Do you want to enable young people with special educational needs to participate in education? As a special needs teacher, you will organise lessons according to the individual support needs of your pupils: You specialise in two special education subjects and choose a subject that you study with a view to its didactics and subject-specific sciences. You will also study basic maths or German as well as seminars in educational science, psychology and sociology, among others. You will gain valuable practical experience in several internships.
If you study for a Bachelor's degree in Special Needs Education, you will learn how to provide individualised support to children and young people with different needs. You will combine knowledge from the fields of education, didactics and psychology and develop a holistic view of education and participation.
Whether in school internships, in projects or through practice-orientated teaching methods - you will gain valuable experience in dealing with children and young people at an early stage. This will allow you to combine theoretical knowledge directly with practical experience and prepare you for your career.
Special needs teachers are urgently needed - in schools, counselling centres, support facilities and in research. With your skills, you enable educational opportunities, promote inclusion and help shape a society in which everyone can participate.
At the PHHD, you benefit from small learning groups, individual support and close dialogue with teachers. At the same time, you will network with students from other teacher training programmes - broadening your perspective and building a valuable network for the future.
The Bachelor's degree programme "B.A. Special Education (related to teaching special education)" focuses on the education and upbringing of children, adolescents and young adults with special educational, counselling and support needs.
As educational experts for these young people, you can professionally assess their individual learning requirements and development opportunities and design your educational programmes accordingly. With your expertise, you will also contribute to the further development of special educational institutions.
To this end, you will acquire specialised knowledge of special needs education, educational science, subject science and subject didactics during your studies.
You will also learn to take a lifelong look at your own educational status and process, to professionally develop not only yourself but also your professional field and thus actively assume social responsibility for inclusion in the education system.
The degree programme prepares you optimally for an educational profession in the field of special education as well as a teaching-related Master's degree programme, which in turn qualifies you to work as a teacher.
In this Bachelor's degree programme, you will acquire basic skills in special education and specialise in two special educational fields that relate to specific special educational needs. In the special educational field of speech, language and communication, you will learn about target group-specific characteristics of communication and how to take them into account.
You will also choose a school subject, which you will study with a view to its didactics and specialised sciences. You will also study basic maths or German as well as seminars in educational science, psychology and sociology, among others. You will gain valuable practical experience in several internships.
Standard period of study: 6 semesters
The degree programme comprises 180 credit points. One credit point corresponds to around 30 hours of student work (attendance, preparation and follow-up work, self-study, examination).
You will complete two internships during your degree programme so that you can apply the theoretical principles from your degree programme directly in practice.
You will complete the three-week orientation placement (OSP) by the beginning of the third semester. Here you will familiarise yourself with the professional field of a teacher and the work at a school, sit in on lessons and have the opportunity to teach for the first time. This helps you to review and strengthen your choice of study and career.
You usually complete the integrated semester placement (ISP) over 17 weeks in the 5th semester at a school in your chosen first special educational subject area. A large part of this is planning, instructing, implementing and reflecting on your own teaching units. Here you will prove that you have all the didactic, methodological and educational skills that you will need in your future career.
During the internships, you will be supported by training counsellors, teachers at the school and university lecturers, advised on teaching experiments and keep internship portfolios.
In this way, you will develop professional skills that you can build on during your preparatory service and continue to develop throughout your career.
Our Centre for Practical School Studies (ZfS) is your first point of contact for all questions relating to the practical school components of your studies.
To the Centre for Practical School Studies (ZfS)
The University of Teacher Education offers the opportunity to integrate a stay abroad into your degree programme. This can be organised privately or via exchange programmes, and can include studying at a university abroad or an internship. The International Office provides information and advice on the various options and scholarship programmes.
To the International Office
You will graduate with the academic degree "Bachelor of Arts (B. A.)". This degree qualifies you for a career in an educational field such as educational and family counselling or disability and integration support. Important: After completing this degree programme, you are not yet a teacher!
If you would like to teach as a teacher at special educational institutions or at mainstream schools in the context of inclusive education, you can continue your studies with the M.Ed. in Special Education. You can also study this at the PH Heidelberg.
With this Master's degree, you will be able to work as a teacher after an 18-month traineeship (Referendariat).
Studying to becomea teacher at the PHHD for the M. Ed. special education teacher training programme
