Faculty of Education | Department of Special Education

Anadolu University Faculty of Education Department of Special Education was established in 1982 as a “Special Education Department” under the Department of Educational Sciences, Department of Psychological Services in Education. In the 1983-1984 academic year, undergraduate students were admitted to the Special Education Teaching Program for the first time under the name of “Special Education Teaching” and the program had its first graduates in 1987. In 1989, the “Department of Special Education” was established within the Faculty, and the name of the Special Education Department, which was previously under the Department of Educational Sciences, Department of Psychological Services in Education, was changed to “Department of Special Education” of the Faculty of Education. With the establishment of the Special Education Department, two departments, namely the Education of the Hearing Impaired and the Education of the Mentally Handicapped, became operational. Since 1989, It has been started to admit undergraduate students to these two departments named “Teaching Program for the Hearing Impaired” and “Teaching Program for the Mentally Handicapped”. The Department of Special Education, which has been training teachers for many years as “Teachers for the Hearing Impaired” and “Teachers for the Mentally Handicapped” through these two programs, has started the “Special Education Teaching Undergraduate Program” since the 2016-2017 academic year in line with the decision of the Higher Education Council (YÖK) to combine the teaching fields. It has been restructured under the name. Since this date, teacher candidates studying in the Department have started to graduate under the name of “Special Education Teacher”.

The student quota of the program is 130 people. The Special Education Teaching Undergraduate Program consists of 240 ECTS credits. You can access the current course catalog on the student affairs tab of the Registrar's Office (https://oidb.anadolu.edu.tr/) on the university’s website. In addition to the compulsory courses to be taken in our undergraduate program, there are elective courses and vocational elective courses. Graduates of the Special Education Teaching Undergraduate Program are employed as “special education teachers” in special education schools, special education classes, or Guidance Research Centers affiliated with the Ministry of National Education (MEB). In addition, our graduates can work as “special education teachers” in special education and rehabilitation centers. Considering the shortage of personnel trained in special education teaching in our country, almost all of our graduates can be appointed as a result of the Public Personnel Selection Examination. Therefore, the Special Education Teaching Undergraduate Program is one of the rare teaching areas in Turkey that does not have employment problems.

Graduates who successfully complete their undergraduate education and meet the postgraduate education requirements can receive postgraduate education if they wish, according to the postgraduate education requirements of the university they are applying for. There are various postgraduate education programs (hearing impairment, mentally handicapped, special abilities, autism spectrum disorder, early childhood special education, and early childhood autism spectrum disorder [non-thesis] programs) within the Special Education Department of our university. Graduates who have successfully completed their undergraduate education and want to pursue an academic career can apply to the positions opened by following the web pages of universities and YÖK. They can work as “Research Assistants” when they meet the necessary conditions.

Within the Special Education Department is Active Education for the Hearing Impaired, Education for the Mentally Handicapped, Education for the Special Talent, Education for the Autism Spectrum Disorder, and Education for the Visually Impaired. Special Education Teaching Program offers services with 9 Professors, 8 Associate Professors, 9 Assistant Professors, 4 Research Assistants, 1 Lecturer, and 7 Research Assistants. Decisions about the program are taken by the Department Board. The Department Board consists of the head of the department, two vice presidents of the departments, and the heads of the divisions.