30 January 2023
Why working as a SEN learning support officer is the best job in the world
Pathway Education provides our partner schools with SEN learning support officer to support their young people with additional learning needs. With over 1.49 million (16.5%) of school pupils in the UK having special educational needs, our schools are recruiting inspirational SEND support staff immediately!
Pathway Education recruits’ staff that can provide that extra bit of care and support to pupils with additional needs. If you’re enthusiastic, patient, resilient, with a good sense of humour and want a rewarding and challenging career then being a SEN learning support officer is the job for you!
Our amazing SEND schools support young people with:
- Autism (ASD)
- Behaviour, emotional and social difficulties (SEMH and ADHD)
- Moderate, severe or profound learning difficulties (PMLD)
- Challenging behaviours (PRU and Alternate Provisions)
As a SEN learning support officer in a school, you will work specifically with young people that find learning challenging and need that extra bit of support to progress. You could be supporting children with mild or moderate learning difficulties, physical disabilities, emotional and mental health issues, and challenging behaviours. As well as supporting teachers and pupils across the curriculum, other elements of the job include creating group and individual learning plans, working 1:1 with pupils, supporting small groups or working closely with parents and other professionals such as SENCOs to develop appropriate learning activities for each child and encouraging and guiding their development. It goes without saying that to succeed in SEND support, you need to have genuine enthusiasm as well as plenty of patience, but the rewards are huge – and you can make a real difference to the lives of young people.
Why a special education needs job is so rewarding!
SEN learning support officer can often be even more rewarding and have more job satisfaction than supporting mainstream pupils. After all, when you are working with children find learning difficult at times, so seeing them achieve things beyond what they thought was possible is incredible. With SEND support, you are supporting the children who need it the most and ensuring all children have access to the curriculum in a safe and successful learning environment. You can really make a difference and the rewards are tangible and the “Eureka” moments priceless.
It’s about more than just preparing them for the next exam – it’s about having a direct positive impact on their futures. There is nothing more rewarding than watching a SEND child master a situation and make connections with the world around them, knowing that you’ve played an essential part in the development and shaping of their future.
Learn new skills!
Our staff are constantly picking up new skills too. As SEND students benefit from a highly structured environment, there’s no better way to develop your classroom management and organisational skills! Learning different ways to effectively communicate and work with challenging behaviours will also improve your interpersonal skills, teamwork, resilience, and confidence, as SEND staff learn to work effectively with teachers, SENDCOs and other specialists such as therapists, physios and psychologists.
Be Creative and have fun!
With a SEN learning support officer job you also get more freedom to be creative. It’s all about the individual child and finding ways to inspire them. You may work on developing their educational health care plans (EHCPs), sensory activities, hydro-pools, singing, dancing, cooking, painting there are so many creative ways to inspire SEND students and help with their development. Often SEND schools follow creative curriculums and more vocational subjects.
In a SEND setting, you will typically teach smaller classes and may even conduct lessons on a one-to-one basis, which means you can really get to know the young people and build strong learning relationships. Each SEND pupil is unique – and discovering their individual needs, strengths and differences is all part of the magic of SEND support.
With more pupils needing extra support there is good career progression opportunities within our SEND schools so there has never been a better time to be a SEN learning support officer
If you are looking for a career in special education needs (SEN) teaching assistant or SEN learning support officer register with Pathway Education today.
Alternatively email candiate@pathwayeducation.uk