The Faculty of Education at the University of Presov addresses new trends and challenges of contemporary education and directs its development activities accordingly. It is currently the only higher education institution in Slovakia specialising in the education of kindergarten teachers, primary school teachers, and special education teachers. The Faculty trains teachers for pre-school facilities, school clubs and leisure centres; prepares experts in the area of compensatory pre-primary and primary education; educators for special educational facilities, educators for health care facilities, for juvenile correctional facilities (detention centres), and trains prospective teachers for teaching students with special educational needs. The Faculty of Education creates favourable conditions regarding its personnel, material basis, technical equipment and financial resources in striving to meet its objectives. Some innovative methods have been introduced into teaching to reduce the number of contact sessions and to enhance self-study, project work, term papers, yearly projects, and participation in a Student Research Conference. The research and artistic activities in the Faculty are on the increase. The faculty offers a variety of interesting activities and social events from which the following ones are worth mentioning: Students’ Science Group, the Students’ Council of the Faculty of Education, the Artuš Students and Teachers‘ Faculty journal, Moyzesiana International Music Contest and many others. The Faculty also provides materials and documentation for Presov Children‘s University, which is a part of the international network of children‘s universities. The Faculty has established itself internationally through bilateral agreements with foreign institutions, implementing the Erasmus+ programme, and supporting university teachers’ and students’ mobility, scholarships, and internships in other programmes. The Faculty is responsible for both conceptual and organisational management of foreign students’ study stays; it maintains contacts with the representatives of foreign departments at partner universities abroad in order to increase the quality of the educational and research activities of its staff.

WHAT DOES THE FACULTY OF EDUCATION MEAN FOR Bc. MÁRIA ONDRUŠOVÁ, A PRESCHOOL AND ELEMENTARY EDUCATION STUDENT?

„The Faculty of Education offers us a lot of interesting events during the academic year. There are various events such as the Day of Primary and Secondary Schools, Daycares Day, Christmas Markets, and the Day of the Faculty of Education. We have a lot of fun here and a lot of nice experiences. The Faculty also prepares us for real life and provides us with the knowledge that is passed on to us through our teachers. At our faculty, our dreams have come true because with our teachers we are like one big family.“

Study programmes:

Bachelor‘s Degree Programmes (academic title of Bc.): Pre-School and Elementary Education (PSEE), Pre-School and Elementary Education and Education of Psycho-socially Disabled (PSEE EPD) and Special Education (SE).

Master´s Degree Programmes (academic title of Mgr.): Teaching in Primary Education (TPE), Teaching in Primary Education and Education of Psycho-socially Disabled (TPE EPD), Pre-School Education (PSE), Special Education (SE).

Doctoral Degree Programmes (academic title of Ph.D.): Pre-School and Elementary Education (PSEE), Special Education (SE).

Pre-School and Elementary Education
The degree in Pre-School and Elementary Education qualifies its holder to work as a teacher in kindergarten, a teacher in a children‘s home kindergarten, a teacher assistant; a joint honour programme in PSEE and English qualifies its holder to teach English in kindergartens, school clubs and leisure centres. Its holder is also qualified to work as a kindergarten teacher with managerial and organisational responsibilities, as a regional mentor for pre-school teaching, an inspector, and a researcher.

Pre-School and Elementary Education and Education of Psycho-socially Disabled
The degree in this programme qualifies its holder to work as a teacher in kindergartens, school clubs, leisure centres, or in special education facilities for children and pupils with special educational needs.

Special Education
The degree in this programme qualifies its holder to work as a teacher in special kindergartens, special school clubs, special boarding schools, children’s homes, special education centres (behavioural treatment centres), healthcare facilities (psychiatric hospitals, drug treatment facilities, etc.), social care facilities, or juvenile detention facilities, and, as a counsellor for inclusive education of pupils with special educational needs placed in mainstream schools.

Teaching in Primary Education
The graduate is qualified to pursue a teaching career in the primary stage of education, (a graduate of a joint honour programme in TPE and English is qualified to teach English in Grades 1-4 of a primary school), a regional mentor for teaching in the primary stage of education, a state administration employee specialising in young learners’ education.

Pre-School Education
Graduates of the study programme have the knowledge, skills, and abilities that make them competent in carrying out hands-on teaching in kindergartens, coordinating its methodology, and cooperating in designing and modifying educational programmes, as well as supervising and evaluating the activities performed at kindergartens and by kindergarten teachers. Graduates can also be employed as methodologist of pre-primary education, senior teaching staff in institutions of pre-primary education, or experts in the public and state administration for kindergartens.

Teaching in Primary Education and Education of Psycho-socially Disabled
The graduate is qualified to pursue a teaching career in the primary stage of education, a regional mentor for teaching in the primary stage of education, a state administration employee specialising in young learners’ education, as a teacher in a school run by the diagnostic centre, by the behaviour treatment centre, by the medical and educational sanatorium, in the facilities for treating psycho-socially disabled children, or as a school based special education teacher (for working with pupils with behavioural disorders, learning disorders, ADHD/ADD conditions).

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Iveta Scholtzová, Ph. D.
The Dean of the Faculty