BarcelonaInclusion and attention to diversity is a sector of education that requires increasingly personalized specialization to eliminate barriers for young people with special educational needs. The goal is for everyone to have the right to the same learning opportunities, regardless of their social and cultural background or their skills and abilities. Catalan universities offer master's degrees that emphasize improving educational services for all children and young people, a sector with growing demand.
Professional opportunities are increasing, since according to the report data Inclusive education in CataloniaIn the last eight years, the number of intensive support teachers for inclusive schooling has increased by 124% and the number of contracted hours of support monitors (night watchmen) in public schools has increased by 94%.
The University of Girona (UdG) has a Master's Degree in Attention to Diversity in Inclusive Education, a program that offers advanced training geared toward professional specialization in the field of educational inclusion. The training focuses primarily on early childhood, primary, and secondary education centers, while also taking into account the social and community contexts that, through other organizations and services, contribute to and support the development of inclusive environments.
The overall objective of the master's degree is to contribute to the development of professional skills in the field of inclusive education, training professionals who can act as agents of change and promoters of innovative actions in the educational communities where they work, aimed at promoting inclusive education and improving the educational response to the needs of children and young people in this area.
The master's program, which consists of 60 ECTS credits, represents a professional specialization option for teachers in early childhood, primary, and secondary education, as well as professionals in the fields of social education, social work, pedagogy, psychopedagogy, and educational psychology. This program will enable them to respond to a variety of educational needs and cultural considerations, addressing diversity from the perspective of inclusive education.
Inclusive and diverse education.GETTY IMAGES
Graduates can work as specialists in attention to diversity in preschool, primary, and special education schools, secondary schools, and traveling multidisciplinary teams. They can also work as specialists in centers and services outside the school setting, serving children and young people in vulnerable situations due to cultural and social reasons, or with intellectual disabilities.
The Autonomous University, for its part, has the Master's Degree in Supports for Educational and Social Inclusion, a program now in its 14th year. It is blended and consists of 60 ECTS credits. It is divided into seven theoretical and practical modules, a supervised internship module in educational centers, and the final master's thesis (TFM).
Graduates of this master's degree will be trained to respond to educational support needs within the context of education for all, work among peers in educational and social inclusion processes, and facilitate networking to address educational support needs. As for career opportunities, the master's degree provides the professional profile of Attention to Diversity for Early Childhood, Primary, and Secondary Education teachers, access to the job market in the specialty of Therapeutic Pedagogy for Primary Education teachers during their interim period, and access to social and educational institutions interested in providing social and educational support.
Another of the offers is found at the University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia (UVic-UCC), which proposes the Master's Degree in Inclusive Education, Democracy and Cooperative LearningThe objective of the training, which is worth 60 ECTS, is to train professionals to design, implement, and evaluate intervention proposals aimed at facilitating diversity in learning processes in social and educational settings, leading to greater inclusion. It provides graduates with training in the theoretical and participatory research principles and models underlying inclusive, democratic, and cooperative learning-based education, both in social and educational settings.
This master's degree emphasizes how to promote the creation of inclusive democratic and participatory environments in school and social settings. Graduates will be trained to interact in global and international contexts with the goal of identifying needs and new realities that enable knowledge transfer to current or emerging areas of professional development, with the ability to adapt and self-direct professional and research processes.
More inclusive professional practices
The technology company NTT DATA and the UOC have a collaboration agreement to facilitate access to quality university internships for students with special needs. The main objective of this collaboration is to identify and understand the barriers and specific needs that students with disabilities encounter when accessing an internship center during their learning process, and to ensure that these placements become a true starting point toward a professional career on equal terms.
"Our university is firmly committed to promoting equal opportunities, even in the transition to the workforce. This agreement will allow us to identify real difficulties and address them through practical action, in collaboration with a committed company like NTT DATA," explains Esther Pinyol, Director of the UOC's Internship and Mobility Services. "We believe in the value of diversity and want to ensure that everyone, regardless of their circumstances, has the same opportunities to learn and grow professionally," says Javier Rodríguez Molowny, partner responsible for the Disability Inclusion Plan at NTT DATA.
The project will be launched in September 2025 and is open to all students with special needs who wish to participate. "It is essential that people with disabilities or other specific needs can undertake placements in organizations committed to equal opportunities, and that the collaboration between universities and companies guarantees adequate support throughout the entire process," explains Helga Iglesias, director of the UOC's Inclusion and Well-being Service.
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