Children's Workforce Guide to Qualifications and Training: Education

Funding cuts continue to hit professionals working to support children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in schools, such as Sencos (Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators). A survey by education support firm The Key this summer found eight out of 10 secondary school leaders reported cuts to services due to a fall in local authority funding.

The survey also found almost nine in 10 school teachers feel initial teacher training does not adequately prepare teachers to support pupils with SEND. In July an independent expert group published a government-commissioned framework of core content for initial teacher training, which instructs providers to ensure SEND training is integrated across the programme. Trainees will need to be able to understand the SEND Code of Practice, recognise signs that may indicate SEND, and ensure pupils with SEND can access the curriculum.

Sencos must be qualified teachers, and since 2009 the law has stated that if a newly-appointed Senco has not had past experience of the role for more than a year, they must achieve a postgraduate National Award in Special Educational Needs Co-ordination within three years of appointment.

The National Association for Special Educational Needs (Nasen) has developed a set of online learning tools for practitioners. Focus on SEND training is a free course aiming to help teachers and educational practitioners working with children from birth to 25 to develop high-quality practice and better meet the needs of their learners with SEND. The course comprises five modules of core content with a choice of practical activities, followed by a research in practice module that allows learners to explore a change in their own practice. Last year Nasen also developed two new training packages, which both achieved Continuous Professional Development accreditation. One, aimed at independent schools, focuses on a whole-school approach to improving access, participation and achievement, while the second aims to train Sencos in issues relating to school inspection.

The National College for Teaching and Leadership has also produced a series of specialist online courses that focus on dyslexia, autism, behavioural difficulties and speech and language needs.

The latest government figures show that in full-time equivalent terms, 27 per cent of the school workforce are teaching assistants and 25 per cent are non-classroom based support staff with the rest being teachers. The majority of support staff work part-time - 85.4 per cent of teaching assistants and 57 per cent of school support staff.

In June, public service union Unison, the National Association of Headteachers (NAHT), the National Education Trust and training company Maximising Teaching Assistants published a set of Professional Standards for Teaching Assistants. The standards were originally commissioned by the Department for Education, but the organisations were given permission to publish them when the department chose not to.

The government is no longer involved with the documents, which are non-statutory, but the publishing organisations hope they will define the role and purpose of teaching assistants, as well as informing schools' processes for identifying training and development needs. "Teaching assistants are an increasingly important part of the education workforce when effectively deployed," says NAHT general secretary Russell Hobby.

Maximising Teaching Assistants, a coalition of advisers, trainers and researchers based at the UCL Institute of Education and the University of East London, offers school-based training for teaching assistants, including a focus on the complementary roles of teachers and teaching assistants, effective delivery of intervention programmes and supporting collaborative group work. The organisation recommends schools run similar training for teachers at the same time.

Although the education sector has seen a rise in the number of teaching assistants over the last decade or so, accessing training has become a challenge. The status of higher level teaching assistant (HLTA) was introduced in 2003 to allow teaching assistants to progress in their career, but budget cuts have put pressure on training funds. The government recommends HLTAs hold a nationally-recognised qualification at Level 2 or above in English and maths.

Other roles in education support include education welfare officers and family liaison officers, also known as home-school liaison officers. There is not a nationally recognised qualification for either role. The landscape around education support roles is shifting rapidly. In the past, practitioners tended to be employed by the local authority or, in some cases, directly by the school. Now support staff such as education welfare officers are increasingly self-employed or work for independent companies or agencies, with their support bought in by academies, schools or groups of schools to tackle specific weaknesses.