Poll shows SEN training is on the rise

In a new poll carried out by education recruitment specialists Select Education, 62% of teachers sai

Poll Shows SEN Training Is On The Rise

Majority of teachers have had training in positive handling strategies for special needs children

In a new poll carried out by education recruitment specialists Select Education, 62% of teachers said that either they, or other teachers at their school, have had training in positive handling strategies for Special Educational Needs (SEN) pupils.

Positive handling strategies, such as Team Teach, look at de-escalating techniques for challenging behaviour, with the aim of avoiding physical intervention and are becoming increasingly popular in SEN schools and units nationwide.

The poll results are especially encouraging in light of Education Secretary, Alan Johnson's commitment to Special Needs staff training unveiled at the end of 2006. The number of children with special needs has clearly outstripped the teaching resources available for many years, so that it has fallen to the bodies such as Local Education Authority and teacher recruiters to bridge the skills gap and provide teachers with the necessary training. Both have recognised that Continued Professional Development training programmes devised to give teachers the necessary skills are crucial before putting a teacher into a SEN environment.

Scott Kelly, SEN Development Manager at Select Education says: 'Positive handling strategies such as Team Teach can be really beneficial to SEN pupils as they take a holistic whole school approach, where all teachers and support staff are trained to deal with challenging behaviour in the same way. In addition, because the focus is on identifying potential challenging behaviour and using non-physical approaches including de-escalation and positive listening, there is less need for restrictive physical intervention methods.'

'It is vitally important for specialist SEN schools and units attached to mainstream schools to take a consistent approach to handling challenging behaviour and implement positive handling strategies that involve teachers, parents and social workers if necessary so that everyone is on the same page. At Select Education, we currently offer all our SEN candidates Team Teach training, but are, I believe, the only recruitment specialist to offer this on a national basis. Whilst the results of this poll are encouraging, it would be good to see others follow suit to help encourage more adoption of positive handling strategies.'