A Model for Secondary Socialization and Re-socialization of Students with Special Educational Needs in an Academic Environment

The current paper interprets problems and challenges in the integration of students with special educational needs (SEN) in an academic environment, offering a model for their secondary socialization and resocialization in the higher education. On the basis of the results from an empirical study with the usage of 3 instruments – survey, interview and focus group – the paper identifies problem areas in the educational process of the students with SEN, the most serious of which are: insufficient volume of the individualized approaches and support, problems in the evaluation system for students with SEN, insufficient volume of the specialized didactic tools adapted to students with SEN, need for the institutionalization of a structural unit to solve in complexity the problems with the integration of students with SEN in an academic environment. The proposed model for the socialization and integration of students with SEN has proven its effectiveness at University of Ruse “Angel Kanchev” and can be multiplied in the system of higher education in Bulgaria, in parallel with the initiation of a national normative act regulating the work with students with SEN, by analogy with the existing Ordinance on inclusive education in Bulgarian schools.