Culture and Identity – Nordic Childhoods (BLH3210, BLH3220)

This course is designed for students from early childhood/preschool and primary school teacher education institutions, but students from other relevant academic areas may also be accepted.

You must:

• have completed at least one year of your undergraduate degree studies at your home institution, and
• bring a valid police clearance form to Oslo in order to visit schools and kindergartens

International exchange students select courses when applying for exchange.

The application deadline is 1 October.

 We will investigate and discuss the complex matter of Culture and Identity and have a special focus on early childhood and education in Norway.

We live in a global world and have become internationally conscious to a degree that was unthinkable in previous generations. This globalisation affects everybody, including children in kindergartens and schools. Many children are also brought up in a country different from their parents’ home-country.

The course treats the concepts of Culture and Identity from a theoretical perspective, as well as from a practical point of view. The cultural background of the participants will be a vital resource in our discussions. The setting of Oslo, as an increasingly multicultural city, will also be an arena for contextualisation.

Topics:

• Cultural Identity and Cultural Awareness
• Childhood and Identity Construction
• Intercultural Communication, theory and practical experience
• Culture and World-View
• Culture and Religion
• Culture and Ethics
• Human Rights and Childhood
• Cultural Identity and Racism
• Traditions, Festivals, and Rituals
• Processes of Globalisation
• Global Consciousness
• Cross-Cultural Competence
• Social Commitment in a Globalised World

You will visit kindergartens and schools for twelve days (30 ECTS) and six days (20 ECTS). In order to do this, you must hand in a valid police clearance from your home country at the beginning of the course.

Examples of excursions:

• 22 July Centre
• the International Museum of Children’s Art
• the Sami exhibition at the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History
• various places of worship such as a Christian church and a Muslim mosque

For more information about this course, take a look at the course description (student.oslomet.no).

There is no semester fee for exchange students.

The final course diploma will be based on: 

• active participation in class, including individual presentation of one's own culture
• a minor paper on a subject treated in the course
• fieldwork paper, with following presentation in class
• Addition for the 30 ECTS option: final oral exam, based on the fieldwork and the course literature