Inclusive and Special Education

Overview

The programme at the University College Dublin is designed specifically to assist teachers in meeting the learning and psycho-social needs of students, thus enhancing the provision of appropriate education for children and young people with additional needs. 

The Graduate Diploma in Inclusive and Special Education FT course seeks to empower teachers to be effective and reflective practitioners who can work with a diversity of students in the most inclusive environment. Through research-informed lectures and site visits, it aims to enhance and develop participants' awareness of new approaches in the definition, provision, education and support of persons with additional needs/disabilities, whether in mainstream or special educational settings. 

The programme, with its balance of theory and practice, provides teachers with opportunities for receptive critical thinking, active participation and the development of theoretical, philosophical and curricular competencies which are informed by evidence-based practice and research.

Programme outcomes

• The programme, with its balance of theory and practice, seeks to provide teachers with opportunities for receptive critical thinking, active participation and the development of theoretical, philosophical and curricular competencies which are informed by evidence-based practice and research. 

• It offers students a learning environment in which they feel encouraged and supported in constructively challenging their existing personal inclusive values and related practices. They are encouraged to become active, autonomous learners and critical thinkers who will be agents of personal and systemic change. 

• A key aspect of the course is continuous professional practice in the teachers’ schools in which they are closely mentored, thus supporting them in their leadership and advocacy role and the development of a community of inclusive praxis.