Faculty of Special Education, Psychology and Social Work

The Department of Special and Inclusive Education (the first name is «Department of Correctional Pedagogy and Inclusive Education») was established on August 31, 2011, as graduating department for the training and retraining of specialists in the speciality 016 Special Education.

The basis of the department’s development concept is the understanding of the fact that ensuring the full development of children who need correction of psychophysical development is directly dependent on the level of training of special education specialists. It is obvious that there is a need to train a new generation of specialists capable of carrying out specific activities in new conditions, working in new types of institutions, special services that will prevent developmental disorders and prepare parents to raise children with special educational needs in the family environment; they also have to be ready to organize the most adequate directions of a differentiated approach in the education of various categories of children with special needs, including in the conditions of integrated and inclusive education.

Scientific and pedagogical staff of the department are highly qualified, well-known scientists, they have practical experience of working with children with special educational needs. The department includes 2 Doctors of Science and 5 PhDs. Scientific and pedagogical staff of the department systematically conduct seminars, trainings, provide consulting services to specialists of special and inclusive education institutions. The department conducts the annual All-Ukrainian scientific and practical conference (with international participation) «Psychological and pedagogical support of children with intellectual disabilities in the conditions of special and inclusive education».

The Department of Educational Psychology has successful way of development since its establishment in 1989. The purpose of the department’s activity is the formation of students competences regarding the psychological support of their future professional activities.

The department includes 6 Сandidates of Psychological Sciences, of which one is a Professor and five are Associate Professors, well-known specialists in personality development and formation, personal values, reflection, creativity, and leadership in Ukraine. An educational and scientific laboratory of psychology and pedagogy of the higher school operates on the basis of the department.

The department ensures the formation of students basics of correctional work with children with special educational needs.

At the Department of Psychological, Medical and Pedagogical Fundamentsls of Correctional Work, both traditional and modern learning technologies are used when teaching academic disciplines, in particular: personally oriented technologies; programmed methods, including computer methods; simulation of practical situations, analysis of psychological situations; methods of ethnopedagogy; solving situational problems. When conducting classes, the experience of the best scientific and pedagogical workers, the best experience of other educational and research institutions is systematically summarized and disseminated, effective methods and techniques of conducting classes are developed and used; the main focus is on the individual abilities of students during classes.

The Department of Social Pedagogy and Social Work prepares bachelors and masters in social security for the specialists’ implementation of activities aimed at rescuing the population from social risks. The educational process is carried out by the teaching staff. The Department carries out academic training of a specialist in the social sphere, which is based on theoretical research and practical scientific results, taking into account the world experience of social assistance, the current state of the social sphere of Ukraine; it also is based on mastering active and passive methods of social security, special social technologies as a type of tactical-operational influence on a social object.

The Department of General and Practical Psychology prepares students of various levels of higher education who plan to become specialists in the field of psychological provision of education, clinical practice, activities of rehabilitation, inclusive resource centers, penitentiary institutions, political organizations, as well as those who dream of working in private practice. At the Department, priorities are given to student-centered learning, under which students choose an individual educational trajectory.

The staff of the Department of General and Practical Psychology is experienced and highly qualified. It includes 2 Doctors of Psychological Sciences, 1 Professor, 8 PhD in Psychological Sciences, well-known specialists in the field of practical psychology in Ukraine.

 Considerable attention is paid to scientific work. Since 2008, the Department has been publishing the Collection of Scientific Works «Problems of Modern Psychology» of the Kamianets-Podilskyi Ivan Ohiienko National University and H.S. Kostyuk Institute of Psychology of the NAES of Ukraine, which is included in the List of scientific professional journals of Ukraine, Category «B», psychological specialties – 053. Every year, the department of general and practical psychology organizes and holds four international scientific and practical conferences with the publication of conference participants’ materials.

The Department was founded in 2002. The Department includes competent scientific and pedagogical workers committed to the training of qualified, competitive specialists (teachers-speech therapists).

The Department’s priority areas of activity are: creation of favorable conditions for the formation of Speech therapy students’ professional competences; development and improvement of educational and methodological support for the study of educational components of professional training; organization of research space for scientific and pedagogical workers and students; establishing and maintaining relations with employers and educational institutions.

Among the special achievements of the department are initiatives in the organization and holding of the annual International scientific and practical conference «Correctional education: history, modernity and development prospects» (since 2006), and its updated format – «Special and inclusive education: problems and prospects» (since 2021), periodic All-Ukrainian Scientific and Practical Forum of Students «Development of Special Education: Student Format» (2017, 2018, 2020), publication of the Collection of Scientific Works «Topical Issues of Correctional Education» (Category B), Collection of Scientific Works «Bulletin of Faculty of Special education, Psychology and Social work» (Category C), Collection of scientific works of bachelor and master students of the Faculty of Special education, Psychology and Social work.

Due to the scientific and methodological work of its members and many years of experience in providing quality educational services, the department of speech therapy and special methods has gained a positive reputation both in scientific circles and among educational institutions for children with special educational needs and practitioners in various regions of Ukraine. For a long time, the department has fruitfully cooperated with adjacent departments of leading Ukrainian universities (National Pedagogical Dragomanov University, Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University, Sumy State Pedagogical University named after A. S. Makarenko) and abroad (Academy of Special Pedagogy named after M. Grzegozhevska, Republic of Poland, Catholic University in Ružomberok, Slovak Republic, etc.).