Curriculum

The program:

The leadership training programme focuses on five (5) core areas: Deaf-related themes, leadership, project management, entrepreneurship and communication. Combining these core areas through the whole school year, results in a holistic and life-lasting development for every individual Frontrunner. Self perspective and self activation are alse required of a student if he or she has to be able to take advantage of the course.

Deaf-related topics:

The student will improve their awareness about Deaf topics - History, Culture, Language, Community, oppression and discrimination, Deafhood.

The aim for the students will be:

• know Deaf history and the importance of it
• improve their knowledge about Sign Language
• explain about oppression of the Deaf, audism and discrimination
• use international signs during the course
• know the threats of the future of the Deaf community
• explain about Deafhood
• analyze different forms of Deaf art (theatre, painting, movies etc.)

Leadership-related topics:

The aim for the students will be to:

• use their knowledge about leadership
• work with the SWOT-analysis
• enter into cooperation with other people/organisations (Team Performance Model)
• be able to take action at different projects
• use their knowledge about leadership
• be aware of the goals of different organisations: WFD, WFDYS, UN, UNESCO...
• develop the following communicational skills: speech - and argumentation skills, group work and workshop skills
• explain about High and Lower Power Distance
• be able to solve conflicts within groups and between people
• empower other deaf people

Social Entrepreneurship:

The aim for the students will be to:

• be critical: to recognize both the hidden meanings in the written/signed language and power relations in the surrounding society
• recognize and be aware of his/her background and its influence on individual situations (e.g. the people from the North learn to be aware of their "white man's" view on the people and society in the South)
• recognize pressing social problem(s) in the Deaf society
• determine and describe the problem in a understandable way
• organize and create tool(s) for tackling social issues and achieving a social change
• invent new approaches in grass root and organizational levels
• cooperate in both national and international context for solving named social problems
• follow ethical principles of being a social entrepreneur

Communication:

The aim for the students will be to:

• pay attention on others' point of view and put them into perspective
• create meaningful arguments
• communicate as an individual and as a member of a group
• be aware of different communicational styles (giving speeches, lecturing or arguing)
• pay attention to a target group while communicating (variation of signing style, vocabulary, non-manual expression...)
• master communication through websites

Project management:

The overall aim is to acquire knowledge and skills about project management and become a capable project manager through practical training. The courses on project management are including into the curriculum all the way through the school year, and are combined with practical assignments in authentic environments. The assignment forms vary from one situation to another.

A. Start of project:

• Specification of the project
• Definition of project area and borders
• Typical phases during project development
• Analysis and examination of partners and resources
• Launch of project and project group

B. Planning of project:

• Time schedules and activity planning
• Activities and critical paths
• Risk management and evaluation of time and economical resources
• Reviews and reports

C. Implementation, Running and Finalization of Projects:

• Roles and responsibilities of the project manager and other members of the project team
• Possible conflicts and how to handle and solve them
• Finalization of projects, including evaluation

During the school year the student will carry minimum 2 to 4 projects for different types of partners or NGOs. Projects focus on areas such as social responsibility, grass root movement or onnovating a new idea/action.

Teachers and guest speakers:

Guest speakers will have a major role in the course. We will have expert international deaf guest speakers doing workshops and lectures on various themes. Filip Verhelst, Outi Toura and Ole Vestergaard will mentor the students from topic to topic.

Our pedagogical philosophy:

We believe that the most efficient learing process - in relation to the objectives of the programme - are learing proceesses that combine theory, method and practice.

The actual weighting of each of these aspects within each module depends on the evaluations of Filip Verhelst, Outi Toura-Jensen and Ole Vestergaard, and the guest teachers and finally the students - evaluations will be based on the students' real needs.