Special Educational Needs and Inclusion, MA

Welcome to the MA Special Education Needs and Inclusion course. We are delighted that you have chosen to continue your learning with us. This MA will give you the opportunity to develop a systematic breadth and depth of knowledge and understanding of contemporary issues, professional challenges, and international perspectives in relation to special educational needs and inclusion. Everyone in the teaching team is looking forward to meeting you and working with you in the months ahead. We wish you an enriching and successful academic year ahead.
Dr Marios Kostas

Key dates

Academic Calendar: Trimesters

View key dates for this Academic Calendar for 2024-25 including when teaching starts and finishes and when you break for holidays.

Welcome and induction

Your Welcome Week is an essential introduction to your course and student life at CCCU, helping you to feel confident and prepared for your studies right from the very start.

It is important to check your Welcome Schedule for all the activities you are required to attend during the week.

If any of your welcome activities are in groups, your course team will contact you before your arrival to let you know which group you will be in.

Your teaching timetable 

UniTimetables provides an overview of all teaching activities on a course. Your individual timetable will be available via MyTimetable and is personalised to show you what modules and groups you are expected to attend.

Your individual student timetable can only be produced once you have engaged with online registration and created your computing account. It is essential you complete these tasks when invited, so that your course team can assign you to your teaching activities and publish your individual timetable.

Find out more about all aspects of timetabling for new students including user guides.

Getting started

Reflecting on the national and international agendas relating to special needs and inclusion will help you prepare for your course. We will discuss some topics raised in these reports during your early course sessions. The information will also prove useful for some of your modules.

Read the first chapter from:

World Health Organization. (2011) World report on disability. Geneva: WHO Press.

Summaries from the following reports will stimulate your thinking:

Department for Education (2017a) Comparing levels of happiness and psychological difficulties between children with and without special educational needs (SEN) 2012 to 2013.
Department for Education (2017b) Project Crewe, Research report: July 2017 Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme Evaluation Report 44.
Department for Education (2017c) Special educational needs support in schools and colleges.
Lewis, I. and Bagree, S. (2013) Teachers for All: Inclusive Teaching for Children with Disabilities. Brussels: International Disability and Development Consortium’s Inclusive Education Task Group.
Save the Children (2015) JUST INCLUDE ME: A review of Save the Children’s work to promote the rights of children with disabilities. Save the Children Norway.

Your welcome and induction will be w/c 16 September 2024 - we look forward to meeting you then.

Pre-course reading

Frederickson, N. and Cline, T. (2015) Special Educational Needs, Inclusion and Diversity (3rd Ed). Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Thomas, G. (2013) How to Do Your Research Project: A Guide for Students in Education and Applied Social Sciences. London: Sage.
Wallace, M. and Wray, A. (2011) Critical Reading and Writing for Postgraduates (2nd Ed). London: Sage.

These websites are useful sources of information:

EENET: Enabling Education Network - an international inclusive education information-sharing network.
GOV.UK for Department for Education and other departments, information and research.
National Institute of Health Research, which comprises a suite of five open access, peer-reviewed journals reporting results from a range of health research areas.
Social Care Institute for Excellence has information related to social care practices, priorities and research.
World Health Organization has a range of information related to disability and inclusion relevant to the international agenda.

It is useful to note that the University Bookshop offers 10% discount on most titles in print and have some price-beating book bundles. They also price-match Amazon on core texts recommended in the module handbooks you will receive when you start in September.

International student success programme

International students: don't miss out! Make sure you register for our international student success programme which provides practical advice on preparing to live and study in the UK.

Contact details

FAHE.CourseAdmin@canterbury.ac.uk