Special and Inclusive Education

Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it’s stupid.

Albert Einstein

This undergraduate degree has a strong focus on special and inclusive education, which is about the provision of quality educational services to students with additional learning needs. If you intend to become a teacher, or you are a qualified teacher motivated to advance your knowledge and skills, our units of study in Special and Inclusive Education will offer you evidence-based strategies for the effective assessment and instruction of students with a diverse range of educational needs. Additionally, your acquired skills will include strategies to assist with classroom management and the handling of challenging behaviours, as well as an understanding of working collaboratively with stakeholders to support the learning of students with additional educational needs. Completing units on Special and Inclusive Education within your teaching degree will allow you to develop advanced investigation and problem solving techniques to address issues related to individuals with additional educational needs.

Our philosophy of teaching and learning

Our units subscribe to two overarching views:

  1. All students are capable of learning.
  2. All students have the right to be educated in the least restrictive environment.

We take a student-centred approach, where the learner is seen to be receiving an education, if they are participating and engaged in their schooling (both academically and socially), achieving success, and are valued for who they are and what they have to contribute.

What does this look like for you as a student at UNE?

  • Our units offer learning experiences focused on providing both a theoretical understanding of special and inclusive education, as well as practical strategies for supporting students in today’s diverse classrooms in early, primary and secondary education.
  • Our units entail ongoing assessments that are designed to build your knowledge and understanding of special and inclusive education practice.
  • Our units provide opportunities for social engagement with your peers, as well as with our academic staff, through various online forums and tutorials. Your previous experiences and ideas are appreciated and valued in these spaces, and contribute greatly to the learning of all involved.

What you can expect from us:

  • Current and empirically based knowledge about students with diverse needs and their successful educational support.
  • Relevant and engaging units that utilise the online teaching space on myLearn.
  • Scaffolded learning experiences that build upon your experiences and knowledge.
  • Provision of multiple opportunities to engage with your peers.
  • Provision of opportunities for you to reflect upon your own learning journey through the units.
  • Provision of timely and constructive feedback.
  • Utilisation of your feedback to continue to improve the units we offer in special and inclusive education.

What we expect from you:

  • Engagement with the relevant readings and resources provided each week.
  • Active participation in the forums and other online activities in a respectful manner in accordance with UNE guidelines.
  • Constructive utilisation of the feedback provided to you by your lecturers and peers.
  • Sourcing of appropriate resources from outside the units' materials, using the online resources available from the UNE library.
  • Contact with the lecturer or unit coordinator, if you have any issues or concerns regarding any aspect of the units.

The Academic Team

Special and Inclusive Education units are developed and offered by the Inclusive Education and Psychology team, who have an inherent interest in the traditions of teaching, learning, and researching in the areas of special and inclusive education. The team members are highly qualified and have experience in the field, with diverse interests across various aspects of special and inclusive education. Team members maintain close involvement with special and inclusive education environments across a variety of settings, including schools and other service providers. This involvement feeds into our research agendas, which in turn informs our teaching. Students studying Special and Inclusive Education units at UNE consistently report high levels of satisfaction with the team’s enthusiasm and expert knowledge in the areas of special and inclusive education. Clicking on the name of the staff member in the table below will provide information on his or her respective publication record and research interests. All staff welcome enquiries about research supervision at Masters or PhD level

Contact information

NamePositionContact
Dr Ingrid Harrington Senior Lecturer iharring@une.edu.au
+61 2 6773 5968

Research pathways

An important dimension of our teaching role in UNE is the provision of quality supervision for research in diverse areas of special and inclusive education. The existing team of scholars would be available to offer mentoring to postgraduate students who wish to undertake a research project in the following areas:

  1. Inclusive education contexts
  2. School leadership and inclusive education
  3. Ethical and moral considerations of inclusive education
  4. Teacher perceptions/attitudes to inclusion
  5. Attributions in young children and the effect on learning
  6. Positive psychology in schools
  7. Interventions by Educational Psychologists in schools
  8. Educational supports for students in the Autistic Spectrum
  9. Theory of mind and language in autism

Units of study

Special and Inclusive Education units of study (EDSP prefix) are offered in undergraduate and postgraduate awards. For a detailed description, refer to the Unit Search.

Courses of study

Special and Inclusive Education units are integrated into multiple undergraduate and postgraduate courses offered by the School of Education. See the range of Education courses with the Course Search.