PED532 Master’s thesis on special education for teachers

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

Prerequisites

All courses in the programme preceding the master’s thesis must be completed and passed.

Course contents

The master’s thesis is an independent scientific work within the field of special educational needs. There will be a writing seminar before the course starts. The student will be assisted in developing and designing a research question. A supervisor will be appointed based on the project description. The thesis may have an empirical or theoretical approach. The thesis will be related to the profession and the period of professional, supervised training.

Learning outcomes

General competence

The student shall

• Be able to carry out a R&D project independently from project design to information retrieval, analysis and presentation

• Be able to present and communicate, on an advanced level and to diverse target groups, academic questions related R&D relevant for special needs education

Knowledge

The student shall

• Have specialized insight in a specified area within the field of special education

• Have in-depth knowledge about research, theory, methodology and ethics relevant for the master’s thesis

• Be familiar with ethical research regulations and be able to apply these to his/her own research

Skills

The student shall

• Be able to design questions that are important when working with special educational needs in schools, analyse and explore these, and be able to present the results in an academic manner

• Be able to analyse and have a critical approach to national and international research, and use this knowledge when working with the master’s thesis

• Be able to expound on methodology and questions related to research, ethics and science relevant for the master’s thesis

Examination requirements

• The contract must be approved and signed.

• The conditions of the contract must be met.

Teaching methods

The thesis work will be supervised. The extent and form of the supervision will vary according to the variety of thesis. There will be two mandatory meetings. Normally the supervision will be in groups combined with individual or supervision in pairs. A contract for supervising and carrying-out the thesis-work must be signed before the work starts. Mandatory work and hours of supervision will be described in the contract. The workload is estimated at 800 hours.

Evaluation

The person responsible for the course, 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

The master’s thesis can be written individually or in pairs. Scope: 40-60 pages /16000-24000 words. 50-70 pages /20000-28000 words if written in pairs. If written in pairs, the students will have to account for the collaboration and the individual contribution. Individual, differentiated grades.