special educational needs teacher.

Some of the tasks of a special educational needs teacher include:

• creating a positive and supportive environment: as a special educational needs teacher, you create a supportive learning environment for children with disabilities. You help children express their emotions and build positive relationships to accommodate their learning and communication impairments. Assisting them in maintaining positive friendships is valuable in improving learning outcomes.
• understanding children's needs: children with learning disabilities have diverse needs, and it's essential to understand each child to provide the best learning environment. When you learn their specific needs, you can personalise learning strategies and interventions to improve their educational outcomes.
• communicating with parents and healthcare assistants: when working with an SEN child, it is important to communicate openly with parents and professionals. A social worker or healthcare assistant provides detailed information about the child and their area of need. You also provide feedback on the child's progress and inform parents of the children's difficulties. Collaborating with other professionals improves educational outcomes.
• creating learning objectives and evaluating progress: as a special educational needs teacher, you develop learning objectives before teaching. When you begin teaching, you continually assess children to ensure they stay on track to achieving their goals.
• recommending the correct teaching and learning aids: if a child has a disability, you introduce learning techniques to help them overcome it and improve their educational outcomes.
• organising trips and events: part of your work as an SEN teacher is to improve children's interaction with the environment. You organise social events to enhance their social skills. For instance, you can take them on a community visit, theatre outing or sporting event.
• carrying out administrative tasks: as a special educational needs teacher, you perform administrative roles like maintaining class records and updating pupils' progress reports. Sometimes, you create schedules for teaching assistants and train them to implement learning strategies.

As a special educational needs teacher, you work in state and private schools, utilising teaching aids to support children with disabilities. Private tutoring takes place at the child's home or in group facilities. Travel is limited to training, meetings, and conferences, while residential trips are made for private tuition. Some SEN teachers work in teams outside schools, travelling to provide their services.

Depending on your employer and the industry you work in, your colleagues might include primary teachers, secondary teachers, head teachers and teaching assistants. You might also be working in close proximity to nurses and administrators, as well as other specialists that could include, but not be limited to, maths teachers, accountants and science teachers.

As a special educational needs teacher, your typical school day runs from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm on weekdays, amounting to a 35-hour working week, with 22.5 hours dedicated to classroom time. Throughout the academic year, most SEN teachers work for 39 weeks in schools, devoting additional hours each week to preparing, planning, and assessing children's progress. To accommodate private tuition or attend conferences, you have the flexibility to offer evening sessions or participate in weekend events. Certain private institutions also offer part-time options, allowing for a more tailored schedule. Moreover, career breaks and training opportunities may be available to further enhance your professional growth.

Becoming a special educational needs (SEN) teacher offers a rewarding career with promising prospects. You can specialise and grow in various ways. For example, by enhancing your qualifications and skills, you can become a SEN coordinator, leading special educational needs departments in schools. Other options include becoming a special needs assessment officer or pursuing supervisory and management roles like a headteacher. Some SEN teachers also transition to becoming lecturers in further or higher education after additional training.

Finding your special educational needs teacher job through Randstad provides important advantages such as:

• a wide variety of training and development opportunities
• an experienced contact person to provide help if needed
• a range of opportunities in your area
• get paid weekly or monthly, depending on the job
• temporary and permanent contracts

Want a permanent contract? A temporary job as a special educational needs teacher is often a stepping stone to an attractive permanent job. Thousands of people earn a permanent contract every year with great employers thanks to a temporary job found through Randstad. What's more, many companies recruit their permanent employees through Randstad too.

Special educational needs teachers typically earn a competitive salary, with the average annual income being around $93,000. In an entry-level position, you can expect to earn approximately $90,000 per year, while experienced SEN teachers may receive a remuneration package of about $95,000 annually. It's worth noting that your qualifications and experience play a significant role in determining your earnings, as they can contribute to potential salary increases throughout your career.

As a special educational needs teacher, your primary duty is to support children who need extra effort to learn. Your duties include planning and preparing lessons, teaching students and setting assessments and exams to measure the children's progress. You also attend parent-teacher conferences and prepare reports on each student’s progress.

A special educational needs teacher is an educator responsible for supporting students with special needs. You work with students with physical, learning and emotional difficulties. You also work with children with behavioural and visual or hearing impairments.

Special educational needs teachers are in demand in Australia, and job growth is projected to increase by 13.5% in the next five years. Despite the high demand, you require the right skills and qualifications to join the career.

As an SEN teacher, you require adaptability to develop lesson plans that match the needs of every student. You also need teamwork skills to collaborate with other teachers and parents to help pupils.

Applying for a special educational needs teacher job is easy: create a Randstad profile and search our special educational needs teacher job offers. Then simply send us your CV and cover letter. Need help with your application? Check out all our job search tips here.