MA - SEN

[ButerrnutSquash]

Hi I wondered if anyone had completed an MA in the above
I am currently a teacher in a special school and looking at doing a Masters in either Autism or PMLD/SLD
At some point I’d love to move into either a SENCO or an advisory role possibly but I think that’s a long way off (if ever). I don’t ever see myself going down the deputy or head route. My chief motivation behind it is just because I find working in SEN fascinating and would like to learn more.
Has anyone done anything similar , Was it beneficial career wise ? I work FT with 1 secondary school age DC, and an OH who is supportive but travels a lot. The MA would be distance learning and Part time.

I did the Birmingham MEd in autism. I really enjoyed it and it was very well organised and delivered. I only did MA work in the school holidays and was still able to get a distinction, so it doesn't have to be all-encompassing. However, it did mean losing part of every holiday for YEARS. I was quite relieved when I finished from that point of view.

My motivation was that I'd switched from specialising in SEMH to autism and wanted more of a theoretical understanding. I'm not looking to change jobs, but I think it would be reasonably helpful on my CV if I were.

Why don’t you do a NASENCo to start off with. I’m doing it now (half way through) and it gives you 60 points (?) towards a masters. I’m not interested in a masters though.

@2reefsin30knots thank you ! Can I ask was it the Distance learning one you did over three years I think it is ?

@EarPlugAfficionado I hadn’t really thought about that, I thought you had to be in a SENCO role already to do it but according to Google it seems not although it does say some of the learning outcomes might be trickier to meet. I’m happy to stay as a class teacher at my current school for now and I don’t feel like I have been teaching long enough to apply for a Senco role yet although doing the course and getting the credits seems like a very good idea as well ! Are you a Senco at the moment ?

Yes, I did the distance learning one. It was two taught years and dissertation in the third. There were 4x weekend residentials in the first two years which were brilliant. Great speakers brought in and good to have the chance to pretend to be at university again! It's very flexible, so you can direct your learning wherever your interests lie.

Would you be looking at being a mainstream SENCo? I'd think carefully about that. It's an extremely stressful admin job these days (been there). There are two scenarios- either the school doesn't have a big enough SEND register to justify a full time SENCo, in which case you will have a class as well, or it has a huge SEND register in which case you will sit in an office all day, every day doing vast amounts of paperwork.

Hi,

I’m Assistant SENCO and interviewed for the job in-house (I teach full time) and I had to do the course alongside.You’re right, you have to be in a role linked to SEN before you start the course at some universities.

Have a look into the NASENCO qualification - try Real Training (realtraining.co.uk) online.

I'm just at the end of mine. I did the NASENCO award than followed it up with programmes in Autism Education and SEMH.

It's taken me years but I have loved it. I'm hoping it will lead to consultancy/freelance work as I've had enough of being a SENCO, which I'd think twice about it I were you. Like the previous poster said, it's a very stressful admin job now and I feel that I work for the local authority and the parents rather than the children themselves.

Thank you so much everyone for getting back to me. Well I have applied for the MA so let’s see. I think some of the NASENCO outcomes might be a bit tricky for me to meet and I am really interested in learning more specifically about how to meet the needs of children with PMlD. I am having second thoughts about the Senco role unless I could get one in a special school one day as I don’t know if I’d ever see myself going back into mainstream