The program will provide a high-quality training for future professionals with a gender perspective, comprehensive expertise, regional commitment and the ability to confront the challenges of global citizenship.

The Board of Directors of Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO) unanimously approved the implementation of a new undergraduate program in Special Education. The program will be part of the Faculty of Education, Social Science and Humanities and starts in the year 2024.

With an emphasis on the general training of Special Education teachers, the future graduates of this program will have high social responsibility, a gender perspective, the ability to manage inclusion initiatives, regional commitment and the ability to confront the challenges of global citizenship.

According to the dean of the Faculty of Education, Social Science and Humanities, Dr. Juan Manuel Fierro Bustos, “the program perfectly reflects the inclusive values of the Institutional Mission and UFROs Educational Model. In addition, it has an interdisciplinary approach that will allow us to develop inclusion initiatives together with other faculties.

PROFESSIONALS

The program consists of ten semesters, in which the students acquire the transversal skills to work in teaching and learning processes, multidimensional assessment, and diversity and inclusion management.
The director of the Special Education program, Patricia Pino Concha, emphasized the unanimous approval of the new program, and the intensive preparatory work of a team of academics who contributed from their fields of expertise to the creation of this program.

“We are part of a society that makes constant progress in the recognition of education as a fundamental human right. In this context, this program also reflects UFROs commitment as a public university, by training professionals who will lead inclusion processes, promote the participation of each individual in learning processes and cultural and community activities, especially for those who were historically excluded because of their origin, socioeconomic status, culture, ethnic background, sexual orientation, gender identity or disabilities,” Patricia Pino pointed out.

The director of Undergraduate Programs at the Faculty of Education, Social Science and Humanities, Abel Soto Higuera, commented: “We are very happy as a faculty and as a university about the implementation of this new program in Special Education, which will receive its first generation of students in 2024. This way, on the one hand, we will help to reduce the teacher shortage we are going to face in Chile in the near future, and on the other hand, we will help to provide equal chances for children, adolescents and the population in general, thus strengthening inclusion and diversity, which are very necessary in our society.”