PED154 Introduction in Special Needs Education for teachers
- ECTS Credits:
- 15
- Responsible department:
- Faculty of Humanities and Education
- Course Leader:
- Heidi Omdal
- Lecture Semester:
- Spring
- Teaching language:
- Norwegian.
- Duration:
- 1 term
The course is connected to the following study programs
- Master's 5-Year Programme in Teacher Education, level 1-7
- Master's 5-Year Programme in Teacher Education, level 5-10
- Education for Special Needs 1, 1-semester Programme
Teaching language
Norwegian.Course contents
The course will give an introduction to the area special needs education in an overall perspective. Attention will be given to the tension between special needs education as a profession and dicipline and its relation to the area general education. Students will have to relate to school and kindergarten as a learning arena. Both individual and system related initatives are important aspects of work with special needs education.
Significant special needs educational dilemmas will be discussed, especially the relation between suitable teaching (e.g.special needs education) vs the risk for beeing stigmatized.
In connection with these dilemmas, various trends in the field are discussed, for example, over-representation of ethnic minorities, boys, and specific risk groups including children and youth who receive special needs education support. In addition, there will be an introduction to the most common disabilities during the educational pathway and the legal and administrative basis for special needs education and special needs educational assistance.
Learning outcomes
On successfull completion of the course the student should be able to
-describe special needs education's history and traditions as a profession and discipline
- show knowledge of basic theory and concepts in the subject special needs education, such as normalization, inclusion and adapted training, disability vs. functional impairment, and social /relational vs. medical/categorical perspectives
- Show familiarity with the following fields: retardation, social and emotional difficulties, sense impairments, language disorders, reading and writing, and math problems
- explain the relationship between learning basic skills and developing learning disabilities
- interpret the legal basis for special education and special educational assistance
- describe the special needs educational chains of initatives
- explain the role of special needs education in an inclusive school and kindergarten and its ethical dilemmas.
Teaching methods
Lectures, seminars, group works and individual work with counselling.
2 weeks practice in school/kindergarten, coherent with the practice period in PED153 - Special Needs Educational Work in School and Preschool.
Evaluation
The study programme manager, in consultation with the student representative, decides the method of evaluation and whether the courses will have a midterm- or end of term evaluation, see also the Quality System, section 4.1. Information about evaluation method for the course will be posted on Canvas.
Assessment methods and criteria
Semester assignment in groups. Graded assessment.
Reduction of Credits
This course’s contents overlap with the following courses. A reduction of credits will occur if one of these courses is taken in addition:
| Course | Reduction of Credits |
|---|---|
| PED113 – Special Needs Education in a Holistic Perspective | 5 |
| PED114 – Children, Young People and Adults with Special Educational Needs | 5 |
| PED115 – Project Assignment in Special Needs Education | 5 |