Bachelor’s Degree in Educational Science – Psycho-Educational and Social Educator curriculum (L-19)

Study Programme Course L-19 – Psycho-Educational and Social Educator Curriculum

The Bachelor of Science Degree in Education and Training is aimed at training the professional socio-educational worker, professional figure capable of assuming specific roles:

in the sphere of educational services for children from 0 to 3 years, extracurricular services, for inclusion and prevention of hardship and school dropout;
in the sphere of interventions in socio-educational services for the development of the person and the territorial community, and in particular for: parenting and family services; educational services for equal opportunities; educational services for the promotion of well-being and health; educational, recreational, artistic-expressive and leisure services for subjects of all ages; services for the elderly; services for the integration of immigrants and refugees and for intercultural training; services for the reeducation and resocialization of detained subjects and services for the care of minors involved in the judicial and penitentiary circuit. In addition,
in personal services in support of cognitive-functional prevention and re-education, in order to respond to the promotion of physical, mental and social well-being, as well as a support capable of fostering inclusion in situations of different abilities.

Finally, considering the group of teachings of a psychological nature, the three-year graduate in Educational Sciences is able, within the social-health services to collaborate and support assessments of states of psychological distress and to follow them up at the pedagogical level with the implementation of ad hoc training interventions. The course of study, in particular, provides training that includes two addresses: a social pedagogical educator address, which develops knowledge and skills in the two situations of:

planning, designing, implementing, managing and evaluating educational and training actions of public and private services and the third sector;
working in the prevention of situations of hardship and social marginalization of individuals, households and particular categories of subjects (minors, adolescents, the elderly, drug addicts, the disabled, immigrants) and at the same time carrying out activities in services to the person, children and adults, in order to respond to the promotion of physical, psychological and social well-being, as well as to promote inclusion in situations of different abilities.

Finally, considering the group of teachings of a psychological nature, the three-year graduate in Educational Sciences is able, within the social-health services to collaborate and support assessments of states of psychological distress and to follow them up at the pedagogical level with the implementation of ad hoc training interventions

The course of study provides an educational pathway that includes two addresses. This address is set on the figure of the social pedagogical educator, who develops knowledge and skills in the two situations of:

planning, designing, implementing, managing and evaluating educational and training actions of public and private services and the third sector;
working in the prevention of situations of hardship and social marginalization of individuals, family units and particular categories of subjects (minors, adolescents, the elderly, drug addicts, the disabled, immigrants) and at the same time carry out activities in the services to the person, children and adults, in order to respond to the promotion of physical, psychological and social well-being, as well as to promote inclusion in situations of different abilities.

The two directions are linked by an initial basic course, which prepares students with basic theoretical knowledge and operational skills in the pedagogical and methodological-educational sciences, supplemented by knowledge and skills in the sociological and psychological disciplines, with a relative prevalence of theoretical knowledge, epistemological and methodological knowledge of educational issues in their various dimensions, as well as for children’s educational services, skills and competencies for the assessment of the abilities, as well as of young people with disabilities, of subjects of all ages, sedentary, active, and chronically ill subjects. In particular, activities are designed to develop the knowledge and operational strategies to intervene, both in conditions of psychosocial distress, in their various connotations, and in the prevention and recovery, of physical functions and cognitive functions by improving the related deficits that affect the results of the psychosocial rehabilitation pathway.

On the basis of the skills acquired, graduates with a degree in Education and Training Sciences will be able to carry out professional activities in public and private facilities, educational institutions, including those that carry out activities for children’s educational services (0-3 years), businesses and third sector organizations. Pursuant to Law No. 4 of January 14, 2013, the professions of social and educational professional educator are included in the scope of professions not organized in orders or colleges.

Educational Science Online
Professional Profile
Occupational Outlets Educational science
Educational Objectives Bachelor of Science in Education Three-year degree program.
Final Examination

Bachelor’s Degree in Educational Science – Psycho-Educational and Social Educator curriculum.

The online Bachelor’s degree in Education and Training – Psycho-Educational and Social Educator Curriculum is the ideal solution for all students, making it possible to earn this university degree even for those who are unable to attend a traditional university because they are far from home or for professional reasons.

Through Unicusano’s e-learning platform, it will be possible to follow the lectures of the online Bachelor of Science in Education degree in telematic mode, study on computer media from the comfort of your own home, at your own pace, and then take the exams at the nearest location. Thanks to the quality of its teachings and locations throughout Italy, Unicusano is now the best choice for those wishing to pursue an online Bachelor of Science in Education degree.

– Professional profile and expected occupational and professional outlets for graduates in Education and Training Sciences

Professional socio-educational worker: psychoeducational-social address

Function in a work setting:

The graduate in Education and Training Sciences (Psychoeducational-social address) is capable of working with complete professional autonomy in areas of work contexts (e.g., housing and rehabilitation communities, ASL, etc.):

to implement interventions that intervene in situations of psychological distress and where care, prevention and removal of obstacles to regular learning development are required in school, community, hospital situations;
to manage helping relationships with the person in difficulty (developmental, adult and elderly);
to design, organize and pedagogically manage interventions aimed at cognitive and functional care and social reintegration of developmental and elderly individuals including those with relational difficulties;
to carry out activities for the prevention of distress, cultural entertainment and aggregation aimed at the elderly within or outside of inpatient facilities.

Competencies associated with the function:

The three-year graduate in Education and Training has skills to carry out:

analysis of health and social work situations in order to design and redesign learning environments that are safe, efficient, and consistent with the needs of individuals and groups;
design and implementation of educational interventions for the improvement of learning especially in relation to educational needs and learning disorders and in particular participate in the implementation of interventions for the rehabilitation, functional rehabilitation and social integration of individuals with practical disabilities, neuropsychological deficits, psychiatric disorders or produced by some form of addiction;
collaborate and to support, within the socio-health services and in educational services, assessments of states of psycho-socio-health discomfort;
collaborate in psychological interventions and health promotion activities, to the modification of risk behaviours, social inclusion and participation through the setting up of specific educational paths.

Employment outlets:

The graduate in Educational Sciences (Psycho-Educational and Social Educator curriculum) can find jobs in positions that require managing activities capable of interpreting and responding effectively to the needs of psycho-physical maintenance in people, promoting, facilitating and supporting, within appropriate structures, the processes of affective, cognitive and caring growth, as well as the satisfaction of needs such as socialization, support and personalized help.

In particular, to offer accompaniment to the most fragile and disadvantaged recipients, due to psychological and material conditions, in the event that they are placed in suitable facilities or at home, in educational environments of care, protection, guardianship, human fulfilment and attention from the communities to which they belong.

The three-year course in Education and Training Science prepares for the profession of (ISTAT codes)

teachers in vocational education – (3.4.2.2.0);
technicians in social reintegration and integration – (3.4.5.2.0).

Knowledge required for entry

The knowledge and skills that are assumed to be a prerequisite for access to the Bachelor of Science in Education, Psychoeducational-Social Studies major, are basic and transversal ones, such as reading comprehension, logical-linguistic and logical-mathematical skills. Knowledge of general culture, Italian language, English language, and basic computer skills are also required. Specifically, the knowledge and skills required for admission to the course of study are:

basic knowledge of psycho-pedagogical and scientific disciplines, their methods and their main thematic, lexical and historical developmental cores;
high readiness in the approach to study and internship experiences;
computer literacy;
interpersonal and social skills.

Access to the course of study is granted to those who hold a high school diploma obtained in Italy or a qualification obtained abroad and recognized as equivalent. In order to ascertain the possession of such knowledge, prior to matriculation, the student must take an objective test to verify the possession of the skills indicated above and covering knowledge related to three domains:

logical-mathematical;
physical-biological;
anthropological and epistemological.

If the assessment of initial preparation is not successful, the student may be admitted with the assignment of additional educational obligations. For admission to the course of study delivered in English, there is also a test of English language proficiency, which must be at least level B1.

Modalities of Admission to the course of study in Educational Sciences.

The order of studies at Niccolò Cusano University has among its primary objectives an optimal preparation of its students, which must necessarily include a duration that is respectful of the time needed for training but also allows graduate students to be able to practice their chosen profession in the shortest possible time. To this end, Niccolò Cusano University believes that a good basic preparation of the student who is about to embark on the university path is an essential prerequisite for the achievement of these objectives, and is therefore careful to verify that the initial knowledge of the students who enrol at the University is that provided for in the individual Didactic Regulations of the individual Courses of Study. In this regard, the aforementioned Didactic Regulations provide information about the basic knowledge required to profitably approach the chosen Course of Study.

Students who intend to enrol in the Three-Year Study Course in Educational Sciences must possess a high school diploma or other equivalent qualification, including those obtained abroad, recognized as suitable according to current regulations. In addition, for matriculation, an admission test must be taken in which initial preparation is evaluated through a non-binding

which will consist of an orientation test delivered online on the UNICUSANO platform that must be duly taken by the student according to predefined times and methods. Although no specific knowledge is required, this test privileges aspects of basic preparation, such as knowledge and skills on the level of general culture, predisposition to the use of logic and sensitivity to social, sociological and psychological problems.

In case of failure, Additional Educational Obligations are assigned to be fulfilled within the first year of the course of study. These educational obligations will consist of attending three short courses, related to:

(a) principles of scientific disciplines
(b) text comprehension
(c) study method.

In case of credit recognition for a previous university career and/or certified professional experience, the year of course enrolment will be determined according to the following table:

Course year I: 1 to 59 credits;
II year of course: from 60 to 119 credits;
Course year III: 120 to 180 credits.

The recognition of course credits is made no later than 30 days after matriculation. The request may be submitted only once and is not subject to subsequent changes.

Specific educational objectives of Bachelor’s degree in Education and Training – Psycho-Educational and Social Educator Curriculum

The Bachelor’s degree in Education and Training course of study proposes, overall, the development of preparatory skills and competencies that enable the graduate to manage moments of an educational nature, the solicitation of interests, the development of a sense of one’s own corporeity, group socialization, and the interaction and conduct of micro-communities both child, adolescent and youth as well as those consisting of adults and the elderly, also making use of arts and new media, as well as experience and knowledge of strategies and methods necessary for the type of training required by the professional area of formal, informal and non-formal education, with particular reference to the aspects of cognitive psychological and physical-functional distress and where care, prevention and removal of obstacles to regular learning development in school, community and hospital situations are required.

In particular, the Bachelor’s degree in Education and Training provides specific knowledge and skills aimed at fostering the personal development, social maturation and autonomy of individuals and groups in the context of educational, social and sociomedical services engaged with people in difficulty and with primary and social prevention purposes; the overall educational intervention focuses on the network strategy, both in the context of residential and day services and in the specifically family environment, through continuous and comprehensive unified action and in a joint manner between people and environment. In addition, it provides skills necessary to carry out tasks of management, organization and coordination of the aforementioned services; it contributes to the dissemination of person-centred intervention strategies and information about services, through a disciplinary framework that integrates pedagogical, psychological, sociological, medical, legal, technical and professional areas.

The internship is typical of a training course that essentially engages both the maturation and progressive openness to interpersonal relationships and the development of a personal work methodology. Specifically, the Course of Study in Educational Science, Psychoeducational-Social Address, proposes specific qualifying training objectives, namely the acquisition and development of conceptual and methodological apparatuses that allow to:

identify and analyse physical, psychological and social needs in order to define the indispensable responses to the needs of minor and adult individuals in difficulty at different ages of life, in different cultural and social environments, in health and social welfare services;
oversee individual and group dynamics (in the family and in educational, re-educational and rehabilitative centres) related to the presence of relational disorders and mental pathologies, addictions, handicaps;
organize, in a manner consistent with territorial needs, institutional needs and those of individuals, interventions aimed at increasing the autonomy and integration of individuals with disorders and difficulties;
organizing collaborations and understandings with social and health services, public institutions, and care facilities, according to operational methods diversified by levels, objectives, strategies, territorial contexts, and users (with attention to all ages, from minors to the elderly), updated and consistent with the innovations proposed by research;
ensure a supportive presence in health care facilities, with a methodological-operational approach aimed at reducing distress, particularly in paediatric wards, oncology, facilities for terminally ill patients and those with overt AIDS;
enhance the social-health, educational and training significance of interventions centred on individual communicative, expressive and relational skills.

The three-year Bachelor’s Degree Course in Education and Training, therefore, aims to train graduates capable of demonstrating skills, knowledge and abilities, theoretical and practical, related both to the specific sector pedagogical dimension, through the study of techniques for the design, coordination, management and evaluation of training paths, and to the sector of the psychological and medical dimension, delving into the different processes of learning and behaviour, and, finally, to the sociological sector, examining the specific problems of the societies in which we live, and the environment.

The complex of training actions is completed by an Internship activity characterized and aimed at the direct engagement of the student in typical work activities capable of bringing out, within the experience, both the maturation and progressive openness to interpersonal relationships and the development of a personal work methodology.

Based on the skills acquired, graduates of the class will be able to carry out professional activities in public and private facilities, educational institutions, businesses and third sector organizations.

– Expected Learning Outcomes.

Knowledge and understanding skills

Knowledge of the concepts indispensable to initiate didactic reflection on the educational and training action that takes place in the various formal and informal training environments, with particular interest in early childhood and training in the world of work.
Awareness of the fundamental dimensions of the professionalism of educators working in the various educational services, including in the context of the educational services of preschool 0-3 years, of the different pedagogical, social and anthropological paradigms that can guide educational action, of the interactions between developmental psychology and educational/training processes referring to the entire life span, of the specific problems arising from the encounter of technology and education and the changes that information technology and telematics have triggered in educational practices.
Familiarity with the most relevant aspects of ongoing social processes in contemporary society.
Awareness of the cultural, affective and cognitive processes involved in social action, of the individual, group and community.
Critical awareness of the “modes” of functioning of the individual in the social.
Understanding of environment-society and humankind-nature interrelationships and the complexity of the environmental issue in order to develop changes in individual and collective behaviour and socio-economic pattern.
Critical understanding of the religious phenomenon and critical appreciation of knowledge related to the religious phenomenon in relation to issues triggered by globalization affecting educational and work contexts.
Knowledge of data collection methods and techniques to observe and analyse educational, social and anthropological reality.

Ability to apply knowledge and understanding

Ability to actively participate in educational interventions oriented to various periods of the life cycle, knowing how to recognize and account for the different anthropological and psychological paradigms underlying the educational choices made, recognizing educational contexts where to use new technologies for education and training, knowing how to evaluate their educational, psychological and social impact.
Ability to connect theoretical content, tools and pedagogical methods to everyday life experiences.
Ability to critically discuss the main application areas of social pedagogy, paying attention to the cultural, affective and cognitive processes involved in social action, of the individual, group and community.
Ability to design and/or conduct education/training activities at formal, non-formal and informal levels, for lifelong recipients of all ages, to curate and/or facilitate environmental and participatory management processes and shared pathways to sustainability.
Ability to read issues related to the interaction and integration of different cultures. Collect and process data and information to improve knowledge and evaluation on training actions carried out and results achieved.
Ability to identify, develop and evaluate the most appropriate methodologies for health promotion interventions at individual, group and community levels, health service design and organization, in continuous relationship and sharing with all stakeholders.
Ability to apply the appropriate intervention strategies for the inclusion of people with disabilities, knowing how to grasp and enhance the differences and factors of originality present in each person, as well as manage and enhance the heterogeneous composition of groups, in the presence of people with disabilities, difficulties and disadvantages, and prepare dispensatory and compensatory interventions at the planning-programmatic and evaluative level. Collect data and information to observe and analyse the psychological, social and educational reality so as to be able to evaluate the actions carried out and the results obtained.

Making Judgements

At the end of the course, the three-year graduate in Education and Training Sciences has acquired the ability to observe and evaluate educational processes aimed at solving the associated problems, the ability to make reasoned judgments from a systematically interdisciplinary perspective and in relation to the situations faced, the ability to link judgments to other professional and human experiences, contemplating both the possibility of personalizing and modulating interventions in constant dialogue with the recipients, and the possibility of modifying judgment in relation to operational contexts and their interactions.

In training situations set up also for the purpose of offering preparation for the development of reflective and self-reflective thinking, he/she knows how to make use of a sufficient capacity for autonomous behaviour and can foreshadow outcomes, consequences, results also in terms of ethics and professional ethics. The student acquires autonomy of judgment within all proposed teaching and learning activities, refining it in particular through:

laboratory training activities carried out in close contact with the contexts of educational and social services and research in the fields of pedagogy and social psychology, involving research, systematization and evaluation of data;
presentations in public, individual and group, aimed at the restitution and argumentation of one’s work;
the definition and design of the internship course;
discussion with teachers and colleagues in different teaching contexts.

It is verified through the written and/or oral tests related to the programs of exams and other training activities. The final examination, the internship project and the report on the activity carried out allow to verify the achievement of critically grounded autonomous professional skills.

Communication skills

The graduate in Educational Science, Psychoeducational and Social curriculum, should be able to argue and negotiate the knowledge acquired, to clearly communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to specialist and non-specialist interlocutors, to mediate and manage problematic situations at the relational, organizational and community levels.

Skills include those involving contact with other professionals, drafting minutes, writing aimed at describing cases, operational protocols, critical incidents, and so on. He or she should also have acquired language skills suitable for working in cross-cultural contexts, adequate computer skills, and aptitude for teamwork in multidisciplinary professional settings.

Communicative skills are developed through specific teaching activities offered in the curriculum, particularly those related to the study of English, computer science, and the sociology of communicative processes, as well as writing workshops in preparation for the final examination paper. The development of appropriate communication skills in the stages of restitution and processing of results is also exercised in small-group communicative contexts and in the performance of training internship activities in organizations and territorial contexts. They are verified through written tests (productions of individual and group reports, including multimedia) and/or oral tests (presentations, participation in guided debates) related to the programs of exams and other training activities.

Learning skills

The three-year graduate in Education should be able to argue and negotiate the knowledge acquired, clearly communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to specialist and non-specialist interlocutors, mediate and manage problematic situations at the relational, organizational and community levels. Skills include those involving contact with other professionals, drafting minutes, writing aimed at describing cases, operational protocols, critical incidents, and so on. He or she should also have acquired language skills suitable for working in cross-cultural contexts, adequate computer skills, and aptitude for teamwork in multidisciplinary professional settings.

The development of appropriate communication skills in the stages of restitution and processing of results is also exercised in small-group communicative contexts and in the performance of training internship activities in organizations and territorial contexts. They are verified through written tests (productions of individual and group reports, including multimedia) and/or oral tests (presentations, participation in guided debates) related to the programs of exams and other training activities.

Final Examination

The public discussion of the written paper is held before the Graduation Committee composed normally of 3 members appointed by the Dean/Coordinator of the Course of Study from among the faculty members of the teaching courses pertaining to the same Course or, in case of teaching or practical needs, from among the faculty members of other related Courses of Study. The Chairman of the Degree Committee is appointed by the Dean/Coordinator of the Course of Study from within the Committee. The student must demonstrate the ability to deal with the analysis of a problem related to the scope of the disciplines of the Course of Study. The evaluation is expressed as one hundred and ten/hundred and ten with possible honours and dignity of print, which, however, does not imply the printing of the paper, and takes into account the weighted average of the examinations taken by the candidate during his or her course of study.

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