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yqK 37.048.43
BAKKEN ANNE MARIE, Lecturer, Department of Health and Social Care, Harstad University College (Harstad, Norway). Author of 11 scientific publications
FROM WORK ExPERIENCE IN ADVANCED TRAINING OF NORWEGIAN TEACHERS INATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER
The article presents the experience of building competence of educators in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in Norway. The course “Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Tourette syndrome, Asperger syndrome” is included in the curriculum of “Special education”. The course is divided into training modules of 10 credits (points). The courses are funded by regional administrations and local authorities, who pay for staff training, thus supporting the state system of special education. Some students are trained on a reimbursable basis. The course “Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Tourette syndrome, Asperger syndrome” is popular among Norwegian professionals involved in supporting and helping these children and their social environment. The first module of the course (10 credits) is also taught in Arkhangelsk, at the Institute of Medical and Biological Research, NArFU named after M.V. Lomonosov. There are plans to continue training for Russian teachers involving both Norwegian and Russian lecturers.
Keywords: training courses, Bologna Process, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Tourette syndrome, Asperger syndrome.
Norwegian scholars need new and more updated knowledge of ADHD. At Harstad University College we have in addition chosen to focus on two more groups of diagnosis: Tourette and Asperger syndromes.
Today, the basic teacher education in Norway takes little notice of special needs education. The training is mainly a three years’ basic course mostly dedicated to practical work in classes from preschool to high school. When interviewed, newly graduated teachers say they have little or no competence when it comes to special education. Still, they need to have certain knowledge and do appropriate adaptations and adjustments when meeting students with these
diagnoses. The classes are mixed, so there may also be other behavioral issues or syndromes, making the relevant competence a necessity in order to create a good learning environment, inclusiveness and enjoyment for all.
It is important to focus on this lack of competence of newly educated teachers, because special needs of these children and youth should be considered at all levels of their education. Everybody should be guaranteed a complete and inclusive education, but in today’s Norway, competence in special needs is insufficient.
A number of experts believe that this competence can be raised by paying more attention to special
© Bakken A.M., 2014
education in the various teacher training courses. Different authorities have encouraged each college and university to strengthen the position of special education teachers in their profession. This would promote the necessary competence of teachers-to-be, so that students with special needs get individualized education that is essential for their development.
The goal of the Bologna Process, which started in 1999, was to create the European Higher EducationArea by 2010. Many of the major changes we have seen in recent years in the university and college sector originate from this process. A total of 46 countries in Europe participate in it, with Norway being eager to contribute to this large European community within higher education. While this is a great advantage, we have to make sure it does not hinder our cooperation with the rest of the world.
With the increased mobility across borders today, we secure the quality of our own and others’ education and research. We encourage and promote greater mobility of students and European cooperation to secure the quality of higher education, comparable grading and a common system of credits.
In the Norwegian system of education, we have implemented a reform to ensure that all teachers stay updated through taking extra classes and courses within their profession. In a typical class in Norway, there can be considerable differences in the students’ abilities. Today’s teachers have a great responsibility to teach students at their level. With average teachers lacking the essential knowledge in special education, when even teachers with competence in this area did not have proper insight into the diagnoses, creating a professional development course with primary focus on these three conditions seemed to be both necessary and important. We could, of course, have chosen other groups of diagnoses, but through our contact with practitioners in this field, Harstad University College saw a great need for knowledge of these particular disorders across the different schools in Norway. Our target group is therefore professionals working in all kinds of institutions from kindergartens to high schools.
A government report covering culture for learning points out that the extent of behavioral problems in our schools is increasing.
Problem behaviour can be divided into three groups:
- behaviour hindering teaching and learning,
- extreme physical and verbal behaviour,
- antisocial behaviour.
It is emphasized that behavioral issues at school may be understood as failing to meet the school’s expectations and requirements. In view of this, teaching and learning management are important factors helping to prevent behavioral problems. It is therefore a major challenge to make sure that both the school and parents have the competence needed to raise their consciousness on behavioral problems: main causes, different approaches and last but not least, concrete measures.
The department stresses the importance of developing competence in this profession. The last decade in particular has seen a considerable increase in the number of children and young people being diagnosed with these disorders. An interest in and attention to ADHD has started to grow [1-3].
Our course at Harstad University College offers an introduction to the basic perspectives of serious behavioral problems in general and an overview of particular signs of the diagnoses in question. The relevant and concrete actions to be taken at school and at home are also covered.
The course aims to increase the competence needed when working with children, youth and adults inhibited in their learning and development as a consequence of lacking social competence and social skills and/or due to emotional problems. In addition, the course promotes a preventive system-oriented approach to these learning barriers and gives an introduction to what ADHD, Tourette and Asperger syndromes are, as well as provides knowledge of social competence and how it is developed.
The target group is anybody working with children, youth and adults diagnosed with ADHD, Tourette and Asperger syndromes, as well as parents, relatives or others interested in learning and behavioral problems.
The admission criteria are a bachelor’s degree or an equivalent and at least one year of relevant work experience.
The course is entitled “Further education in special pedagogy: ADHD, Tourette and Asperger syndromes”. Part 1 gives 10 credits, completed as a part-time study during one semester, consisting of three workshops, each lasting for two days. All in all the students have 36 hours of classes. This first part of 10 credits has been held twice in Arkhangelsk. The participants were qualified psychologists, teachers or special education teachers aged between 25 and 50. In total, 60 students have completed this course that Harstad University College has the professional and administrative responsibility for. Fifty percent of the lecturers involved were Russians, and the other 50 percent were Norwegians. The supervisors were Russian special education teachers, while the censors were both Norwegian and Russian.
Evaluation: The Students evaluate each
meeting. We have chosen to focus on the individual’s learning. Russian students gave us
a positive feedback emphasizing that team assignments and teamwork were new for them and very useful. The integrated perspective in the team assignments was also highlighted.
When it came to ADHD, the students had already had some competence in the diagnosis, but Asperger’s and Tourette’s turned out to be a new field that they wanted to learn more about. Around 90 percent wished to continue part two in the autumn of 2009 so we applied for funding from the Barents Secretariat.
Harstad University College used its own funds to hold the first course in Arkhangelsk, while the second one was supported through the Barents Secreteriat with 150 000 (one hundred fifty thousand) Norwegian kroner.
The course aims to provide a deeper knowledge about ADHD, Tourette and Asperger syndromes to people working with children, youth and adults, with particular focus on the learning environment and development for individuals with these diagnoses. We hope to have achieved this goal.
References
1. Attention-DeficitDisorders and Comorbidities in Children, Adolescents, and Adults. Ed. by Brown T.E. American Psychiatric Press, Inc. 2000. 671 p.
2. Barkley R.A. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. New York, London, 1998. 628 p.
3. Faraone S.V., Biederman J. Neurobiology of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Biol. Psychiatry, 1998, vol. 48, pp. 951-958.
Баккен Анне марие,
институт здравоохранения и социальной работы Университетского колледжа г. Харстада (Норвегия)
ИЗ ОПЫТА РАБОТЫ КУРСОВ ПОВЫШЕНИЯ КВАЛИфИКАЦИИ НОРВЕЖСКИХ ПЕДАГОГОВ ПО ПРОБЛЕМЕ СИНДРОМА ДЕфИЦИТА ВНИМАНИЯ С ГИПЕРАКТИВНОСТЬЮ
В статье представлен опыт повышения квалификации работников образования по проблеме синдрома дефицита внимания с гиперактивностью в Норвегии. Курс «Синдром дефицита внимания с гиперактивностью, синдром Туретта, синдром Аспергера» включен в учебный план по специальности «Специальная педагогика». Весь курс разделен на учебные модули объемом
10 зачетных единиц (баллов). Финансовая поддержка курсов, осуществляемая региональными администрациями и коммунами, которые оплачивают обучение сотрудников, является поддержкой государственной системы специального образования. Часть слушателей обучаются на компенсационной основе. Учебный курс «Синдром дефицита внимания с гиперактивностью, синдром Туретта, синдром Аспергера» является востребованным среди норвежских специалистов, участвующих в поддержке и оказании помощи детям с этими нарушениями и их социальному окружению. Первый модуль данного курса объемом 10 зачетных единиц также преподавался в Архангельске, на базе института медико-биологических исследований САФУ имени М.В. Ломоносова. Планируется продолжение повышения квалификации российских педагогов с участием норвежских и российских преподавателей.
Ключевые слова: курсы повышения квалификации, Болонский процесс, синдром дефицита внимания с гиперактивностью, синдром Туретта, синдром Аспергера.
Контактная информация: адрес: N0-9404, Harstad, Norway, Havnegata, 1;
e-mail: anne.bakken@hih.no
Рецензент - ИордановаЮ.А., кандидат биологических наук, доцент кафедры специальной педагогики и психологии Северного (Арктического) федерального университета имени М.В. Ломоносова
