Is speech and language therapy a good career for

[Diamondring]

my dd? She is quite academic and likely to get a set of very good GCSEs. It appeals to her because it's a bit science-y, but also involved working with people.

What's the path into it? Undergraduate degree course? Any recommendations where best to go?

Thank you all so much for the extremely helpful tips and information

She needs to look at the full range of work SALTs do

Children
Adults with head injury
Mouth and throat cancer patients
Stroke patients

Most salts will generally work with one group of patients but they have to train with a variety

If she wants to work specifically with children then jobs are hard to come by and often part time

I would be cautious in judging recruitment against how many band 5 posts are available just now; trusts will target recruitment generally around when new grads are graduating, because they want to get a good field and maximise their chances of recruiting, and January isn't peak time for graduates. A lot of places operate staff banks which can be a really good way in. People just have to accept that you may get a fixed term contract rather than a job for life straight away.
Don't make assumptions about which first degree to choose - for UCL this is definitely not a criteria. It's the quality of the first uni and the degree itself, plus the learning and other skills the student develops that's more important to them at least.
UK qualifications aren't necessarily transferable to all other countries - worth bearing in mind too.
Banding of posts again varies from region to region, and whilst there have definitely been reductions in band 8 posts there are also increases in other parts of the workforce at this level, posts which SLTs with appropriate experience are often ideally suited to manager so it's not all doom and gloom. But that's a way off for OPs daughter.
And yes OP, special school or mainstream - remember mainstream school have a broad range of children including many with a range of SEN. Getting into any educational setting would be good experience for your daughter, but may be difficult to secure due to restrictions around safeguarding.

OP beware of unfounded statements - 'most post with children are part time'?? Utter rubbish!

Thanks again.

I really don't want to put her off on the basis of possible job prospects when it will be close to 10 years until she starts job hunting, so who knows what will happen by then?

True for my area

A lot of posts in SLT are part time. I suspect this is because as a female dominated profession many women come back to work part time after maternity leave and when they leave posts those hours are re advertised. However, a lot of posts are full time too!