Program Description
About the course
The Special Educational Needs course will equip you to become a passionate advocate for disability rights and equality in your chosen profession. There are 14.6 million disabled people in the UK, and graduates with expertise in special educational needs and disability are in demand in a wide range of areas including education, health, social work and social care, local government, and business.A supportive team of disabled and non-disabled academics will enable you to develop the skills, knowledge and confidence you need to become a future leader in this area. You will learn about the historical, social and cultural factors that shape our understanding of special educational needs and disability. Your understanding of academic theories and models will be deepened by activities which challenge you to explore how this knowledge can be applied in professional settings. As well as tutors’ extensive professional experience, course content is informed by input from a range of guest speakers, and from our partner organisations, which include disabled-led and self-advocacy groups, education and care providers, charities, and disability arts organisations. The Special Educational Needs course at Liverpool Hope is unique in that it is informed and enriched by the work of the Centre for Culture and Disability Studies, an internationally recognised centre of excellence in disability studies research, and the only UK research centre to focus on disability and culture.
Course structure
Teaching on this degree is structured into lectures, where all students are taught together, seminars of smaller groups, and tutorials which typically have no more than 10 students. You will also use the University’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) Moodle and will have a one-to-one meeting with your tutor each week.For the Special Educational Needs part of your Combined Honours degree, in your first year of study there are approximately 6 teaching hours each week, which reduces to approximately 5 teaching hours in your second and third years. On top of teaching hours, you are also expected to spend 12-14 hours studying independently each week, as well as studying in groups to prepare for any groups assessments that you may have.
