Key words
Human rights, Public law and Criminal law
Objectives
The main general aim of this training module: to familiarize the students with the institutions and the judicial system in Belgium.
This training module explains the general principles of law, including the structure of the federal state, which the students need in order to put the other courses in the right context. We then zoom in on Constitutional law and Criminal law; those parts are fleshed out later via other educational routes.
There are several reasons why this module is placed ahead of other courses on the curriculum (on standard educational route 1):
General
This module is a core part of the legal package on offer in the ‘Social Assistant’ training course. As the judicial aspects are the main area of focus here, it’s essential that students should comprehend the mechanism of law, and how laws get on to the statute book. This is because relevant juristic knowledge and the right skills are necessary to turn out properly inducted social assistants with a high level of professional competence. Law, after all, occupies an increasingly significant place in modern society.
Changed political culture, and a shift in user culture
Modern society is evolving, more and more, from a ‘management by command’ regime to a ‘management by negotiation’ regime. Government is placing ever-greater emphasis on ‘responsible citizenship’: people have basic rights but obligations too! In the relationships between citizens and the government, but also between citizens and all manner of facilities and organizations, information and an opportunity for the public to comment or object are important cornerstones of our constitution. In the services sector and, increasingly, in the public sector too, factors like customer friendliness and customer-centricity are coming to the fore. Good customer service and quality assurance are making the difference, with increasing frequency. This manifests itself, in practice, in many ways. For example, in organizations, by deploying people who possess a high level of professionalism, who can get on with a whole cross-section of the community, who make contacts easily and who can work unsupervised and totally unaided. The traditional counter sections at public institutions are then seen in a whole new light.
The rising tide of legislation
Due to far-reaching state interventions, society is fast becoming a tangle of rights and obligations. Ironically, a large chunk of the new legislation (employment law and social security legislation but also consumer protection law, liability law, rent law, the basic social rights, family law,…) is aimed specifically at protecting people in more vulnerable groups (e.g. the lower social classes) and it’s precisely those people who can no longer make head nor tail of it. Nor do they manage to enforce these rights in practice. That this is also the daily experience of the ordinary man in the street is evident from the following quote by Jan Goorden (a former Flemish ombudsman): “A common criticism I get is: Why all this red tape, Sir? There’s no end to it.” The federal structure of our state and the growing influence of Europe gives this outpouring of government legislation and regulations an added dimension.
The purpose of this training module is to shape these objectives by fostering and developing the following core skills from the training profile:
Job-specific skills
-1. Social workers employ appropriate, definite and judicially reasoned information in the client’s best interest.
General core skills
General (generic) core skills
-2. The acquisition and assimilation of information;
-3. The ability to communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions effectively, both to specialists and to laypersons.
This training module serves as a pointer to all training modules who’re focusing juridical matters:
On standard educational route 2
Employment law;
Social Security law.
On standard educational route 3 – specialization: Social Counselling
Law and social juristic customer service;
Activation of employment.
On standard educational route 3 – specialization: H.R.
Practice of Social law.
On standard educational route 3 – all specializations
A Social Work student is presumed to gain an insight into social services and customer service within his sphere of action.
Whatever target group you serve, you’re likely to need a basic knowledge of law. So understanding the mechanism of law (and how laws get on to the statute book) is of vital importance.
We also drive home that these rules extend to the student as well, depending on which stage of life (s)he’s at. In other words, this training module can help kindle his personal and career development.
Topics
Preliminary part: What is Law?
Part I: The general principles on which the Belgian State is founded:
- Characteristics of the Belgian State;
- Key milestone events since 1830: language disputes, federalization, the rising trend in globalization, the trend towards a welfare state,…;
- Overview of the hierarchical relationship between the different legal norms in the Belgian legal system.
Part II: The federal government
- The legislature: composition, jurisdiction, procedure and statute;
- The executive (government + the King): composition, jurisdiction, procedure and statute;
- The judiciary: composition, jurisdiction, procedure and statute.
Part III: The Communities and Regional Authorities
Part IV: The Municipalities, Provinces and Public Centres for Social Welfare (OCMW)
Part V: The international legal system
- United Nations: a historical background to the main tasks and to the conventions on human rights;
- European Union: the main tasks and industry standards (Council Regulations, Council Directives, ...);
- Council of Europe: the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
Part VI: Basic rights and personal freedoms (Human rights)
Part VII: Rudiments of criminal law
Prerequisites
Entry-level skills
Exit qualifications in secondary education
Final Objectives
Exit-level skills
The core skills from the training profile listed in the ‘objectives’ section are fully underpinned by the following exit-level skills of the training module:
At the level of knowledge and comprehension
The students:
- Explain correctly explain basic notions, structures and applications of the Belgian judicial system and of Belgian law;
- Demonstrate a qualitative insight into the societal context within which law evolves and enters the statute books.
At the application level - skills
The students:
- Implement correctly the sources of law;
- Solve a case study by applying the relevant sections of the law;
- Are able to work methodically and unaided;
- Are able to convey information about the Belgian judicial system and Belgian law clearly and rationally.
At the level of integration
The students:
- Are able to give good reasons why law is a source, and an effective means, of providing welfare, social services and relief to the needy.
Materials used
::Click here for additional information::
Book: Vande Lanotte, J. Bracke, S. and Goedertier G., Belgium for beginners, Bruges, Die Keure, 2005 edition (if a new edition comes out, the latest version will be used): obtainable from the coursewear department;
By way of a supplement, a course is also downloadable via Dokeos;
Supporting website: http://docent.hogent.be/~jfs672
Study costs
The estimated cost price is ca. € 40:
- € 35 for the book;
- € 5 for photocopying costs.
Study guidance
Students get an opportunity to put questions, individually, after class.
Alternatively they can be submitted by email - contact details: item Lecturer(s).
On the website: http://docent.hogent.be/~jfs672 further support to students is provided in the form of supplementary and detailed information (for seekers of value-added service products). Exercises, mock exams and the complete course can be found there too.
Teaching Methods
Whole-class lectures with room for debate;
The large groups lend themselves perfectly to the taking of opinion polls;
Use the course as a reference framework. It can be supplemented, in the classroom, with examples, case studies and applications;
A few sessions of practical exercises are done in smaller groups.
Assessment
An examination for this training module is scheduled in the exam period at the end of the semester in which you took this course.
Student progress is evaluated by means of a written examination. There is a multiple choice part (50%) and a part with open-ended questions (50%). Application questions make up much of the exam.
The total number of questions is limited to what can be got through comfortably within the allotted time for the exam.
Resits
Provision is made for an analogous written exam.
Lecturer(s)
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