Department for Education and

Social Action (DEAS)

The Clinical Orthopedagogy and Family Sciences Units have come together to create the Department for Education and Social Action (DEAS) in order to pool their resources to organise courses, to collaborate and to contribute their services to society.

The department's main themes focus on equal opportunities, open coaching, and social inclusion. They combine teaching, research and intervention in which the two units are involved. The ultimate aim is to combat problems related to disability, ageing, families, social action, and the quality of services and institutions in which these human and social issues are addressed.

As far as teaching is concerned, the department offers three subjects:

• Disability Psychology and Social Maladjustment;
• Orthopedagogy and Family Education;
• Pedagogy and Social Action.

One of the department’s main priorities is to develop continued education programmes for social workers.

As for research, the department is implicated in the three main taught subjects at the FPSE with regard to:

• Assessment – for example, assessment of psychosocial services for precarious individuals, families in difficulty and young people under supervision, and assessment support devices for disabled family members;
• Communication – communication devices in research, individuals with modest backgrounds, analysis of language problems in cases of age-related diseases;
• Development – action research projects on school-family relationships in migrant and/or modest neighbourhoods; applied research on cognitive remediation devices for people with mental disabilities and multiple sclerosis.   

DEAS also intervenes in matters related to society. The issue of social inclusion is met with great interest in the field of psychological and social professions. This domain covers institutions of social action, mediation, education, and educational assistance for families and young people in difficulty, residential services, structures for people affected by age-related diseases, assistance and health services for precarious individuals, the homeless, and migrants. The department is constantly developing collaborations that focus on tool sharing, additional approaches, and expansion of educational and support devices, among many more, with a view to better meet the needs of those requiring psychological and social support.