Faculty of EducationComenius University Bratislava
Main menu
Faculty of Education Comenius University in Bratislava > Faculty Structure > Departments > Department of Special Education > Learning > State final exams

State final exams

BACHELOR THESIS DEFENCE

 Evaluation criteria for the bachelor thesis:

1. Contribution of the thesis to the field of study and whether the student has adequately demonstrated the ability to work creatively in its conception.

2. The degree to which the student has demonstrated knowledge of the problem addressed, the skills applied in collecting, interpreting, and processing the basic literature, as well as the extent to which the student has mastered the application of theoretical assumptions in practice or is able to solve a subtask related to the focus of the student's bachelor's thesis.

3. Originality of the thesis (the thesis must not be plagiarized, must not infringe the copyrights of other authors). The documentation for the defence of the thesis as part of the state examination includes the originality protocol from the central registry.

4. Correctness and accuracy in the citation of used information sources, research results of other authors and author teams, and the correctness of the description of methods and working procedures of other authors or author teams.

5. Compliance of the structure of the thesis with the prescribed structure defined by Internal Regulation No. 7/2018, Directive of the Rector of Charles University in Bratislava.

6. Adherence to the recommended scope of the thesis (the recommended scope of a Bachelor's thesis is usually 30-40 standard pages – 54,000 to 72,000 characters, including spaces). The adequacy of the scope of the thesis is assessed by the thesis supervisor.

7. The linguistic and stylistic level of the thesis and formal editing.

8. The manner and form of the defence of the thesis and the student's ability to respond adequately to the comments and questions in the supervisor's and opponent's evaluations.

 

As part of the bachelor's thesis defence, the future graduate must: 

  • Demonstrate adequate knowledge, expertise, analytical skills, and the ability to synthesise ideas in the field of special education and demonstrate their understanding in a professional debate on the topic/problem.
  • Demonstrate the ability to adequately, professionally, and eruditely answer the questions posed by the members of the state examination committee in the debate and mutual professional dialogue within the scope of the processed issue in the field of special pedagogy.
  • Present his/her creativity and abstraction skills in communication and professional debate.
  • Demonstrate a broader knowledge of the field of special education in relation to the professional issues addressed in the thesis and justify their use in the thesis in a convincing and professional manner.
  • Demonstrate a professional approach.
  • Have the ability to independently solve problem tasks, look for available solutions, understand solution procedures, and understand the impact of these solutions in special education practice.
  • Have the ability to interpret professional special education processes and phenomena, demonstrate the ability to understand them, and propose solution procedures.
  • Demonstrate ethical and moral qualities in the process of decision-making on issues of professional solutions and proposals of professional special-educational practices.
  • Be able to communicate at a professional level appropriate to the first level of higher education in the field of special education special pedagogy, know the professional special pedagogical and related terminology, and apply basic scientific theories to practical special pedagogical processes.
  • Demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and competences in the field of special pedagogy necessary to continue further studies.
  • During the defence of the bachelor's thesis, the student must demonstrate acquired communication skills – to correctly express professional content accompanied by adequate non-verbal means and sophisticated expression respecting the culture of communication.
  • Present acquired digital skills in creating the presentation of the bachelor's thesis defence and its presentation in all steps.
  • Present motivation for further studies or for pursuing a profession in the special education field of knowledge (or in assistive/co-operative disciplines).

MASTER THESIS DEFENCE

 In the thesis defence, the following are evaluated:

  • Contribution of the thesis to the field of study, or possibly also to other areas of knowledge. The evaluation of the thesis takes into account whether the student has adequately treated the chosen topic at the level of a scientific study with a representative selection of literature, whether the chosen scientific procedures are adequate and appropriate, and whether he/she has adequately worked with hypotheses that can be verified. The thesis should make a distinct contribution to the relevant field of study in which the student has completed the degree programme.
  • Originality of the thesis (the thesis must not be plagiarised, must not infringe the copyright of other authors). The documentation for the defence of the thesis as a subject of the state examination includes originality protocols: from the central register and the Theses, the results of which are commented on by the supervisor and the opponent in their opinions.
  • Correctness and accuracy of citation of used information sources, research results of other authors and author teams, and the correctness of the description of methods and working procedures of other authors or author teams.
  • Compliance of the structure of the thesis with the prescribed structure defined by Internal Regulation No. 7/2018, Directive of the Rector of Charles University in Bratislava.
  • Respect for the recommended scope of the thesis (the recommended scope of the thesis is usually 50-70 standard pages - 90,000 to 126,000 characters, including spaces). The adequacy of the scope of the thesis is assessed by the supervisor.
  • Linguistic and stylistic level of the work and formal editing.
  • The manner and form of the thesis defence and the student's ability to respond adequately to comments and questions in the supervisor's and opponent's evaluations.

 

As part of the thesis defence, the future graduate must:

  • Demonstrate adequate knowledge, expertise, and skills of thought analysis and synthesis in the field of special pedagogy with an overlap to other disciplines (or assisting disciplines) and their understanding within the professional debate on the topic/problem being treated.
  • Know and understand professional special education terminology, basic scientific theories with their overlap to other disciplines/areas of knowledge, and be able to apply them practically to special education processes.
  • Demonstrate the ability to integrate knowledge in favour of the complexity of understanding special-educational issues with its overlap to other disciplines.
  • Implement the knowledge acquired during the studies in the development of the diploma thesis.
  • Be able to transfer and generalise the acquired knowledge in the field of special education to other disciplines and areas of knowledge.
  • Be able to communicate at a professional level appropriate to the second level of higher education in special education.
  • Be able to carry out basic special education research, follow basic methodological procedures, and interpret the results to both the professional and lay public.
  • Demonstrate originality in problem solving and substantiate the applied principles of thesis development and presented solutions.
  • Be able to creatively solve problems and/or problem assignments.
  • Have the ability to independently solve more complex problem tasks, look for available solutions, understand the procedures of solutions, understand their impact, and be able to implement them in practice.
  • Argue the validity of the scientific theories and procedures used and their implementation in the thesis in a broader context.
  • Demonstrate the ability to work effectively, correctly, and ethically (within the framework of academic integrity) with literary and other authorial sources.
  • Demonstrate a professional approach.
  • Present the ability to actively and professionally communicate their intentions, procedures, methodology, and outputs of the thesis, and present their creativity and abstraction skills in communication and professional debate.
  • Be able to justify the procedures used and support them with arguments.
  • Be able to communicate correctly the formulated research conclusions.
  • Present their acquired digital skills in the creation of the presentation of the thesis defence and its presentation in all steps.
  • Demonstrate the ability to communicate in the scientific language of a given field of knowledge (special pedagogy) with an overlap to other fields of knowledge.
  • Demonstrate the ability to independently build the logic of the thesis and its structure, as well as organisational skills in the implementation of research.
  • Demonstrate and argue the ability to think critically, analyse the problem, propose methods of its solution, obtain relevant results, and formulate recommendations for practice.