Special and inclusive education certificate courses
The Department of Educational Psychology and Leadership Studies offers a Professional Specialization Certificate (PSC) in Special and Inclusive Education. This 7.5-unit program is designed for teachers who have an undergraduate degree and teacher certification. Normally, students entering the program will also have two years teaching or equivalent experience. Using a variety of course delivery methods, the certificate courses are designed and scheduled to be completed part-time.
The general foci of the certificate program are:
- high- and low-incidence special needs and their effect on development, learning, and behaviour;
- legal and ethical issues in the delivery of services to students with special needs;
- BC Ministry of Education policies and procedures;
- collaboration and consultation in special education;
- special education assessment (i.e. Level B) and identification of learning needs; and
- individualized education program (IEP) design, delivery, and evaluation.
The following four courses comprise the certificate program:
ED-D 405: Advanced Educational Exceptionality (1.5 units)
This is an advanced course intended to familiarize students with the needs of children and adolescents with varying exceptionalities. Topics include history of special education services, legal and ethical issues in the delivery of service to students with special needs, intellectual disabilities, learning disabilities, emotional disturbance, giftedness, children with speech and language problems, hearing and vision loss, physical impairments, and chronic health problems.
ED-D 402: Assessment for Special Education (1.5 units)
This course is designed to provide an in-depth study of the area of formal and informal assessment of the exceptional leader. Topics include techniques, methods and purposes of assessment, factors important in selecting and administering standardized tests for the purpose of planning educational alternatives, technical information required to interpret tests adequately, and limitations on interpretation.
ED-D 415: Level B Assessment and Instructional Programming (3.0 units)
This course provides a consideration of assessment strategies and instructional methods and materials appropriate for the identification and intervention of learning difficulties. Topics include: the application of knowledge and ethics in the assessment of students with special needs; the administration, scoring, and interpretation of norm-referenced, criterion-references, and curriculum-based assessment to Level B; task analysis, observation, portfolio, and environmental assessments; the synthesis and interpretation of assessment findings for individualized education program planning (IEP) and evaluation.
ED-D 427: Collaboration and Consultation in Special Education (1.5 units)
A theoretical and practical framework for developing the knowledge and skill in school-based consultation and collaboration that is required to meet the diverse needs of students.
The Professional Specialization Certificate in Special and Inclusive Education is a 7.5 unit program designed to be a part-time program for working professionals.
All of the courses in the certificate program (with the exception of one course, ED-D 415, that requires approximately three weeks of on-campus instruction in the summer) are offered online.
This progam has the option to ladder all of these credits into our 15 unit part-time Diploma in Special and Inclusive Education, or transfer 1.5 units to a Master's degree in Educational Psychology (with a focus on special education).
The EPLS department also offers a Diploma in Special and Inclusive Education. Students may enter the Diploma as a continuation of studies following the completion of the Professional Specialization Certificate in Special and Inclusive Education.