Special educational needs teacher

SEN teaching is a rewarding career and having some experience of working with children can help you to take the first steps into teacher training

As a special educational needs (SEN) teacher you'll work with children and young people who need extra support, or require an advanced programme of learning, in order to reach their full educational potential.

You may work with pupils who have physical disabilities, sensory impairments (i.e. hearing or visual), speech and language difficulties, learning difficulties such as dyslexia, conditions such as autism, social, emotional and mental health needs, or have a combination of these difficulties.

You may also work with gifted and talented individuals who need to be challenged further than the standard curriculum allows.

A key aspect of working in this field is identifying individual needs and adapting to that particular student as well as being responsible for creating a safe, stimulating and supportive learning environment.

Responsibilities

As an SEN teacher, you'll need to:

• teach either individuals or small groups of pupils within, or outside, the class
• prepare lessons and resources
• mark and assess work
• develop and adapt conventional teaching methods to meet the individual needs of pupils
• use special equipment and facilities, such as audiovisual materials and computers to stimulate interest in learning and aid concentration and understanding
• use specialist skills, such as teaching Braille to pupils with visual impairments or sign language and lip reading to students who have hearing impairments
• collaborate with the classroom teacher to define appropriate activities for the pupils in relation to the curriculum
• assess children who have long or short-term learning difficulties and work with colleagues to identify individual pupils' special needs
• work with the head teacher and governing body to ensure that the requirements of the Equality Act (2010) are met in terms of reasonable adjustments and access arrangements
• liaise with other professionals, such as social workers, speech and language therapists, physiotherapists and educational psychologists
• work closely with parents and guardians
• organise learning outside the classroom in activities such as community visits, school outings or sporting events
• assist in severely disabled pupils' personal care/medical needs
• carry out administrative tasks, including updating and maintaining records of pupils' progress
• attend statutory annual reviews or other related meetings, such as Looked After Child (LAC) reviews, regarding students with an SEN, which may involve reviewing education, health and care (EHC) plans
• attend in-service training
• manage behaviour.

Salary

• New entrants to teaching in England start on the main salary scale, which rises incrementally from £28,000 to £38,810 (2022/23 academic year). Enhanced pay scales apply for teachers working in or near London.
• An SEN teacher's starting point depends on the employer, your qualifications and level of responsibility. Consideration may be given to pre-entry experience. An additional allowance, ranging from £2,384 to £4,703, is awarded for having responsibility for SEN children.
• After gaining experience and expertise, teachers who reach the top of the main scale can apply to be assessed for progression to the upper pay scale. This ranges from £40,625 to £43,685. Salaries for lead practitioners can rise to £67,685.
• In Wales, the main pay scale for classroom teachers ranges from £28,866 to £39,873. The upper pay scale is the same as in England, as is the SEN allowance.
• In Scotland, the new entrants' starting salary is £28,113, plus any payments made through the Preference Waiver Payment (PWP) scheme, rising incrementally to £42,336 (from January 2022).
• New entrants' salaries in Northern Ireland start at £24,137, rising incrementally to £35,277. The SEN allowance ranges from £2,240 to £4,424.

Academies, free schools and independent schools set their own pay and working conditions.

Details about pay are available from the teaching unions and the Department for Education (DfE) Get Into Teaching website (for England).

Income figures are intended as a guide only.

Working hours

As an SEN teacher, you'll usually work in a school for 39 weeks of the year. Hours vary between schools but you'll typically start at around 8.30am and finish between 3.30pm and 4pm.

You're entitled to a minimum of 10% of your timetabled teaching time per week for planning, preparation and assessment (PPA). However, it's usual that you'll also often need to spend time at home for some additional planning and assessment. This may also need to be carried out in school holidays.

Opportunities for part-time or supply work are available. Career break opportunities may be available, depending on your post and the employer.

For more information on working hours, see the NASWUT, The Teachers' Union.

What to expect

• Being an SEN teacher is a challenging but rewarding role.
• SEN teaching posts are available in all areas of the UK, although there are more jobs in towns and cities rather than rural areas. Specific SEN roles may only be available in certain schools.
• You may be based within the classroom supporting SEN students, or within specialist units depending on the policy of the school.
• Self-employment or freelance work is sometimes possible. You may be able to supplement your income through private home tuition or consultancy work.
• Some SEN teachers are based in one school and have little occasion to travel, but you may attend meetings, training and conferences. Occasional residential trips may occur, but overnight absence from home is not generally required.
• If you're based in a team outside schools, you will need to travel to a variety of locations.

Qualifications

To qualify as a teacher in a maintained school in England and Wales, you must have a degree and achieve qualified teacher status (QTS) by completing a period of initial teacher training (ITT), (initial teacher education (ITE) in Wales).

Independent schools, academies and free schools are permitted to employ teachers without QTS but, in practice, this is uncommon.

In order to achieve QTS you can take an undergraduate Bachelor of Education (BEd) or a BA/BSc with QTS.

If you already have a degree, there are a number of different postgraduate training options available, which are either university or school led, that lead to QTS status. Some will also award a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE).

For further details on entry requirements and routes to becoming a qualified teacher, see teacher training and education and search for PGCE courses.

In Scotland, you'll need to follow a programme of initial teacher education (ITE) to achieve a teaching qualification (TQ) to teach in a state school. You can take either a four-year undergraduate degree in education or the one-year Professional Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE). All courses are university-led. For full details, see Teach in Scotland - Become a teacher in Scotland.

To teach in Northern Ireland, you must have a degree and a recognised teacher training qualification, gained by taking either a four-year undergraduate BEd or a one-year PGCE. For more information see Department for Education Northern Ireland (DENI).

There is a special educational needs element to all teacher training courses. However, some courses have an SEN specialism or enhanced SEN training. These courses cover the same training and skills as other teacher training courses, but also focus on developing your skills in working with SEN pupils. This may include modules specifically on SEN, as well as opportunities to work in special schools and units. It’s therefore important to research carefully when choosing a course to find one that suits your career preferences.

Teachers generally choose to get some experience in mainstream teaching before entering SEN teaching. However, some schools may recruit newly qualified teachers directly into SEN roles.

Qualified teachers can also undertake additional training to teach pupils with special educational needs.

To teach pupils with hearing, vision or multi-sensory impairments, you'll need a further specific qualification in addition to QTS. For a list of approved courses, see Mandatory qualifications: specialist teachers.

You'll also need an enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check to work with children or young adults in England and Wales. For criminal record checks in Scotland and Northern Ireland, see:

• Disclosure Scotland
• Access Northern Ireland (AccessNI)

Skills

You'll need to show:

• commitment to working with pupils with special educational needs
• excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• the ability to build good relationships based on trust with pupils and their families
• behaviour management skills, with the ability to manage confrontation and challenging behaviour
• initiative and problem-solving skills
• teamworking skills to liaise with other teachers, teaching assistants, and other professionals such as educational psychologists, speech and language therapists and social workers
• organisational skills
• an observant and responsive approach
• flexibility - it's important to be able to respond to the needs of the children and adapt or change plans accordingly
• a commitment to equal opportunities and the ability to use a variety of strategies and practices to promote the diverse cultural and equality issues in the classroom
• a commitment to the safeguarding and welfare of all students
• a positive, energetic and enthusiastic outlook
• patience, understanding and empathy with pupils and parents
• a sense of humour.

Work experience

Having work experience in a classroom will strengthen your application for teacher training and for the majority of postgraduate courses it's essential. As well as showing you have an understanding of the role and what's required, it will help you decide whether teaching is for you.

You can use the Get school experience service (England only) to request school experience or you could approach schools yourself as many are happy to accept volunteer work experience placements. Your university careers service or school of education may be able to help you find out about opportunities in local schools. Find out more about volunteering in schools.

Visit a range of schools that support SEN pupils - both mainstream and specialist schools - to observe lessons and talk to teachers. You can also ask if you can help an SEN teacher with non-teaching duties on a regular basis.

A post as a special needs teaching assistant will also give you valuable experience of supporting SEN pupils.

Look out for voluntary opportunities to work with children with special needs. General experience with children or young people with disabilities or learning difficulties is also useful. This may be found through youth clubs, mentoring or tutoring or summer camps and play schemes.

Find out more about the different kinds of work experience and internships that are available.

Employers

You're most likely to be employed by a local authority (LA). Many SEN teachers work in mainstream schools, either in the classrooms or within specialist units, depending on the inclusion policy of the school.

The specialist units tend to provide support for pupils with autism or physical and sensory impairments.

As an SEN teacher, you can also find employment in special schools throughout the UK, helping students with learning needs arising from physical disabilities, learning difficulties or behavioural problems.

There are also opportunities to work in:

• further education colleges with special education units
• hospital schools
• independent schools
• learning support teams - these work from a base and travel to a cluster of schools
• pupil referral units (PRUs)
• young offender institutions, secure training centres and secure children's homes.

You can take on supply work through an agency or arrange supply work directly with the schools themselves. This type of work is less stable than a permanent contract but the flexibility it offers may be appealing.

It is possible to work with SEN pupils as a private tutor and you may also be able to find work abroad including through voluntary work or exchange programmes.

Look for job vacancies at:

• Guardian Education Jobs
• Local Government Jobs
• myjobscotland - LA teaching jobs in Scotland.
• Teaching Vacancies - job-listing service from the DfE.
• Tes Jobs
• Local authority websites.

Specialist recruitment agencies also handle vacancies, including:

• Axcis Education
• EduStaff
• eTeach

To learn more about where to look for vacancies, how to apply and teaching interviews, see how to get a teaching job and discover how to structure a teaching CV.

Professional development

You'll typically start your career as a mainstream teacher and gain general teaching experience before moving into SEN. Training is usually available through part-time, in-service courses that are funded either by your school or LA.

You can also undertake various postgraduate courses in SEN. Options include certificates as well as a diploma or Masters in special educational needs. There are also opportunities to focus on particular areas such as dyslexia or autism.

Course content and titles vary according to the type of special educational need or disability covered. Courses are available either full or part time. Search postgraduate courses in special educational needs.

There are additional mandatory requirements for qualifications that SEN teachers must have if you specialise in teaching pupils with visual, hearing or multi-sensory impairment. See Mandatory qualifications: specialist teachers.

The ability to use sign language is essential if you'd like to work with hearing-impaired pupils, as is Braille for teachers of pupils with visual impairments.

Membership of the National Association for Special Educational Needs is useful for networking, advice and support, news and training.

Career prospects

Many teachers start out in mainstream teaching before moving into SEN. With experience in the role of SEN teacher, there are opportunities to take further training to become a special educational needs coordinator (SENCO).

SENCOs usually head the special educational needs department in a school and are responsible for implementing SEN policy and for the day-to-day provision for pupils with special educational needs.

You may also progress to other leadership roles, such as head of department or head of year/key-stage coordinator in a secondary school. You may eventually progress to a senior management role such as deputy head or head teacher.

Some SEN teachers choose to move into special needs officer or special needs assessment officer roles in LAs. These posts involve assessing the provision required to meet children's special educational needs. Special needs officers manage the process and ensure that recommendations are made on possible support.

There are also opportunities to undertake further training to become a specialist SpLD tutor, providing one-to-one specialist study skills tuition and support to students diagnosed with specific learning differences. Find out more from the Professional Association of Specific Learning Difference Specialists in Higher Education (PASSHE).

You could also move into training, providing courses and support to SEN teachers, or into lecturing posts in further or higher education.