Overview

The Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education is committed to preparing teachers-in-training to meet the challenges they will face in the school setting. Our course offerings provide Education students with skills in the areas of classroom and behavior management, interpersonal communications, evaluation of their students' academic performance, guidance and counseling, and provide insight into development and learning to assist teachers in their professional responsibilities.

The Department offers an M.Ed. in School and Counseling Psychology (Thesis) as well as Education and Special Education (Thesis and Course Based).  The Education and Special Education M.Ed. is further divided into specializations in Applied Measurement & Evaluation or Special Education. More information on our Master's offerings can be found here.

In 2015, an associated unit, Counselling Assessment Intervention & Research Services (CAIRS) was developed, providing psycho-educational assessment in the areas of learning disabilities, attentional challenges, behaviourable disorders, intellectual challenges as well as giftedness.

Mission Statement

Using a combined teacher-scholar and scientist-practitioner model, the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education prepares professional practitioners and scholars to make significant contributions to the educational and psychosocial well-being of diverse children, youth and adults within educational, family, and community settings.

Values Statement

Our core ethical principle is respect for the dignity of all human beings.  Within this overarching principle, we believe in the potential for resiliency within human beings and are committed to being agents of positive personal and social change as we promote the values of self-determination, interdependence, equity, social justice, learning from diversity, cooperation and collaboration, excellence in teaching, research, and service.

1. The teacher-scholar model emphasizes the reciprocal nature of discovery, integration, application, and teaching which is congruent with the scientist-practitioner model in which research, teaching, and service inform and advance each other.

a. These models guide the rich educational experiences (i.e., course work, seminars, mentorship, teaching, research, consultation, collaboration, and practica) through which carefully selected graduate students assume professional roles within the areas of special education, school and counselling psychology, and measurement and evaluation.

2. Beyond merely acknowledging differences, we actively seek, as members of a pluralistic society, to explore diverse viewpoints, particularly Aboriginal and First Nations’ Perspectives, and to continually grow as we identify ways in which we would benefit from incorporating these into our understandings and competencies.

3. Graduates of our programs operate as competent, ethical, committed, and reflective academics, researchers, and practitioners within multidisciplinary teams in a variety of academic, research, educational, health, community, governmental, and private corporate sector settings.

These professionals:

a. adopt an ecological view of children and youth as complex individuals who are in multiple, reciprocal relationships within the dynamic contexts of their families, schools, communities, and society;

b. emphasize empowerment and self-determination based on a recognition of risk, protective factors, and resiliency, and

c. employ a range of exemplary practices as they:

i. create and disseminate knowledge;
ii. facilitate development, learning, and psychosocial well-being, and
iii. promote social justice and understanding among diverse peoples and cultures.

4. Graduate programs within the Department are designed to meet or exceed the requirements of the governmental departments and professional associations which regulate the practice of the professions of special education as well as school and counselling psychology.

Programs Offered

Faculty

Research Papers

Educational Psychology and Special Education

Research papers written by faculty members from Educational Psychology and Special Education

Contacts

Graduate / Certificate Support

Charmaine Spezowka

Phone: 306-966-5253
Fax: 306-966-7658
Graduate support email: epse.gradsec@usask.ca
Certificate support email: spec.edpse@usask.ca

 

Department Support

Isabel Bacalao Azpurua

Phone: 306-966-7514
Email: epse.office@usask.ca

Visit Us

You can also visit our office on campus.

Room 3104
Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education
University of Saskatchewan
28 Campus Drive
Saskatoon, SK S7N 0X1, Canada