Curricular Unit:Code:
Policy Support for Seniors1006PAID
Year:Level:Course:Credits:
1CTSPGerontology and Community Intervention3 ects
Learning Period:Language of Instruction:Total Hours:
Winter SemesterPortuguese/English39
Learning Outcomes of the Curricular Unit:
1. Understand the nature and scope of social policy;
2. Identify the aims, objectives and areas of social policy;
3. Understand the concepts of social needs, social problems and social welfare;
4. Characterize the portuguese system of reforms and social pension;
5. Framing the social responses aimed at the elderly population, the quality system, the organization and its functioning.
Syllabus:
1. Social Policy in the Context of Public Policies

1.1 Conceptual precisions
1.1.1 Public policies
1.1.2 The aims of social policy
1.1.3 Objectives and areas of social policy action
1.1.4 Organizational aspects of social policy

1.2 Social needs, social problems and social well-being
1.2.1 Concept of wellfare
1.2.2 Welfare functions
1.2.3 Factors that influence wellfare
1.2.4 Social needs
1.2.5 The notion of social problem
2. The System of Reforms and Social Pension
2.1 The social problem of old age and the pension and social pension system
2.2 Old-age pension
2.3 Old-age social pension
2.4 Supplementary Supplement for the Elderly
2.5 Additional health benefits
3. Social Responses: Framework, Quality System, Organization and Functioning
Demonstration of the Syllabus Coherence with the Curricular Unit's Objectives:
In order to ensure a knowledge and understanding of theoretical texts on social policy in the context of public policies, the first point of the program focuses on the study of fundamental theoretical concepts, as well as their framing and practical application.
Point two of the program privileges the analysis of old age as a social problem and presents the system of pensions and reforms, stimulating the capacity for analysis around the satisfaction of the needs and well-being of the elderly population.
Point three of the program presents and fits: i) social responses to the elderly population, ii) their quality system, iii) organization and iv) and functioning, guaranteeing the acquisition of differentiated skills in terms of analytical capacity and response Identified needs.
Teaching Methodologies (Including Evaluation):
Lectures:
• Problem solving in small groups;
• Brainstorming sessions of topics and questions to be investigated by students;
• Orientation of student’s research;
• Summary and synthesis of the research done by students and discussion of scientific papers;
• Elaboration of small exercises in the classroom, clarification of doubts;
• Presentation of summary/ summary of programmatic contents using projections, explanations, and examples.
Assessment:
• 1 written test (50%)
• 1 essay with written and oral presentation (50%)
Demonstration of the Coherence between the Teaching Methodologies and the Learning Outcomes:
The teaching methodologies adopted for this curricular unit are coherent with the objectives defined for it, since they allow a deepening of students' knowledge and their active participation in the classes, through active, participative and problematizing learning strategies combined with traditional methods. Thus, the teacher will be a facilitator of the student's learning process by fostering the relationship of concepts, the capacity for analysis, discussion and reflection, with establishment of connection of contents addressed and their relevance to the professional practice of gerontology and communitarian intervention.
Reading:
António, S. (2013). Das Políticas Sociais da Velhice à Política Social do Envelhecimento. In M.I. Carvalho (Coord.), Serviço Social no envelhecimento (pp.81-103). Lisboa: Pactor.
Colby, I. (2008). Social Welfare Policy as a Form of Social Justice. In I. Colby (Ed.), Comprehensive Handbook of Social Work and Social Welfare: Social Policy and Policy Practice. Vol. 4 (pp.113-128). New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Pereirinha, P. (2008). Política Social. Formas de Actuação no Contexto Europeu. Lisboa: UAb.
Pereirinha, P. (2008). Política Social. Fundamentos da Actuação das Políticas Públicas. Lisboa: UAb.
Salselas, T. (2007). A Política Social da Velhice. Lisboa: Universidade Aberta.
Santos, L. (2014). Envelhecimento e Género. In C. Moura (Org.), Idadismo: Prioridades na Construção Social da Idade (pp.79-85). Lisboa: Euedito.