Maria Grzegorzewska Academy of Special Education

Poland

 02-353 WARSZAWA, ul Szczęśliwicka 40

The Maria Grzegorzewska Academy of Special Education
(Akademia Pedagogiki Specjalnej)

Postal code, city: 02-353 Warsaw
Street: Szczęśliwicka 40
Phone: +48 22 589 36 00, Fax: +48 22 658 11 18, E-mail: aps@aps.edu.pl
Website : http://www.aps.edu.pl

Authorities:

President:     Professor Adam Frączek
Vice President, Research:   Professor Anna Firkowska-Mankiewicz
Vice President, Didactics:   Associate Professor Jan Łaszczyk
Dean of the Faculty of Education: Associate Professor Janusz Gęsicki
Dean of the Faculty of Applied Social Sciences: Associate Professor Anna Drabarek
Chancellor:     Maciej Olejniczak, Ph.D.
Finance Officer:   Halina Baczul, M.A.

 The Academy of Special Education (APS) in Warsaw is Poland’s oldest pedagogical higher education institution. It is a continuation of the State Institute of Special Pedagogy which was founded in 1922 as a result of merger of the Seminar of Special Education and the State Phonematic Institute. Professor Maria Grzegorzewska was the founder of the Academy and she has become its patron.
 The Academy consists of two faculties: the Faculty of Educational Sciences and the recently  (October 2006) established Faculty of Applied Social Sciences.
Currently, about 7,000 students are enrolled at APS. The educational offer for full-time and part-time students at the Faculty of Educational Sciences consists primarily of training in the area of Special Education. It is the only pedagogical university in Poland which trains teachers in all areas of special needs. Students are prepared to work with children, youngsters and adults with sensory, motor, speech and cognitive impairments, as well as with the socially maladjusted, and with those who are talented. 
 APS also runs programs in the field of General Pedagogy for teachers. Students are prepared to work at schools and care centers; they also acquire competence in the area of social education which is aimed at meeting educational and cultural needs of families, local communities, ethnically mixed communities, and educationally neglected groups.
 The educational offer of the Academy is constantly increasing to meet the growing social needs, the demands of the job market, as well as the requirements of the uniting Europe and the extending educational area. These processes manifest themselves in the gradual transition from one-tier 5-year studies to 2-cycle and 3-cycle study systems (i.e., 3-year bachelor studies, 2-year master studies and, prospectively, doctoral studies), as well as in initiating new faculties. Those endeavors have resulted in launching two new programs: Artistic Education program in the area of plastic arts at the Faculty of Pedagogical Sciences, preparing specialists to work in educational institutions, and Social Work program at the Faculty of Applied Social Sciences. The latter initiative takes into consideration the constantly growing population of elderly, ill and disabled people who need professional support and care. It is planned to launch another new program, Sociology, at the Faculty of Applied Social Sciences.

Legal Form

The Maria Grzegorzewska Academy of Special Education is a state higher education institution, a legal entity which acts under the Law on Higher Education of September 19, 199, (The Journal of Law no.65 entry 385 + amendments), as well as under the statute of APS endorsed by the Minister of Education November 30, 2006.
The mission of the Academy of Special Education

 According to the message of its Patron, “There is no disabled person – there’s a person”, the Academy prepares teachers for work with people with different kinds of disabilities, in the spirit of respect towards their human and civic rights, understanding and acceptance of their impairment, regarding disability an indispensable part of human condition and involving people with disabilities in the life of society on equal rights with other citizens. All students of the Academy who are to become teachers, social workers or sociologists are educated in the similar spirit of tolerance and opposition to all forms of discrimination. The intention of the Academy is to educate open-minded, creative professionals who are involved in their own development as well as in the development of people and environments for and in which they will be working.
 The Academy also serves the local community, it systematically broadens the array of educational and therapeutic services offered by both the academic teachers and by student volunteers.