Special Education

Special Education is understood as a science focusing on special treatment and special education of an individual who, due to his/her special needs, requires a special educational approach to education and support in employment and social life. The aim of Special Education is to prepare special needs teachers, to carry out research and further education. The current concept of education and training of pupils with disabilities is increasingly directed towards an inclusive approach which is understood to be a comprehensive interdisciplinary issue. The diagnosis, intervention, education, and counselling are provided by special needs teachers not only in the field of education, but also within the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. The current concept of special education covers the widest range of age categories - early and preschool age, school age, adulthood and also seniors. The main focus of the study program is to prepare an expert with a broad socio-scholastic perspective focused on pedagogical-psychological disciplines.

The program is implemented in the forms of full time attendance and combined studies. It is internally divided into six specializations: Speech Therapy and Hearing Impairment, Visual Impairment, Problem Behaviour, Intellectual Disability and Autism Spectrum Disorders, Multiple Disability, Special Andragogy. Optional specialization focuses on Specific Learning Difficulties.

Special Education program is elaborated in accordance with the current version of the Standards of the Accreditation Commission for the study program Special Education. An equivalent part of the study is a common basis of study, which includes psychological, pedagogical, communication (including foreign language) and general cultivation subjects, supplemented by professional and pedagogical-psychological practice.

The special education program is one of the study programs, the completion of which can be gained by the qualification of pedagogical staff, who are in the Government Order No. 275/2016 Coll., On Higher Education, included in the field of education non-teaching pedagogy, teaching and psychology.

The program is one of the study programs enabling to become a pedagogical staff who are included in the fields of education as non-teaching pedagogy, teaching and psychology in the Government Order no. 275/2016 Coll., On the Fields of Study in Higher Education.

After successfully completing his/her studies the graduate is able to:

• have extensive specialized knowledge and skills in the fields Special Education and Special Andragogy,
• have knowledge and skills in Special Education, communication and teaching skills,
• know general diagnostic approaches concerning intervention for visual impairments,
• the capability to stimulate vision by practicing visual skills and training compensatory techniques for severe visual impairments under the guidance of a visual therapist,
• know and can use appropriate communication strategies also in adults with regard to their capabilities, skills and current life situations,
• are able to apply approaches to education of pupils with special educational needs in their lessons (individual approach and work with the group),
• can work with children and pupils with special educational needs at the level of a special needs teachers
• have skills to support teachers in working with pupils with special educational needs in the inclusive class, to support parents of children with disabilities,
• know current approaches used in counselling and support for people with specific needs in adulthood and seniority, their families and the social environment,
• are able to analyze the life situation of persons with disabilities or disadvantages and to choose the appropriate procedure for intervention and support,
• are able to perform special educational or counselling activities,
• are able to design and process research in education for pupils with SEN, to argue in favour of the chosen procedure,
• are able to design and process applied research focusing on adults with disabilities or disadvantages and to argue in favour of the chosen procedure.

The employment of the graduates from this study program is assumed in the positions of counsellors who are in personal contacts with children, pupils or adults with disabilities, especially with visual impairments, hearing impairments and communication disorders. They will perform a special educational diagnostics, design the individual plans, provide interventions and special educational counselling, and cooperate with experts at interdisciplinary level. They will be ready to communicate and cooperate with parents of children and pupils and teachers of special and regular schools.

Students specializing in Andragogy will gain theoretical knowledge about people with different special needs, with disabilities and disadvantages. Students will be acquainted in detail with services for adults and seniors with disabilities or social disadvantage, working methods and approaches and aspects of their support.

Possible Professions and Institutions after Studies

Teachers in kindergartens who performs direct pedagogical activity in a class or school established for children with SEN, teachers in preparatory classes in special schools and teachers in special schools, special needs teachers at counselling centres in schools, special needs teachers in special counselling centres (speech therapists, specialists for hearing impairments, intellectual disabilities, physical disabilities, visual impairments), special needs teachers (specialists in problem behaviour) in a school facilities for institutional and protective education and preventive educational care. The students can also become tutors who perform direct pedagogical activities in school educational and accommodation facilities or their departments established for children and pupils with special educational needs, in school facilities for institutional education or protective education or in centres of educational care (Act No. 379/2015 Coll., as amended by current regulations). It is possible to overlap the provision of services to early-stage children or adults with visual or hearing impairments or impaired communication skills.

The graduates of the master's study program Special Education with the final state exam from Visual Impairments can perform the activities mentioned in § 44 and also under the direct supervision of the visual therapist.

The graduates from Special Andragogy are qualified for special pedagogical, counselling and management activities in adults and seniors, especially in these facilities and institutions:

in residential facilities for people with disabilities or disadvantages, seniors and people with so-called problematic behaviour, in field and outpatient social services, in institutions for the education and further education of adults, in sheltered workshops and other alternative forms of employment, in state administration, in non-governmental and non-profit organizations supporting people with disabilities or disadvantages and their families, in healthcare facilities, in counselling centres, in remedial care facilities, in probation and mediation services, in detention prisons and prisons, in addiction treatment centres, in therapeutic communities, in centres for refugees.

• Special education teacher

The obligatory part of the master's study program Special Education is a teaching practice, which is realized as the special educational practice I (two weeks in the 2nd semester), the practice II (three weeks in the 3rd semester) and the practice III (four weeks in 4th semester) followed by the reflective seminars according to the chosen specialization.

The practice is spread over three semesters. The department provides students with the workplaces it has been cooperating with for a long time. The students can obtain the practice there.

The aim of the practice I is to a direct special educational work and also diagnostic procedure under the supervision of the teacher (special needs teacher) from the chosen school. The students should also get familiar with special diagnostic methods carried out by special needs teachers in counselling centres. The student records his/her special educational activity; the output is the case study of the chosen pupil. The aim of professional practice II is special educational activity in selected specialization under the supervision of faculty teacher in schools and school facilities. The students will acquire assistant work, they must perform 15 lessons, learn about the creation of an individual educational plan, create a portfolio of his/her practice. The aim of professional practice III is to acquire methods of special pedagogical diagnostics conducted by a special needs teacher in a counselling facility. The student keeps a record of special education activities, creates a portfolio of practice.

Objectives of the Qualification Theses

Students must be aware of the current issues in the field of special education, be able to define the topic of their theses (research) clearly, describe the initial state of knowledge and propose adequate methods of solution, clearly and logically create the title of the thesis.

The student is able to work with the adequate primary and secondary study sources, to quote them according to the valid standards and in accordance with the ethics of scientific work. He/she is able to lead discussions and argue with the authors, to draw their own conclusions and recommendations.

The student can design his/her own quantitative or qualitative research, including a clear definition of objectives and the choice of adequate research methods in relation to the nature of the phenomenon under investigation, work with the appropriate method, including the ability to analyze quantitative and qualitative data and interpret and draw conclusions in an appropriate way.

The student will demonstrate the stylistic competencies by the creation of his/her own text. The student is able to create the scientific work, maintain the logical line of the work composition without grammatical errors.

The student will demonstrate the ability to ask questions and solve problems in an unconventional way, to formulate new ideas and conclusions of the thesis that would bring at least partially new knowledge about the phenomenon being studied or enrich the (new) methodological (in the area of research) or methodical procedures (in the field of education), in relation to clearly defined and selected target groups (elementary school pupils, secondary school students, groups with special educational needs, etc.).

The standards of the final theses within the field of special education are prepared according to the Dean's Decree No. 1/2015, For the completion of the final theses (bachelor's, master's, rigorous and final theses of the life-long learning courses).

4year doctoral study program Special Education