Revitalization of the Norwegian Network

May 1, 2017 | Article, Norway

In December 2015 the PowerUs representatives at LUC invited to a meeting in an attempt to revitalize the Norwegian network. The invitation was sent to all schools of social work in Norway. Representatives from five different colleges/universities took part in the meeting. The goal for the network is to strengthen service user involvement in the education programmes, exchange experiences, and support and inspire each other. The participants at the meeting agreed to try out a model developed at the University of Agder where persons with service user experiences supervise social work students. The intention is to try out the “the Agder Model”, with local adjustments, towards the summer of 2017 and to present the experiences at the EASSW conference in Paris. For more information see Fløistad/Kvammen, M. (2014) Mellom fag og erfaring – møte mellom erfaringsveiledere og sosionomstudenter i praksis [Between discipline and experiences – meetings between supervisors with service user experiences and social work students]. In A.M.Støkken (ed): Innovasjon og utvikling i sosialt arbeid.[Innovation and development in social work] Bergen, Fagbokforlaget. ( http://fagbokforlaget.no/?isbn=9788245015362 )

At the meeting a working committee was elected: Liv Altmann from Lillehammer University College and Mette Fløistad Kvammen from the University of Agder. The network wants more participants, and encourage all that might be interested to contact the working committee: liv.altmann@hil.no ormette.f.kvammen@uia.no

Liv Altmann, Tove Hasvold and Ole Petter Askheim have, in connection with the network meeting, written the article “Initiativ for å styrke brukerinnflytelsen i sosialfagutdanningene» [Initiative to strengthen the social work studies] in the journal Fontene 3/2016.

Liv Altmann and Tove Hasvold gave an introduction about the PowerUs network and gap mending methods at the joint meeting for the National Professional Council for education and research within child care, social work and social education [Nasjonalt Profesjonsråd for utdanning og forskning innen barnevern, sosialt arbeid og vernepleie] The meeting took place in Oslo, 14.04.2016

Liv Altmann og Tove Hasvold have written the article  “Brukerinvolvering i sosialfaglig utdanning. Hva kan “gapmending” pedagogikken bidra til?” (Service User Involvement in social work education – do gap mending methods have any long term effects? Experiences from the Norwegian Course “Meeting face to face create insights. The article was pulished in Fontene Forskning nr 2/15.  The article presents a follow up study of students who have participated in the course “Ansikt til Ansikt gir Innsikt” (Face to Face Creates Insights) that has been a subject at the social work education programmes at LUC. (http://fonteneforskning.no/?app=NeoDirect&com=6/19/386196/f4814c1ff3&t=Brukerinvolvering_i_sosialfaglig_utdanning  )

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Report from Vilnius

The ERASMUS strategic partnership Experiential Knowledge met in Vilnius in May. You can read more here.