1. INTRODUCTION

1.1    History

The education of Authorized Social Educators is relatively new. The first place to offer a three-year training programme was the school for welfare personnel at Emma Hjorts home which was established in 1961. The main emphasis here was on the protection and nursing of mentally retarded persons, which reflects the attitude of that time to the needs of this group. The title of Authorized Social Educator must also be regarded in the light of this. Rogaland College for Social Educators, or the School for Mental Handicap Nursing in Nærlandheimen as it was called at the time, was established in 1969 as the second of its kind in the country.

This training programme is based on the fourth framework plan for social educators. Up to 1979, the students followed the basic rules of 1963. The programme had specific subjects, and was written according to the pattern of nursing education and with great emphasis on nursing subjects. At that time the College was attached to the central institutions for the mentally retarded, and the training programme was somewhat characterized by a lack of models and methodology for work within the field. But the students contributed with their total commitment to improving the circumstances of the mentally retarded, and development in the institutions was positive. At the same time, in accordance with current political indications, the schools wanted to give priority to an ideology based on an integrated and decentralized range of services.

From 1980, the temporary basic rules made in that year were followed, these giving a subject distribution of 40 % mental handicap nursing, 25% medicine, 20% educational science and psychology and 15% social studies. There was also a tendency to reduce the practical part of the training compared to the former programme. In this period, the school gained the status of College, and a special committee for the training of social educators was set up. One of the responsibilities of this committee was to compile a new framework plan. The colleges developed and to a large extent began to use methodology oriented towards the social educator’s field of study. Normalization and the development of independence were significant elements here.

From 1989 the study programmes have been based on the thematic frame plan of 1988.  Several events occurred in this period which were of importance for the development of the training of social educators. The services for the mentally retarded were transferred from the institutions in the county municipality to the clients’ own residences. This entailed a change in the occupational function of the social educator, and placed greater emphasis on cooperation with government bodies and different disciplines as well as interaction between users of the services and the surrounding society. The transfer to the ordinary local authority support system also meant that social educators were working with more client groups than before. The organization of the health and social sector in relation to both client groups and districts meant that in their daily work social educators were involved with persons with mental illness, handicapped persons, those in need of care and others. This also led to the training programme and education being oriented towards people with disabilities of psychological, physical and social character.