Less than a fifth of special educational needs teachers believe there is either a sufficient core or basic understanding of SEN amongst the general teaching workforce, according to new research conducted ahead of this next week’s SEN Show in London.

The survey, commissioned by education recruitment specialist TLTP Education, which is sponsoring the TES SEN Show on the 9th & 10th October in London, found that more than half of respondents (53%) felt there was a need for more whole school training to address the issue, whilst a quarter believed that every new teacher should have exposure to SEN teaching as part of their training as a newly qualified teacher. Over half of those questioned (58%) said there should be a requirement for all teachers to have a qualification in SEN teaching to equip them to deal with some of the most prevalent but least severe forms of SEN.

Just under a third (32%) said that their current school didn’t provide any continuous professional development or on the job SEN training for staff, compared to 40% who said that their school did.

When asked what the major challenges facing SEN teachers are today, 24% cited a lack of training and professional development, 16% a lack of resources, 13% a lack of parental support and 7% pupil behaviour. 

The survey also asked what more needs to be done to raise achievement levels among pupils with special educational needs with 24% suggested less focus on school performance figures and a greater focus on the needs of individual SEN pupils. In addition to this 16% cited the need for more or better training and 14% for more one to one support for pupils.

“Department of Education figures show that just over 15% of pupils in schools in England have identified special educational needs. Although that figure has been decreasing, it still equates to 1.3 million pupils whilst nearly 24% were recorded as 
having ‘Moderate Learning Difficulty’ as their primary need,” explains Darryl Mydat, Managing Director, TLTP Education. 

“These figures, together with the feedback we have received in this survey, shows that SEN professionals are struggling to deliver the kind of outcomes that they and society would wish to see for all children and are screaming out for more specific training and better resources with which to do their jobs. Whilst that argument continues we will continue to try and find the professionals most qualified in their particular fields to make available both to mainstream and specialist educational environments.” 

Founded in 2006, TLTP specialises in the recruitment and placement of qualified teachers, teaching assistants, support staff, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and physiotherapists into specialist provision or mainstream settings across the UK. TLTP is one of the few education recruiters to hold the REC Gold Award, the benchmark for safeguarding.