The course is connected to the following study programs

  • PhD Programme in Social Sciences

Recommended prerequisites

The students must satisfy the admissions requirements for the PhD programme in Social Sciences.

Course contents

The thematic focal point in this course will be the changes and characteristics of development within the professions field. Historical and contextual factors which affect professional understanding, practice, and ethics will be emphasised in particular. In order to shed light on changes and compare across individual professions, the course will adopt a broad, research-based approach and include professional-sociological perspectives, philosophical analyses and phenomenological studies of people and relations.

The following themes will be central:

  • the profession’s autonomy and the relationship between profession and different management regimes

  • professions in between market, state and civil society

  • the knowledge basis of the professions, including a discussion of the relationship between theory and practice, and judgement and evidence

  • professional ethics and ethical challenges in practice

  • different relational and interactional processes connected to professional practice with emphasis on a phenomenologically-oriented understanding of relations, including the interaction with the service receiver

  • professional practice and gender

Learning outcomes

After completing the course, the students shall

  • have acquired a comprehensive overview of central elements in the growth and development of professions

  • be able to contribute to the development of knowledge about and for professions, through theoretical studies and/or interpretations of professional practice

  • be able to identify and analyse new challenges of a professional and ethical nature within the professions field, and take part in advanced discussions on such subjects

  • be able to situate their own research projects in relation to the professional research knowledge front

  • be able to challenge established knowledge and forms of practice

  • be able to contribute to the development of knowledge-based professional practice

Teaching methods

The teaching will be a combination of lectures, conversations with students and student presentations.

Evaluation

The PhD programme manager, in consultation with the student representative, decides the method of evaluation and whether the courses will have a midterm- or end of term evaluation, see also the Quality System, section 4.1. Information about evaluation method for the course will be posted on Canvas.

Assessment methods and criteria

Course paper, 15 pages. The paper will be assessed as a pass/fail. A pass is equivalent to the grade B or better.

Other information

For more information please contact:
Faculty of Social Sciences

Last updated from FS (Common Student System) June 30, 2024 6:42:15 PM