Faculty of Education (FoE), the recent form/identity of the College of Education established in 1956 had first prepared teachers for a special education program in the late 1960s. Until the last decade of the 20th century, significant progress has not been made in the field of Special Needs Education under teacher education because of the lack of specialized educators. This gap was filled up when seven senior faculty members of FoE came from the US after completing their M.S. in Special Education from the University of Oregon. With their active involvement, three courses were developed to provide at Three-Year B.Ed. and One-Year B.Ed. level. However, these courses were not found to have implemented in three-year B.Ed. Rather, one-year B.Ed. in Special Needs Education (SNE) has been operation since 2003 exclusively at Central Department of Education, University Campus, Kirtipur. A separate Department of Special Needs Education was established at Central Department of Education to run B.Ed. in SNE. However, this program could not run effectively and extensively because six faculty members with M.S. in Special Education had got compulsory retirement and only one of them is working in the Department of SNE. A part-time teacher is also working to run a one-year B.Ed. in SNE. Hence, there is an acute shortage of human resources/teacher educators who can run M.Ed. and B.Ed. in SNE. Similarly, there is an extreme need for human resources in the field of SNE who can organize short-term training for government officials and school teachers.

Considering the above scenario, it was realized that in order to run B.Ed. in SNE, it was necessary to prepare teacher educators who can teach SNE courses at B.Ed. level in the campuses/colleges of different parts of the country. For this, M.Ed. in SNE program was launched with the financial and technical support of Changwon National University under Leading University Project for International Cooperation, South Korea.

Aims and objectives

The major aim of the Two-year M.Ed. in Special Needs Education Program is to prepare theoretically and practically competent human resources who will work as teacher educators, government officials, and NGO workers to provide services to children with different types of disabilities.

The major objectives of this program are as follows:

To prepare professionally sound special needs education teachers and teacher educators for Nepal
To produce efficient education planners, administrators, managers, supervisors, and other educational experts required for the development of special needs education in Nepal
To enhance ability by researching communication, hearing impairment, multiple disorders, physical disability, emotional and behavioral disorder, learning disorder and intellectual disorder as well as therapeutic teaching, educational evaluation.

Structure of Two-Year M.Ed. in SNE

M.Ed. in SNE consists of 69 credit hours. Its course structure is given in Table 1.

Table 1: Course Structure and Number of Courses in Each Semester

S.N.	Nature of courses	Semester				Subtotal	Total Credit
S.N.	Nature of courses	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Subtotal	Total Credit
1.	Professional/Core Courses	2	2	2	1	7	3 credit hours x 7 courses = 21 credit hours
2.	Specialization Courses	4	4	4	1	13	3 credit hours x 13 courses = 39 credit hours
3.	Practicum	-	-	-	1	1	3 credit hours x 1 course = 3 credit hours
4.	Thesis	-	-	-	1	1	6 credit hours x 1 thesis = 6 credit hours
Total		18	18	18	15	22	69 credit hours

Professional/Core Courses

The professional/core courses to be offered in four semesters are presented in Table 2.

Table 2: List of Core Courses

S.N.	Code No.	Course titles	Credit hrs.
1.	Ed.511	Foundations of Education	3
2.	Ed.512	Measurement and Evaluation in Education	3
3.	Ed.513	Advanced Educational Psychology	3
4.	Ed.521	Curriculum Practices	3
5.	Ed.522	Education and Development	3
6.	Ed.531	Measurement and Evaluation	3
7.	Ed.532	Research Methodology in Education	3
Total			21

Specialization Courses

The details of specialization courses to be offered in four semesters are presented in Table 3.

Table 3: Structure and Cycle of Specialization Courses

First Semester

Second Semester

Third Semester

Fourth Semester

1. Psychology and Individual Differences

2.Fundamentals of Special Needs and Inclusive Education

3. Socialization and Communication Skills

4. Learning Diversity and Disability in Inclusive Classroom

1. Education for Children with Visual Impairment

2. Education for Children with Deaf and Hard of Hearing Impairment

3. Assessment of children with special needs

4. Theories and Practices of Behavioural modification

1. Assistive Technology in Special Needs Education

2. Instructional Techniques for Special Needs and Inclusive Education

3. Education for Children with Multiple Disability

4. Emotional, Behaviour, and Autism Spectrum Disorders

1. Sports, Cultural and Recreational Activities for Special Needs Children

Multiple Intelligence Approaches to Teaching Children with Special Needs

2. Practicum

3. Thesis

Note: The courses mentioned in the above table are developed for those students who study SNE from the beginning. When B.Ed. in SNE from TU will be produced, those courses will be revised to maintain vertical integration with special education courses of B.Ed.

Evaluation

Students will be evaluated during and at the end of the course work. The evaluation system for theoretical courses is as follows.

Internal Assessment 40%

The concerned teacher will carry out the internal assessment of the students as per the distribution of points stated below.

Attendance	05 points
Participation in learning	05 points
First assessment	10 points
Second assessment	10 points
Third assessment	10 points
Total	40 points

Semester/Final Examination 60%

Examination Division, Dean’s Office, Faculty of Education will conduct semester/final examination at the end of each semester. The distribution of points for the types of questions to be asked in the final examination is as follows:

Objective type questions (10 Multiple choice items x 1 point)	10 points
Short answer questions (6 questions x 5 points)	30 points
Long answer questions (2 questions x 10 points)	20 points
Total	60 points

Thesis Writing and Evaluation

Thesis writing in M.Ed. in SNE is compulsory. Only those students who have passed all the courses of the first to third semesters will be allowed to undertake thesis writing. Students are required to complete all the requirements and follow all the procedures as mentioned in the 'Thesis' course. The thesis has to be written under the direct supervision of the Faculty Member of the Campus /Department. Departmental Research Committee will constantly monitor the progress of the students in his/her thesis work to ensure the quality of the thesis.

Practicum

Practicum is the integral part of the M.Ed. in SNE. It is designed to provide opportunities to students to actually participate in the activity of the campuses or the higher secondary schools. Each student is required to complete three activities classroom teaching, internship including case study, and organizing seminar. This practicum course is carried out within or after a fourth of the program for six weeks. Only those students who have passed all the courses of the first to third semesters will be allowed to participate in a practicum.

Certification

The Four-semester M.Ed. program extends over two academic years. M.Ed. the degree is awarded on its successful completion.

Attendance and Evaluation System

Minimum attendance in accordance with the university regulation is required (i.e. 80%) in each subject in order to be eligible for the semester examination.

At the end of each semester, the Examination Division of the Dean’s office, FoE will conduct the final examination. Each student must appear in and pass all those examinations in order to qualify for M.Ed. degree.

Grading System

Below is the grading system being applied in the semester system of FoE.

Grade	Grade Point Average (GPA)	Equivalent Percentage Based on Individual Paper Marks	Remarks
A	4.00	90 and above	Distinction
A-	3.70 to below 4.00	80 to below 90	Very Good
B+	3.30 to below 3.70	70 to below 80	Good
B	3.00 to below 3.30	60 to below 70	Fair
B-	2.70 to below 3.00	50 to below 60	Pass in individual course
F	Below 2.70	Below 50	Fail

First Semester Courses

	Course Title	Nature/Credit	Course Code
Core Courses	Foundations of Education	Theoretical(3)	Ed. 511
Core Courses	Advanced Educational Psychology	Theoretical(3)	Ed. 512
Specialization Courses	Fundamentals of Special Needs and Inclusive Education	Theoretical(3)	SN.Ed. 515
	Socialization and Communication Skills	Theoretical(3)	SN.Ed. 516
	Psychology of Individual Differences	Theoretical(3)	SN.Ed. 517
	Learning Diversity and Disability in Inclusive Classroom	Theoretical(3)	SN.Ed. 518

Second Semester Courses

	Course Title	Nature/Credit	Course Code
Core Courses	Education and Development	Theoretical(3)	Ed. 522
Core Courses	Curriculum Practices	Theoretical(3)	Ed. 521
Specialization Courses	Education for Children with Visual Impairment	Theoretical(3)	SN.Ed. 525
	Education for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing	Theoretical(3)	SN.Ed. 526
	Assessment of Students with Special Needs Education	Theoretical(3)	SN.Ed. 527
	Theories and Practices of Behavior Modifications	Theoretical(3)	SN.Ed. 528

Third Semester Courses

	Course Title	Nature/Credit	Course Code
Core Courses	Measurement and Evaluation	Theoretical(3)	Ed. 513
Core Courses	Research Methodology	Theoretical(3)	Ed. 531
Specialization Courses	Assistive Technology in Special Needs Education	Theoretical(3)	SN.Ed. 535
	Instructional Techniques for Special Needs and Inclusive Education	Theoretical(3)	SN.Ed. 536
	Education for Children with Multiple Disability	Theoretical(3)	SN.Ed. 537
	Emotional, Behaviour and Autism Spectrum Disorders	Theoretical(3)	SN.Ed. 538

Fourth Semester Courses

	Course Title	Nature/Credit	Course Code
Core Courses	Contemporary Issues in Education	Theoretical and Practical (3)	Ed. 541
Specialization Courses	Sports, Cultural and Recreational Activities for Special Needs Children	Theoretical and Practical (3: 1T+2P)	SN.Ed. 545
Specialization Courses	Multiple Intelligence Approach to Teaching Children with Special Needs	Theoretical(3)	SN.Ed. 546
Practicum	Education for Children with Multiple Disability	Practical(3)	SN.Ed. 543
Thesis			SN.Ed.

MEd Special Needs Education

Offering Colleges

Eligibility

Admission Criteria

Curricular Structure

Related Programs

Master of Education (MEd)

Master of Educational Sciences in Nepali

Master in Social Work (MSW)

Master in Development Studies (MDS)

MEd in Science Education

MEd in Political Science Education

Master of Education General (M.Ed)

Master in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (MTEVT)

Masterof Educational Sciences in Curriculum and Evaluation

Master of Education in Economics Education

Master of Education in Geography Education (M.Ed)

Bachelor of Special Needs Education (B.Ed. SNE)

Master of Educational Sciences in Education, Planning and Management

Master in Sustainable Development (MSD)

Master of Educational Sciences in Health and Physical Education

Master of Education in Physical Education (M.Ed)

Master of Education in Population Education (M.Ed)

Master of Educational Sciences in English (MES English)