Innovation in Child Welfare Practice

- the background for innovation in welfare services in general and in the Child Welfare Care, what motivates innovation both politically and professionally and experiences made from earlier innovation thrust in the welfare sector.
- newer directions in organisation science that emphasizes learning, human resource development and development in the interaction between research based and practice specific forms of knowledge, and
- interactive learning that builds on issues/experiences from the participants complicity in innovation projects and pratcical Child Welfare work.

Knowledge about:
- innovation and innovative processes in Child Care Work and measures
- issues that can promote or hinder innovation
- child welfare work with families with complex problems
- conditions for different types of innovative strategies in Child Welfare.

Skills:
- can reflect and argue for innovative work related to child welfare.
- can identify challenges ? different parties in innovation work.
- can analyze terms for good interdisciplinary interaction in change processes.
- can analyze and reflect around the users' situations and needs.

General competence:
- understand and see the context between organization, structure and culture and the gain for the users.
- can interact and contribute in relevant interdisciplinary innovation work.
- can show ethic insight and ability to understand the users situations and needs.

The course emphasizes lectures, different types of group work, self-study and submissions in seminars.