Special Education Needs (SEN) Teacher careers guide and job profile - Get Into Teaching

An SEN Teachers job is to work with children of all ages who need extra support with academic work and building their skills. Special educational needs and disabilities includes students who have autism, emotional and behavioural disorders, or learning disabilities.

You could work in a state school, private school (aka public school), or an SEN school that’s specifically for those with complex needs. You would have usual teacher responsibilities, including teaching a range of subjects and building confidence.

Is there something you’d like to know about childcare & education careers?

• How To Prepare For Your Teacher Training Interview
• Explore Shaniqua’s Journey To Becoming A Primary School Teacher
• Get School Experience To Help You #GetIntoTeaching
• Get Free Help And Support From An Adviser
• How To Become A Childcare Assistant With No Experience

See more

Useful skills to put in your CV:

• Creativity (this will help you design activities that are fun, inspirational and educational)
• Sensitivity and understanding (learning can be hard for some more than others, and you’ll need to build their self-belief)
• Positive attitude (You’ll help students develop confidence, independence and encourage them to learn in a positive environment)
• Teamwork (you’ll need to work well with small groups or individual students and other teachers)
• Excellent communication skills (you’ll need to be able to build good relationships with children, parents and other teachers, and you may help with assemblies, clubs and events)
• IT skills (many schools now use software and digital tools for registers, accessing resources, and showing visual learning materials on a smart board)
• Self-management (you’ll need to keep track of your lessons and be responsible for all the students you teach)
• Leadership skills (you’ll be leader of the classroom and could take on senior responsibilities)
• Patience and flexibility will help you work with children at their own pace in a way they learn best.

Top Skills-boosting Tip

Use every opportunity to practise teaching others, whatever their age or ability. Help family members with their homework and projects, help your friends with studying, or teach anyone you know something new you find interesting. People have different ways they learn best, and you’ll build your ability to communicate, present and adapt.

How Do You Get These Skills?

Vocational qualifications and work experience will help you build these skills over time.

Build Your Skills With the FREE Young Professional Programme

School, college and training

You’ll need to train for qualified teacher status (QTS) to be able to teach in most secondary schools in England. You can get this through teacher training. It’s important to remember that training routes and requirements may vary in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Your CV can really shine if you have extra qualifications in childcare or youth work, and you will usually also need experience of working with children.

You will also need to pass enhanced background checks to prove you are safe to work with children and safeguard them.

If you have a degree or equivalent qualification, you can do postgraduate secondary teacher training. If you do not have a degree and are not studying for one, you can do undergraduate teacher training.

If you’re a qualified teacher, you can get extra training to teach students with special educational needs. You can find a course through your local education authority.

You need specific qualifications to teach a class of pupils with hearing impairments, vision impairments or multi-sensory impairments.

BTECs

As an alternative to A-Levels, you can do BTECs from the age of 16. There are a number of BTEC subjects you might want to consider if you are interested in becoming a secondary school teacher.

• Level 3 Award in Education and Training
• Level 4 Certificate in Education and Training

You’ll normally need 2 or more GCSEs at grades 9-3 (A*-D) or equivalent for a Level 2 or 3 course. If your qualifications are lower than this, you’ll most likely start on a Level 1 course.

A-Levels

A Levels are academic qualifications that come after GCSEs. A Levels can be an ideal stepping stone to an advanced apprenticeship, a degree, a job, or going straight into a freelance career.

You’ll normally need GCSEs at grade 4 (C) or above in English and Maths (and science if you want to teach primary).

You can do any subjects that are relevant, but the core subjects like Maths, English and Science will be especially useful.

2 to 3 relevant A levels, or equivalent, are usually required to complete a degree.

Apprenticeships

An apprenticeship is a scheme where you train while earning a starting salary. You’ll have a paid job with an employer that includes structured training and learning. This training leads to an official qualification that’s recognised by employers as an industry standard.

You can study an apprenticeship in:

• Teaching assistant (Level 3) and work your way to teacher position
• Learning and Skills Teacher (Level 5)
• Teacher (Level 6)

Anyone over 16 can study for an apprenticeship. You will normally need at least 5 GCSEs at grades 4-9 (A*-C) to study for an apprenticeship, including English and Maths.

University degrees and graduates

Most teaching courses include options on teaching children with special educational needs.

Undergraduate degree

You can do an undergraduate degree that leads to qualified teacher status (QTS), for example:

• Bachelor of Education (BEd)
• Bachelor of Arts (BA) with QTS
• Bachelor of Science (BSc) with QTS

You do not always need to have a degree in the subject you’d like to teach. Your teacher training organisation will decide whether you have the required skills and knowledge to teach the subject.

You can sometimes do a subject knowledge enhancement course to improve your understanding of the subject you want to teach.

UCAS has more information on degree courses and entry requirements.

If you already have a bachelor’s degree without qualified teacher status, you can complete a postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE). This can be done at university or through a training programme based in a school.

Postgraduate certificate

Many teacher training courses also offer you a postgraduate qualification such as a PGCE, but you do not need one to teach.

A PGDE in England is very similar to a PGCE, the difference being the number of academic credits you are awarded at the end of your course.

PGCE courses can contain up to 60 credits at Master’s degree level, and PGDE courses can contain up to 120. This usually means that doing a PGDE will include more assignments. More teacher training providers offer a PGCE than a PGDE.

You’ll usually need:

• 4 or 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C), or equivalent, including English and maths
• GCSE science at grade 9 to 4 (A* to C) for primary school teaching
• 2 to 3 A levels, or equivalent, for a degree
• a degree in any subject for a postgraduate course

Becoming a qualified teacher

You need qualified teacher status (QTS) to teach in most primary, secondary and special schools in England. You can get QTS through undergraduate or postgraduate teacher training.

T-Levels

T-Levels are a choice for learners after GCSEs alongside apprenticeships and A-levels.

T Levels, an alternative to A-Levels, are qualifications in vocational, technical and hands-on subjects that you can choose to do after GCSEs instead of traditional academic qualifications.

They include a mixture of classroom-based learning and industry placements where you can put your new skills into practice in real-world scenarios.

A T-Level in Education and Early Years could be a good choice for a prospective SEN teacher.

• become a special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO) and manage the special educational needs strategy at a school
• become a higher education lecturer
• use your specialist skills and knowledge and become a special needs assessment officer at a local council

• move into management roles like head of department, key stage coordinator, deputy head or headteacher
• move into teacher training, private training or tutoring
• become a member of the National Association for Special Educational Needs to help with professional development.

Work Experience Tips

It can help you decide if this is the right career for you if you have previously done work experience in a teaching environment. Work experience in an education environment can also help you build useful skills.

Examples of relevant work experience include:

• Work shadowing (even if it’s just for a day)
• Work placements in a company
• Work experience placements on a college or university course

Your application for this role is more likely to be successful if you already have experience of working with children and young people. As well as gaining work experience through childminding and similar roles, you could explore summer jobs where you might work with younger/older children, such as crewing at a holiday camp.

You could start as a teaching assistant and do a part time degree. You could then move onto a postgraduate teaching course to qualify as a teacher.

Work experience tips

Volunteering Tips

Volunteering is a fantastic way to gain experience of working with children, as so many volunteering opportunities can involve early youth community work. When you volunteer with children you’ll need to get a DBS check to prove you can safeguard children appropriately.

You’ll find it helpful to get some experience of working with children who have complex needs. Search for organisations and charities in your local area who provide activities for those with complex needs.

You could volunteer at a school or work at a youth club or on a holiday scheme. Check with local schools in your area for opportunities.

Volunteering tips

A full time SEN Teacher will work during school hours which are usually around 9am – 3pm (but can vary across schools).

However, you may work outside of these hours to complete teacher training, admin, planning, and marking work.

Teachers also usually only work during term time, but some of the school holidays will be used in the same way to make sure you’re prepared for the next term.

Example daily job responsibilities:

• plan and teach lessons, work with small groups and individual students
• prepare teaching materials, take registers and write reports
• help students develop confidence, independence and encourage them to learn
• manage behaviour, mark work and talk to parents and carers about their children’s progress
• work with specialist teaching services, medical staff, counsellors and psychologists
• organise trips, attend workshops and run training for other teaching staff on special educational needs issues

To find jobs for young people in this role, search on jobs boards for early career roles and opportunities with these words in the title:

• SEN teacher job
• Special Education Needs Teacher
• Education apprenticeships

You can take a look at our database of local opportunities to see if there are any relevant jobs, work placements, or careers events and workshops to help you get started. Create Your Future!

Local Opportunities

Schools can be owned by private organisations or by local government, so many local councils recruit for teachers for schools in the county themselves.

You can use the government website to find education and teaching opportunities near you.

The Department for Education also provide information on the many routes you could take and hold events across the UK so that you can talk to those who work in education or training providers. It’s a great opportunity to explore the ways you can get a job in teaching.

Get Into Teaching

These employers all carry our Youth Friendly Employer Mark. We work with them to make sure that they are providing great support and opportunities to young people.

Click on an employer to find out more about them and the youth-friendly opportunities they offer, from work experience and apprenticeships through to graduate schemes.