By Taylor Smith
There’s an employment gap for educators equipped to teach SEND pupils, and a need for students to have training in the subject. With only 9.3% of pupils with SEND having a place in a specialist provision (Gov.uk, 2020), it’s essential that aspiring educators and early years professionals have the skills and knowledge to effectively meet these students’ needs; even if they’re planning to work in mainstream schools, it’s highly likely they’ll work alongside a SEND pupil.
As a further educator provider, we have the opportunity to help the next generation of teachers to develop these skills. That’s why North Hertfordshire College (NHC) formed a partnership with local specialist SEND provision Greenside School to give our education and early years T Level students unique insight into SEND teaching requirements.
Greenside School supports students aged 3-19 years with Severe Learning Difficulties (SLD). Its approach puts pupils at the centre of the curriculum, providing a personalised approach for each young person, making them a perfect partner for shaping how we teach SEND at NHC.
The partnership started following a meeting between Greenside’s deputy head teacher, Dawn, and NHC’s education and early years tutors to discuss skills gaps Dawn noticed in new staff and common vacancies in the school. Key topics such as therapeutic principles were identified, and our curriculum was adapted to include a student research project about the topic. Dawn also noted new starters often lack the resilience to cope in SEND support roles.
To further develop our own understanding, NHC tutors including myself and my colleague, Vickie Sharp, started taking part in a ‘train the trainer’ project with Dawn and the Greenside School team. The back-to-the-floor days and inclusion in Greenside’s in-house training taught us more about the specific skills SEND provision teachers need, knowledge we took back to our classrooms to share with our students.
Whilst SEND is a compulsory unit in the T Level specification, placements in a SEND provision are not mandatory. However, from our team’s back-to-the-floor days, we realised just how beneficial a placement in a SEND setting would be for our students.
We’ve since created our own compulsory placement block for all our T Level students to work with Greenside School, thanks to the support of Dawn and her team.
Second-year T Level students complete either a week or two-week placement where they live and breathe Greenside. They’re not just helping hands at the school, either. Our T Level students learn directly from Greenside’s staff about the processes they follow and why they’re in place; are introduced to CPOMs and how the system works; and learn Greenside’s individual risk management and student behaviour management techniques.
Classes at Greenside are small, determined by needs and abilities rather than age ranges. This creates a different teaching and learning environment than our students have previously studied, and hands-on experience working in this space is invaluable in helping them truly understand the needs of SEND education.
Our students get stuck right in, too. They can be found in-class providing key teaching support, following the policies and procedures explained to them, and helping the students to learn. They even support with Greenside’s on-site swimming classes.
These placements are just one way we’re tailoring our teaching and learning around the needs of the education sector and creating a strong talent pipeline for our local area. We’ve also welcomed Dawn and the Greenside School team to the advisory board for our education and early years department, where she provides keen insight and feedback to help us build the curriculum. Her continued support has also allowed us to offer level 2 students the option to complete a placement at Greenside, bringing their understanding of EHCPs and EHAs to life.
We’re deeply grateful for the support Greenside has shown us in helping develop this teaching area and hope our students who go on to start their careers with the school reflect her passion.