Special Education newish teacher, what are my chances?

PsyGuy
Posts: 10789
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

Reply

Post by PsyGuy »

@mamava

I have found they dont exist at all tiers. Those third tier ISs have LS in name only, it exists on the website and in the advertising there is nothing that resembles an SEN/LS program that provides meaningful services or resources.

You could also be seeing what you want to see, take any student in the absence of a diag and you can find something. Any student who cant focus for any amount of time suddenly ha ADHD.

More often I have found those spousal LS positions didnt exist before the hire was made and that the positions were created to give the trailing spouse a contract.

@wrldtrvlr123

I wrote upper tier, which as I defined is the elite tier, the first tier and a portion of the second tier. Past and below that no there isnt LS/SEN.
mamava
Posts: 320
Joined: Sat May 11, 2013 7:56 am

Re: Special Education newish teacher, what are my chances?

Post by mamava »

Of course I can only speak from the experiences I have had. The 3 times I have job transitioned I have found, applied for, interviewed for, and finally hired for learning support jobs that existed in existing programs. One of the jobs I'm fairly sure I got because my husband was an administrator hire. Another I'm pretty sure I carried him along a bit with my experience. The quality of a programs that I applied to were less contingent on the "tier" of a school and more on the overall ethos and organization of a school. A highly organized well-managed school that seeks to provide a complete education for every child it takes in is more likely to have a viable program. Schools that pop up the LS label as lip service obviously are less likely to have a real program, but they are probably also less likely to have developed organized programs and systems in other areas.

The learning support programs that I have worked in are very familiar with have defined students who need LS support as students who are struggling to meet grade level expectations and for whom teacher directed differentiation is not sufficient or creates a burden. That encompasses students who have been assessed and found to have a disability by virtue of a discrepancy in their learning profiles as well as students who may be behind or off the mark because they have switched curriculums, moved often, been out of school for some reason, etc. For every student the programs I'm familiar with have applied a structured documented procedure to try to determine what the student needs and how best to provide that. I work with a lot of students who need some remedial or instructional support for a term or a semester. Others a bit longer, still others are clearly going to need long-term support. We also work very diligently with teachers and parents so that they can also support that child's development.

As I've said, I can only speak from my experience--and I feel very fortunate that working in special education, both in the States and abroad in vastly different types of settings, has been a very positive experience for me. The fact that poor programs exist or that schools only pay lip service to them is no different to any other type of issue that schools have.

The original poster wanted to know about working in learning support--jobs are out there at different levels, they exist in different formats and have different levels of quality, but they do exist and a person who is interested in looking at doing learning support overseas should be encouraged to do so. It's up to them to sort out the best fit and options when they arise.
PsyGuy
Posts: 10789
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

Reply

Post by PsyGuy »

@mamava

Well of course those programs existed, I cant imagine youd have transitioned into a non existent program?

Thats the issue ISs are for the most part private/independent schools they dont have to take everyone child,a nd while some will take money from anyone and promise anything (like LS and SEN) they can be selective, and as i wrote previously, SEN is expensive for a comparatively small number of students, and if a school can avoid that cost, ownership typically isnt so altruistic to take a loss for the good of the children. ISs have to pay bills, excessive costs come from the school.

Were just going to have to disagree, I dont see LS/SEN at lower tier schools, not anything Id call LS or SEN. Its not a format when the schools program is hire someone and provide neither resources nor services. I dont consider that program as one that "exists".
Kilg0re
Posts: 9
Joined: Sat Sep 13, 2014 5:01 pm

Re: Special Education newish teacher, what are my chances?

Post by Kilg0re »

OP,

I have only one more year of certified experience over you, and I am starting my IT as a Learning Support teacher this summer. I did have experience teaching English overseas prior to my certificated experience. My spouse does not teach.

So.... I would say, yes. You most definitely have a chance. Especially if you are willing to work in a wide variety of locales.

Good luck!
Post Reply