Study plan - Kindergarten Teacher Education

Learning outcomes

Knowledge:

The candidate:

• has knowledge about kindergartens in Norway, including the kindergarten's characteristics, history, social mandate, statutory basis and governing documents.
• has broad knowledge of education and in the kindergarten subject areas, about leadership and facilitating educational work and about children's play and learning processes.
• has broad knowledge of how the education of children is conducted, about modern childhood, children's culture, children's different conditions for growing up, backgrounds and development in a society characterised by linguistic, social, religious, life philosophy and cultural diversity.
• has broad knowledge of children's linguistic development, multilingualism, social, physical and creative development and dawning digital, reading, writing and mathematics skills.
• has broad knowledge of children's rights and about what characterises an inclusive, equal, health-promoting and learning kindergarten environment.
• is aware of national and international research and development work with reference to the kindergarten teaching profession and can update his or her own knowledge in the subject area.

Skills:

The candidate:

• can use his or her professionalism and relevant R&D results to lead and facilitate children's play, curiosity, learning and development and can justify his or her choices.
• can evaluate, stimulate and support different children's all-round development in collaboration with the home and other relevant stakeholders.
• can use his or her professionalism for improvisation in play, learning and communication.
• can evaluate, stimulate and support children's different abilities and take children's different backgrounds and circumstances into account.
• can promote creative processes and cultural and natural experiences, with the focus on children's creative activity, total learning and perception of achievement.
• can use relevant academic tools, strategies and forms of expression in learning processes, in educational work and in interaction with the home and relevant external stakeholders.
• can identify the specific needs of individual children and against a background of professional assessment, take rapid action.
• can lead and guide employees, critically reflect on his or her own practice and adjust this under guidance.
• can find, evaluate and refer to information and subject matter and present this so as to clarify a problem issue.

General competence:

The candidate:

• has insight into professional ethical issues, especially relating to responsibility, respect and power perspectives.

can plan, lead, implement, document and reflect on educational work connected with the kindergarten's content and tasks in line with ethical requirements and guidelines and on a basis of research and experience based knowledge.

• is proficient in the Norwegian language, both bokmål and nynorsk, in a qualified manner in a professional context.
• can draw global, national, regional, local and multi-cultural perspectives, characterised by respect and tolerance, into the work of the kindergarten.
• has change and development competence, can lead educational development work and contribute to creativity and in innovative processes for the kindergarten of the future.
• can communicate key subject matter verbally and in writing, can participate in academic discussions in the various subject areas of the programme and share his or her knowledge and experience with others.

Practice

Practice:

Organisation, content and scope

Guided practice has a scope of at least 100 days during the course of the bachelor programme. 95 days will be in kindergartens and 5 days will relate to the connection between kindergarten and school. Preparation for and follow-up work after practice are mandatory and are not included in these 100 days. Practice is integrated into all six areas of knowledge and into the specialisation units.

During practice, students will be present for 6.5 hours a day. This includes a half-hour lunch break. Students are expected to take part in the everyday activities of the department/base and to perform the tasks that are given by practice teachers and the university college. Guidance is given during the hours students are present in practice.

Practice teaching is a joint responsibility between the educational institution and the practice field. It is assumed that all those involved will participate in the development, implementation and evaluation of practice. The controller/unit manager of the kindergarten has overall responsibility for facilitating good conditions in the practice teaching

The practice teaching will be organised so that students

• Will develop their performance competence in interaction with children, parents and employees
• Reflect on their own actions, attitudes and academic knowledge (basic educational views) in their encounter with children and adults
• Perceive the connection between theoretical teaching, tasks and practice
• Meet the requirements for progression, independence and responsibility as educational leader
• Are challenged in didactic work in connection with both formal and informal situations

Practice tuition has a requirement for 100% attendance. Absence due to illness may be documented by means of self-certification or a doctor's certificate. Only absence du to own or their children's illness and granted leave will be approved.

Students will not be able to have practice in their own kindergartens, with two important exceptions: Spring of the 3rd study year in the area management, collaboration and development work and the 4th study year in respect of the specialisation unit.

Assessment in practice

Practice will be an integral part of the course plan for the individual area of knowledge and specialisation. Subject teachers, educational leaders, practice teachers and the controller/unit manager all have a responsibility for assessing the student in practice, but the practice teacher has overall responsibility.

Practice is a specific part of the examination for the area of knowledge and will be assessed as Pass/Fail. A student with a mark of Fail in practice can still take the examination in the other sections of the area of knowledge, but will not be awarded study points until the practice has been marked as passed.

A student must have a mark of Pass in all practice periods in one study year to continue to the next study year. If a student has a mark of Fail in a practice period in one year, he or she must wait until the next study year before being able to retake the practice. It is not possible to retake the same practice period more than once. If a student has a mark of Fail for the second time for the same practice period, the programme must be discontinued.

A student can withdraw from practice up to one week before the practice begins. If the student withdraws from practice after this deadline without a valid reason, the student will be deemed to have used one practice attempt for the practice in question.

Teaching

Students will receive tasks that are to be worked on between meetings. These may be things to test out in the kindergarten, observations and various types of written work both individually and in groups together with other students etc. Group work may be performed both during the physical meetings and over the internet.

In workplace-based kindergarten teacher training, the kindergarten becomes an important learning arena with tasks to be resolved and tested out at the individual workplace.

Assessment

Evaluation will reflect the students' academic and inter-disciplinary knowledge and understanding of the different themes in the areas of knowledge. Evaluation will be in accordance with the descriptions of learning outcome in the study programme and in accordance with the individual area of knowledge/specialisation. There will be variation in the educational assessment - and forms of examination and the diversity of the content and methods will be safeguarded.

Each area of knowledge has study requirements that must be approved in order to take the examination.

Written and verbal study requirements in this area of knowledge are both individual and in groups.

Information about the form that assessment takes appears in the subject description for each individual subject and is reviewed by a person with academic responsibility at the start of the semester. Otherwise, refer to the Regulations for examinations at Stord/Haugesund University College for more details.