Programme structure
The specialization in Education and Social Change: Childhood and Youth Studies (ESCY) is a two-year full time study consisting of 120 ECTS.
This specialization has the following structure (all courses are mandatory):
- 45 ECTS master's thesis
- 30 ECTS specialization
- 25 ECTS methods
- 20 ECTS introduction
| 4th semester | MIED4190 – Master Thesis | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3rd semester | MIED4320 – Childhood and youth studies: Critically assessing the literature | MIED4030 – Methods III - Education and Social Change: Childhood and Youth studies (ESCY) | |||||
| 2nd semester | MIED4020 – Research Methods II | MIED4190 – Master Thesis | |||||
| 1st semester | MIED4010 – Research Methods I | ||||||
| 10 credits | 10 credits | 10 credits | |||||
First semester with joint lectures
During the first semester you will have two courses. The first course: ‘The Norwegian Education System in its Nordic Context’ (20 ECTS) consists of two parts. Part 1 will introduce you to ‘the Norwegian education system. In addition, it will introduce you to the notion of ‘the Nordic Education model’, how it affects Norwegian education and how it relates to the European idea and other educational models. The course will lay the groundwork for the specialisation courses in the first, second and third semesters. This first part of the course will be held together with the students in the other specialisation: Higher Education studies.
Part 2 of the course will introduce you to your area of specialisation (ESCY). It discusses childhood and youth studies from historical, social change and cross-cultural perspectives within the larger contemporary global context and with reference to the ‘Nordic Education model’.
You will also have the first research methods course (10 ECTS) during the first semester together with the Higher Education studies students. This course introduces you to a set of methodological issues and approaches essential for empirical research in social sciences.
Speeding up on your specialisation journey
Based on the introduction in the first semester, the second semester delves into our selected key thematic research areas within ESCY, along with a course aimed at supporting you in planning your master’s thesis and a continued focus on research methods. The specialisation course will introduce you to the main theoretical perspectives on contemporary social change before discussing theories and empirical research related to the key thematic areas pertinent to contemporary children and youth--digitalisation, the blurring of boundaries between formal and informal learning, migration, and new and emerging manifestations of social inequalities. We will examine how these processes affect, and affected by, children and young people and their education in various socio-cultural and national contexts. This course will offer an opportunity for an informed and critical study of how childhood and youth are constructed within ‘The Nordic education model’.
Further strengthening your foundation
To further prepare you for the master’s thesis, the specialisation course during the third semester is meant to strengthen your skills and general competencies needed in applying and critically evaluating research literature. We will also offer you a methodological course about developing research instruments, doing fieldwork and data analysis.
Conducting and finishing your own research
The previous semesters have provided you with the knowledge, skills and competences required for successfully undertaking your thesis research. During the fourth and last semester, you will independently write your thesis under the supervision of your supervisor.
Honours certificate
Are you academically ambitious? It is possible to supplement your master's degree with an honours certificate worth 20 credits. You take the certificate concurrently with the master's programme.
Diploma and degree
This programme leads to the following degree: Master in Education; Specialization: Education and Social change: Childhood and Youth Studies
The diploma is issued when you have completed the courses that meet the requirements for a degree. Read more about diplomas.