Information of the Department

The Department of Special Education, as part of the Institute of Special Education Studies and Inclusive Education, is a unique workplace within Comenius University in Bratislava. It provides higher education training for special educators. The department offers university-level education in currently accredited study programmes in the field of special education. The department's educators also participate in teaching students of other study programmes, such as Preschool and Elementary Education, Primary Education Teaching, Speech Therapy, and others.

Members of the department are experienced university lecturers, authors of numerous professional publications, university and secondary school textbooks, as well as textbooks for special schools. They are co-authors of several strategic documents for the Slovak Republic (e.g., the Strategy of Inclusive Approach in the Education of Children and Students with Special Educational Needs, the Accessibility Manual, the Zero Action Plan for the Strategy of Inclusive Approach). They also serve as contributors to scientific research tasks and projects. The Department offers a Special Education study programme with a unique content structure (especially at the Master's level) that is currently not provided by any other faculty in Slovakia or the Czech Republic. Alongside the pedagogy of individuals with intellectual and multiple disabilities, the programme focuses on specialisations/modules such as the pedagogy of individuals with physical and health disabilities, the pedagogy of individuals with hearing impairments, the pedagogy of individuals with visual impairments, and the pedagogy of individuals with learning disabilities, behavioral disorders, and communication impairments.

In addition to preparing future educators, the Department, as part of the Institute, serves as a base for developing theories, conducting scientific research, and creating a publication base for special education.

The core focus of the Department’s research and publication activities is on education, educational rehabilitation, and counseling for individuals with disabilities or impairments. 

The educators are professionally dedicated to educational, corrective, stimulating, and therapeutic strategies for individuals with disabilities, rehabilitation strategies for persons with impairments, and special didactics for teaching individual subjects in special and primary schools for students with disabilities and impairments. They also contribute to international scientific projects and grants, participate in the creation of professional literature and textbooks in the field of special education, and are members of numerous prominent Slovak and international professional organizations and committees in special education, as well as editorial boards of scientific and professional journals.

The study programmes across all levels of higher education are well-supported with relevant literature. Students have constant access to study materials both in the library and electronically (available online or directly provided by lecturers). The continuous acquisition of relevant foreign literature for the faculty library is ensured, primarily through project funding.

Through the collaboration of the faculty management, the Support Center for Visually Impaired Students at Comenius University, the coordinator for students with specific needs, the Institute of Special Education Studies and Inclusive Education, and the Department of Special Education, the faculty aims to be a modern, inclusive institution. It strives to meet and accommodate the special needs of students, particularly those with visual, hearing, or physical disabilities, as well as students with chronic illnesses, mental disorders, health vulnerabilities, and learning disabilities.