The target groups for the degree programme are professional practitioners who work with children, young people, the elderly, individuals, couples, families and groups within family counselling, child welfare, mental health care, drug and alcohol dependency, educational institutions and healthcare institutions, guidance in various contexts and in personnel and organizational work.

Why choose this programme?

• Close follow-up from teachers
• Stimulating and multidisciplinary learning environment
• Close cooperation with the field of practice
• Long and broad experience in the field
• Centrally located

The programme is divided into two fields of study

Students choose the field of study when applying for admission: Systemic Practice or Systemic Couples and Family Therapy. This choice is related to the student’s work placement during the programme, which means that the work placement must meet the content requirements for the option chosen.

1: Systemic Practice

Work placements can cover different types of work, such as counselling and guidance, group management, team work, networking, organizational work, educational work, skills development and different forms of crisis management, support conversations, adaptation, work to assist children and their families, and work with children, young people, the elderly, individuals, parents and groups.

2: Systemic Couples and Family Therapy

Work placements can cover therapy and therapeutic work with children, adolescents, the elderly, individuals, couples, parents, families and groups.

Clinical profession-based Master’s degree

The Master's degree is a profession-based programme that builds on the Bachelor's degrees in health, social studies and educational studies or the equivalent. The programme is closely linked to the student's work experience before and during the programme. It is a requirement that students undertake work placements and receive supervision throughout the programme.

Learning outcomes

After completing the Master’s degree programme, the candidate should have achieved the following learning outcomes, with respect to knowledge, skills and general competence:

Systemic Practice

• has in-depth knowledge of systemic practice, with specialized knowledge of the discipline’s theory of practice, values and systemic approaches
• has in-depth knowledge of the literature and research in the field and is informed by this, both nationally and internationally
• is able to analyse professional issues drawing on the programme's basic concepts, and take a critical approach that focuses on ethics, values and relations in systemic professional practice
• is able to collaborate and communicate with an awareness of the power relations, structures and discourses in society that affect the circumstances of people
• is able to work independently on different issues in complex contexts with the involvement of several parties, networks and large systems
• is able to carry out independent, limited research or development projects under supervision and in accordance with current research ethics standards
• is able to approach systemic practice in a reflective, versatile and insightful manner, and has developed a high level of sensitivity and self-reflection in their dealings with other people and systems in their professional practice
• is able to contribute to new thinking, professional development and research in collaboration with different professional groups, fields of practice and service users

Systemic Couples and Family Therapy

• has in-depth knowledge of systemic couples and family therapy, with specialized knowledge of the discipline’s theory of practice, values and systemic approaches
• has advanced knowledge of health promotion perspectives in couples and family therapy
• is able to analyse professional issues drawing on the theory of family therapy, and take a critical approach that focuses on ethics, values and relations in professional practice
• is able to apply specialized knowledge about children and families as an integral part of a therapeutic repertoire of tools
• is able to work independently on different issues in complex contexts with the involvement of one or more family members and networks
• is able to carry out independent, limited research or development projects under supervision and in accordance with current research ethics standards
• is able to carry out couples and family therapy in a reflective, versatile and insightful manner, and has developed a high level of sensitivity and self-reflection in their dealings with people
• is able to carry out independent research and development work and disseminate results from this in different contexts and to different target groups nationally and internationally

Work placement

Work placements take place at a professional enterprise where, over a period of time, students are responsible for planning and managing work based on a systemic perspective. A systemic perspective is defined here as work that builds on the theories and methodologies taught in the study programme. In addition to the students’ work placement institutions, VID also has some placements that the students can apply for from the second year of the programme.

Possibilities upon completion of programme

The programme qualifies students for positions in child welfare, family counselling, mental health care, educational institutions and healthcare institutions that require competence at the second cycle level. This includes positions that mainly entail therapeutic work with children,

young people, individuals, couples and families, and positions related to guidance, personnel and organizational work, supervision of professional practitioners and participation in interprofessional cooperation.

The programme also qualifies students for positions in the field of systemic family therapy, systemic practice and counselling.

Students who successfully complete the Master's degree can apply for admission to PhD studies.

Courses

• Theory of practice
• Professional approaches
• Perspectives, values and relations in professional practice
• Personal and professional development
• Science theory, research methods and research ethics
• Master's thesis

Offer to foreign exchange students:

https://www.vid.no/en/international/exchange-student/learning-possibilities/