The course aims to analyze the relationship between special needs education and the professional figure of the educator as master of aid and educational care, in view of inclusion of people with disabilities and "special educational needs". Of particular importance is making here a careful critical consideration on special needs pedagogy's epistemological questio which should be understood as science of acknowledgement and exploitation of educational potentials of people with "special educational needs" , overstepping the risks of reductionist and technical views, becoming even more dominant, of languages of the medication and psychologicization of diversity. Particular attention will be paid to pedagogical categories of educational aid and care, disability's reduction to promote diversity, inclusion and integration processes in schools and, most importantly, in an extraschool context. Major importance within the course assumes the figure of educator in his/her identity, role and specific skills. A key role will be given to rehabilitative intervention taken by educators and to the most important planning models to be taken to promote an effective accompanying path for diversities in micro and macro contexts of life. It will also afford related issues about special needs teacher and, more specifically, the complexity of skills to enhance inclusive perspective and the current debate on the evolution of the profession itself.

In the course, the following subjects will be explored in this order:

-

Epistemology in special needs education. 

- Special needs education as pedagogy of integration and inclusion.

- Terminological ambiguities in special needs education: deficit, handicap, disability, "special educational needs". 

- For a special needs education beyond the school. 

- Special needs education and educational care. 

- "Special" skills of the educator. 

- The relationship in aid and care education. 

- Educational and social integration.

- Integration as planning. 

- From integration to inclusion: comparing models. 

- Educational and social inclusion. 

- Quality indicators of social inclusion process. 

One Subject course

- The professional educator: identity, role and skills.  

- The problem of formation. 

- "Competent" accompaniment function and life plan. 

- The educator and good inclusive practices. 

- The "reduction of disability", curricular and inclusive planning. 

- The social educator as expert of the territory and extra-school teaching. 

- The professional educator and inclusive perspective. 

- The social educator as existential and cultural agent of change. 

- The professional educator: identity, role and skills. the problem of formation. "Competent" accompaniment function and life plan. 

- The educator and good inclusive practices. 

- The social educator as expert of the territory and extra-school teaching. 

- The territorial and social educator education extras. 

- The social educator as existential and cultural agent of change. 

- The professional educator and inclusive perspective. 

- Planning the inclusion: from personal care to land's care. 

- The professional educator and the promotion of personal, social, relational and instrumental autonomies (leisure, business orientation). 

- Narrative and inclusion. 

- Special needs teacher 's training in inclusive school. 

- Special educational needs teacher in inclusive education: towards a new professional identity. 

- The skills of the teacher specialized in optics inclusive growth. 

- The teacher specialized support in inclusive education: toward a new professional identity.

Expected results
1. Knowledge and understanding (knowledge and understanding)
At the end of the course the student will have acquired:
knowledge of the main lines of the epistemological debate within special needs pedagogy particularly related to its constitutive elements (problems and methods) and relations with other educational sciences;
ability to identify, define and compare the basic characteristics of theoretical and methodological approaches in special needs pedagogy with an emphasis on inclusive education and social processes.
2.   Applying knowledge and understanding
At the end of the course the student will demonstrate the ability to:
know and understand the concepts and theories laid down in the course;
recognizing different theoretical settings and work conceptually with them;
analyze some inclusive tools characteristics related to the school sector, such as PEI, PDP, PAI interpreted in the light of the explored  constructs.
3. Making judgements
•     Autonomy of judgement (making judgments).
•     At the end of the course the student will demonstrate the ability to:
•     use knowledge and concepts which allow to think according to the plural and open logics of the discipline;
•     identify intervention's methodologies adapted to different contexts ( ICF Logic );
•     knowing how to envisage options to move and deal with cases related to educational inclusion
4. Communication skills 
At the end of the course the student should have acquired the ability to.
•     use the specific vocabulary of the discipline in its forms of reflection and practices on the ground.
•     knowing how to communicate with congruent tools acquired during the teaching course.
•     communicate with school operators in specific subject's language.
5. Learning skills
At the end of the course the student will have acquired the ability to:
•       analyze and evaluate critically, in their reflexive and epistemological aspects, the subject's constructs related to schools;
•       investigate the problems related to the different educational contexts (school and extraschool);
•       find the sources needed to develop ideas and projects aimed at inclusive perspective;
•       build options to move for pupils with "BES".
 

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

Teaching

Lectures; essays; seminars; debates on specific topics; group work.

Attendance

A course only without the actual going to class.

Course books

Required books:

P. Gaspari, Pedagogia speciale: questioni epistemologiche, Anicia, Roma, 2012. (pp. 141)
P. Gaspari, La Pedagogia speciale e l'educatore professionale in prospettiva inclusiva, Anicia, Roma, 2012. (pp.170) 
P. Gaspari, Insegnante specializzato al bivio. Riflessioni critiche per un nuovo "identikit" professionale, Franco Angeli, Milano, 2015. (pp.193)

P. Gaspari, Per una Pedagogia speciale “oltre” la medicalizzazione, Guerini, Milano, 2017. (in corso di stampa) only the second part of the volume

Assessment

The written examination is the of?cial test of assessment, consisting in a written paper with  open questions ( an essay on three thematic areas to be fixed at the end of the course), because, in step with the Dublin descriptors, the test goal is primarily to ensure the ability to:

•  use knowledge and concepts that allow to reflect according to the internal logic of discipline; 

•  identify and define the main theoretical constructs relating to inclusive processes; 

•  develop some main pedagogical tools;

• build options to move for pupils with "BES".

For students who do not take the written test, an oral test is planned to assess the basic epistemological knowledge of the subject and school inclusive processes. Ongoing monitoring and self-assessment moments are planned.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

Teaching

Not attending students can take advantage of educational materials (articles, essays, diagrams, videos, etc.) registered by the teacher in the Moodle platform, blended.uniurb.it. It is possible to contact the teacher via email and by appointment.

Attendance

A course only without the actual going to class.

Course books

Required books:

P. Gaspari, Pedagogia speciale: questioni epistemologiche, Anicia, Roma, 2012. (pp. 141)
P. Gaspari, La Pedagogia speciale e l'educatore professionale in prospettiva inclusiva, Anicia, Roma, 2012. (pp.170) 
P. Gaspari, Insegnante specializzato al bivio. Riflessioni critiche per un nuovo "identikit" professionale, Franco Angeli, Milano, 2015. (pp.193)

P. Gaspari, Per una Pedagogia speciale “oltre” la medicalizzazione, Guerini, Milano, 2017. (in corso di stampa) only the second part of the volume

Assessment

The written examination is the of?cial test of assessment, consisting in a written paper with  open questions ( an essay on three thematic areas to be fixed at the end of the course), because, in step with the Dublin descriptors, the test goal is primarily to ensure the ability to:

•  use knowledge and concepts that allow to reflect according to the internal logic of discipline; 

•  identify and define the main theoretical constructs relating to inclusive processes; 

•  develop some main pedagogical tools;

• build options to move for pupils with "BES".

For students who do not take the written test, an oral test is planned to assess the basic epistemological knowledge of the subject and school inclusive processes. Ongoing monitoring and self-assessment moments are planned.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

During the course, there will be a tutorial teaching to small-medium groups of students about educational-didactic planning, developed for pupils with disabilities in order to acquire elements of formative assessment, concerning the level of pro?ciency attained by the students.