How to Transition from Mainstream to SEN Teaching

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At Simply Education, we receive many calls from teachers and support staff in mainstream positions who are looking for a new challenge within a SEN setting.

It’s no wonder that SEN is a popular choice for both experienced and newly qualified teachers. It’s an incredibly rewarding branch of teaching that, alongside smaller class sizes, flexible curriculums and shorter work days, allows educators to focus on each student as an individual with needs that need addressing. Mainstream teaching allows you to make a positive impact on many children, but with SEN it’s possible to completely change the life of a child who really needs your expertise.

If you’re looking for a new challenge, a job that’s more flexible, or an opportunity to focus on smaller class sizes, SEN could be the perfect choice for you.

You might think that transitioning from mainstream to SEN requires specialist training or a different qualification to your PGCE. The truth is, if you’re teaching in mainstream schools, you’re already qualified to work in SEN. It’s even possible to complete your probationary year of teaching in a SEN school, or to gain a position there with overseas qualifications. There are independent CPD courses that focus on the skills you’ll need to develop to succeed in a SEN role. Nevertheless, for SEN settings, it’s not about the qualifications, but about the person. If you’re able to remain calm and patient when things get stressful, can solve problems and use your initiative when you need to, and address it all with a sense of humour, you’re just the kind of person that a SEN school loves to hire. If you’ve got any experience working with special needs students, it will always help.

If you’re interested in a position in a special needs school, why not give us a call and speak to one of our dedicated consultants? Not only do we operate local offices across the country, ensuring that our teams know the local teaching environment, but our consultants have several years of experience when it comes to working with SEN schools. Our consultants will be able to discuss your history, and may even be able to arrange a short volunteer placement in a SEN school so that you can get a feel for what a full-time position in a SEN environment would be like. This can help support any applications you might make to SEN schools in the future.

A SEN teaching job is an incredibly rewarding, interesting career path to go down. Our team would love to help you take the next step in your career, and can support you with placements, trainings and applications. Why not register with us today and get started?

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