Special Education

The aim of the doctoral study program Special Education is to prepare researchers specializing in research, teaching and professional activities in special education focusing on following fields: speech therapy, hearing impairment, intellectual disability, physical disability, visual impairment, specific learning disorders, multiple disorders, special andragogy and addictology. The training prepares highly qualified professionals for theoretical as well as practical applications of special education expertise aimed at solutions of broad range of special educational issues including social inclusion.

The aim is to enable outstanding students to continue their chosen profiling in the doctoral study Special Education, to enable them to carry out research activities that many of them have been doing since master's studies and to prepare highly qualified specialists for their further work at the university or at the research institutions in our country and abroad.

The doctoral program Special Education is conceived interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary. In the interdisciplinary approach arises a new discipline and at the same time, it inspires the original sciences for further research. A multidisciplinary approach is an unexplored space which is located among several disciplines and each has the right to dominate.

The program is realized in both full-time attendance and combined attendance, in Czech language and English language.

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

• know deeply and systematically the subject and scope of their special pedagogical field, both in the historical and contemporary wider contexts and at the level of the contemporary state of knowledge;
• gain profound knowledge in the field of special education with a focus on inclusion, inclusive education, and social inclusion;
• design, implement and evaluate results of special education research; be able to enrich scientific knowledge with ethnical principles in scientific projects;
• engage in the life of the national and international scientific community, including publishing activities, planning research projects, obtaining resources for their implementation;
• present results of own research to the professional community: in the form of monographs, papers at domestic and international conferences;
• use own knowledge and experiences in solving special educational problems;
• collaborate with experts from other research units, both nationally and internationally;

The graduates from the doctoral studies in Special Education are highly qualified specialists and find their positions mostly at universities or at the scientific and research institutions in the Czech Republic and abroad.

In the DSP Special Education, PhD students participate in the teaching of students in the bachelor programs, both in a subject Special Education and in subjects of their specialization for 2 semesters. Abroad internships are preferred (ERASMUS, ERASMUS +, foreign practice, etc.). Comulsory internship is required for 7 weeks abroad.

Traineeships are especially suitable in counselling services: special educational centres, pedagogical and psychological counselling centres, educational centres, speech therapy ambulances and others according to the focus of their dissertation.

Doctoral students are members of scientific teams

- The research Special Needs of Pupils in the Context of the Framework Educational Program, the researcher: prof. PhDr. Marie Vítková, CSc. (2007-2013)

- Interdisciplinary research project Inclusion in School as an Interdisciplinary Issue. Basis, Conditions and Implementation of the Strategy, the researcher: prof. PhDr. Marie Vítková, CSc. (2013-2015)

- Specific research projects - annually from 2010 (projects A and B)

- FRMU projects

- OPVVV project Quality Inclusive Education of Pupils with Special Educational Needs in Primary and Secondary schools, the researcher: prof. PhDr. Marie Vítková, CSc. (2017-2020)

- Other projects implemented by the Department of Special Education or the Institute for Research in Inclusive Education (IVIV).

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 primary and secondary study sources, to quote them according to the valid standards and in accordance with the ethical principles of scientific work. He/she is able to lead discussions and argue with the authors, to draw 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 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).