What does a portage home visitor do?
Portage services support parents in helping pre-school children with special educational needs (SEN) in their own homes. They are named after the town where the concept was first developed – Portage in the US state of Wisconsin.
Portage home visitors – sometimes called portage workers or portage teachers – provide a home visiting service for pre-school children with SEN, which may include physical or learning difficulties.
They work with a child’s family to teach the child new, developmentally appropriate skills, and help assess what kind of support children with special needs may need. One of the key roles of a portage teacher is to work with families to prepare a programme of activities for the parent and child, based on play and everyday situations. They also carry out weekly visits to check the family’s progress, agree new goals, and write up regular progress reports.
Do portage home visitors work with other professionals?
Yes, including speech therapists, physiotherapists, psychologists, health visitors and social workers.
What are the hours and salary like?
Full-time working hours are around 30 to 35 hours a week, which may include some evening visits. Different services have different employment set-ups – some employ full-time workers, others employ workers who split their time between two roles, while a few use volunteers. Some services are run directly by local authorities, while others are managed by charities such as Kids, or by the NHS. A number of portage workers are parents who have received portage services and gone on to train as professionals.
Salaries also vary according to the portage service and the local authority area in which it operates. Portage workers may be on a variety of pay scales, including those for teachers, early years professionals, early years practitioners or teaching assistants, depending on their qualifications and on the set-up of the service.
The National Careers Service cite
