Special needs education
teaching professionals

Description

Special needs education teaching professionals organise and provide instruction at a variety of different levels to children who have emotional, behavioural or learning difficulties or physical disabilities. These professionals may also work with exceptionally gifted pupils.

Tasks

• creates a safe, stimulating and supportive learning environment for students
• assesses student’s abilities, identifies student’s needs and devises curriculum and rota of teaching duties accordingly
• gives instruction, using techniques appropriate to the student’s handicap
• develops and adapts conventional teaching methods to meet the individual student’s needs
• encourages the student to develop self-help skills to circumvent the limitations imposed by their disability
• prepares, assigns and corrects exercises to record and evaluate students progress
• supervises students in classroom and maintains discipline
• liaises with other professionals, such as social workers, speech and language therapists and educational psychologists
• updates and maintains students’ records to monitor development and progress
• discusses student’s progress with parents and other teaching professionals.

Educational Requirements

Entry is with a first degree that provides QTS (qualified teacher status) or, in Scotland, TQ (teaching qualification); or other relevant degree followed by further postgraduate training (most commonly PGCE – Postgraduate Certificate in Secondary Education, or, in Scotland, PGDE – Professional Graduate Diploma in Education). Additionally, prior experience in mainstream teaching is usually required, and further training for special needs teaching may be mandatory.