and ends 7 June 2010 Application before 1 November 2009 Intake of 55 students; primarily from partner institutions Students from the 2 nd year in a BA Social Work can apply Can also be a further education course for professionals social workers Application form and Curriculum plan will be available at from September/October 2009

Partners in SW-VirCamp (i): P 1- HiB: Bergen University College, Norway (coordinator) P2 - INH: Inholland University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands P3 - UCM: University of Complutense, Madrid, Spain P4 - HHJ: School of Health Sciences, Jönköping University, Sweden P5 - ISMT: Miguel Torga University College, Coimbra, Portugal P6 - HSM: Mannheim University of Applied Sciences, Germany P7 - Swansea: Swansea University, Wales, UK P8 - HSM: Mittweida University of Applied Sciences, Germany P9 - LPA: Liepaja University, Latvia P10-HIBO: Bodø University College, Norway P11-ULHT: Lusofona University, Lisbon, Portugal P12-KHKempen: KHKempen University College, Geel, Belgium

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