SEN Case officer

[Wherehaveyouhiddenthebiscuits]

I'm looking to move out of teaching primary. I have seen adverts for temporary SEN case officers. Does anyone have experience of this role and can tell me more about it?
Is it something that as a wildlife teacher I would be able to do? Or would I need lots of training?
Is it similar to supply work? As I would prefer job security.

Tia

In our LA, SEN Case officers are admin. staff, working for the SEN service, who gather the paperwork when people are applying for EHCPs, then try to find them a non existent place at school.
Quite frustrating I understand as they have to absorb all the anger of parents frustrated by the fact the LA is not able to provide what their child needs.

It's got to be the most awful job. Paid peanuts and dealing with, quite rightly, enraged parents daily. Ours turn over rapidly. Most of them have never been in a school or worked with children with SEND.

Thank you both for posting.

I've looked at similar job adverts and fancied the job too (SEND teacher of 25 years so plenty of experience in this area) the thing that puts me off is that our authority seems to have 8+ of this type of position every year which makes me think that they must be leaving in droves!!

Yes, huge turn over, as it isn't well paid and there is zero job satisfaction, as they can't provide the most basic thing the families want / need - that is a school place, but they bear the wrath of the quite rightly angry parents.
Plus all the families whose request for assessment get turned down.

Thank you for your replies. Looks like a tough one.

I did look into retaining, but the costs involved, especially nursery fees, mean it's just not possible.

But at the same time I don't think I can stay much longer in the classroom. I feel overstretched- to put it mildly. Absolutely no SEN or EAL support. Plus all the 'fantastic initiatives' introduced constantly and at a drop of a hat, are making me feel like a rubbish teacher.

Not to mention going from 8:30- 1pm without a toilet break!

What's a wildlife teacher?

Sorry to disappoint, it's a classroom teacher- I blame 'spellcheck'.

Can you hold out (possibly in another school or age group?) until nursery fees are no longer/less of an issue? Obviously that's much harder if it's in 3 or 4 years time compared to 1 or 2 years time.

Little one is 6months and older one is 5. Also with teaching I usually do 7:30-5 (plus travel) so need wrap around care.

Quite high turnover of SEN case officers in my local LA. Pros…WFH so toilet breaks and cons, the reasons given above. Have ex-teacher colleague who works for charity helping with SEN issues, not a case officer but lots of contact with case officers and frustrated/angry/ broken parents/carers. Huge levels of frustration, huge workload, emotionally hard as well but can go to the loo. For them it is a halfway house out of education and not a long term move.

Just bumping this as it's something I'm looking at doing- I've worked in family support before, although not always SEN specific, so I would need to boost my knowledge of the sector I think. I have worked in an SEMH school though so have some idea from involved in some reviews etc, but not that I'd be confident to be responsible for such an important process straight away.

I'm seeing a lot of short term contracts for case officers etc for helping LAs address backlogs and that seems to me to be a good way to see if I'm actually any good at it. Can anyone suggest good CPD or similar to help me be successful in an application? I've a little time and funds for an online course or something like that.

I think IPSEA sometimes run courses about SEND law. That would be a good place to start, given the wild amount of unlawful behaviour in SEND teams.

@2reefsin30knots yes I did think I might get frustrated (as I have before) with how poorly the process is done, I think there's a bit of 'i could do that better' going on for me where actually the staff were more than likely hamstrung by higher powers. I did sit in one review where the case officer didn't even know the names or locations of some of the larger special schools within the LA so my bar is low!

The SENDco and I at my school regularly say we could easily knock out 150 consultations in a day. It is literally just adjusting 3 or 4 fields on a generic letter and selecting from a drop down list of email addresses.

So WHY??? does it take 3 or 4 weeks between having made the decisions about which settings to consult and the consultations actually being sent out???

Just one of MANY frustrations.

I know it is only a tiny part of the job. It is just one example of how they can't even get the BASIC things done, never mind the stuff that actually is difficult.

In my LA they work form home, there is no team leader, there is not a great deal of accountability for whether they are getting the job done in a timely fashion or not. It would appear from the rate of turnover (we are up to 10 resignations this academic year here) that as soon as they are held to account they leave.

I have a front row view of their work.

The salary is too low for the amount of skills required for the role. I can see why staff turn over is high. It is an unrealistic job.

I don't have a negative view of any individual that works as a case officer for my LA, just an overwhelming sympathy towards them for being put in an impossible position every day.
They have to take all the rage, anger, and despair from (understandably) frustrated and angry parents, whilst knowing there is nothing they can do to magic up non-existent specialist provision for all the children who so desperately need it, or nothing they can do about EHCARs being turned down by the panel.
It's not a job I'd want to do.

This is true, but I do think my example whereby the case officer didn't even know the name, location or specialism of one of the biggest (and best, FWIW) special schools in the LA, in an EHCP review that was required for change of placement, didn't exactly shine them in the best of light. But I agree in general it is a real 'rock and a hard place' job!

To be honest, this has been my experience too, an LA Send officer Googling special schools during a meeting to find out what their admissions criteria was. As school staff who placed year 6s every year we already knew that the school was suitable and the child met the criteria.
If they weren't prepared to trust us that's fair enough but then do your homework!!

Apart from that though I do feel for them, it must be a soul destroying job when there just aren't enough places to go round.