High level pastoral care jobs

[snickersandmarsandbounty]

My DS is wanting to go into pastoral care/working with SEN/ behaviour in high school He is in year 13 and has no wish to go to uni.
i know it might mean looking for TA jobs but just wondering about progression . He’s v bright and predicted high grades , so if there is a career ladder that would be positive

Loads of options, some involve uni though some don't...

Teacher training with a view to becoming a SENCO?

Youth worker?

Careers advisor?

Or some kind of mental health related career? Ultimately maybe counselling training would be good - but he is probably too young and not quite mature enough at the age he is.

If being a TA appeals to him then I'd encourage him to do that to start with as there are many options to branch out and do qualifications from there.

Learning disability/mental health nursing depending on the client group he's interested in working with. If he does mh nursing he could work for CAMHS which cover many of the things he's interested in.
Healthcare degrees aren't really like "uni" as you spend so much time on placements which feel like "work" iyswim. He could also do nursing through a paid apprenticeship if he likes the idea of a salary.

Ed or Clinical Psych, social worker, teacher?

Most pastoral roles in school are quite low paid unless combined with teaching. There is little progression.

He will need to go to uni for senco, Ed psych or teacher.

Some schools have inclusion managers etc. But those jobs are not well paid. He’d need to go to uni to have a decent salary and good progression.

He could consider working in a PRU or special school or college? Train and become a manager or Head eventually. Will need to be a teacher in most cases.

Big firms have all kinds of mental health/ life coaching type of roles - I think usually it falls under HR. Those roles are very well-paid

I know of some pastoral deputy heads in secondary who are not teacher trained. It's not common, but it is possible.

He'll need a degree + post grad qualifications to work in any role beyond a TA or mentor in a state school (including SEN schools and PRUs).

He could definitely get well paid work without any qualifications in a private school or FE colleges as they both have much more lax entry requirements.

Thanks for your replies he’s discarded MH / nursing, teaching and social work, just generally dismissive of uni. His elder brother and some of his friends have finished uni and still looking for work so it’s putting him off at the mo. He thinks he can work up from ta to behavioural head of year or management level through work experience and maybe a school sending him on courses to support progression.
He did work experience with SEN kids so it has made an impression on him

That is very unusual. I wonder what pay scale they are on as well.

Jobs in schools for people who aren’t qualified teachers are generally poorly paid and with minimal career progression.

He will want a degree to get much past minimum wage in this area.

There is now an apprenticeship route in to teaching - perhaps consider working as a ta to see if it is still what he wants, with a view to gaining qualifications as he goes along. Experience can be really important in these jobs!

Well he needs to return to the real world - which means uni for a vocational degree. Working his way up from TA - no. Not without a degree, preferably post-grad. He's looking at his older siblings current activity - not at their likely activity in a few years time.

thinks he can work up from ta to behavioural head of year or management level through work experience and maybe a school sending him on courses to support progression.

There are definitely secondary pastoral leads and heads of year that are non-teaching but the pay isn’t going be be high and no courses work would send him on will make that much difference-barring a degree/teaching qualification. There’s a couple of these jobs going locally and they’re advertised at around £22-25k but then pro-ratad down. What sort of pay is he ultimately hoping for once he’s worked his way up?

His route is not realistic if he is targeting a liveable wage.

The only (and I do mean only!) reason schools employ non teachers in pastoral roles is so they can pay them peanuts. Work them hard for a minimum salary and then replace them often when they burn out.

He needs a degree and a teaching qualification to make a decent living in that area.

Whilst independent schools do have different rules regarding qualifications make no mistake they are not hiring 18-24 year olds with no life experience or qualifications and paying them decent money that’s pie in the sky.

@snickersandmarsandbounty
Honestly there's so much mh nursing work it's silly. Most, if not all, student nurses have multiple jobs lined up months before graduation. There's many tricky things about nursing but the availability of jobs is definitely not one of them.

One of my friends did get into a safeguarding role that paid about 32k pa with no teacher training but every job I have ever seen for inclusion manager etc requires qualified teaching status. Depends whether he is motivated by money and progression opportunities I suppose?

One is on 49k which is a lot less than teaching staff in equivalent roles. I don't know about the other one.

I would caution the OP’s son not to assume he will get anywhere near that, no matter what courses he goes on.

I have been teaching 26 years and don’t earn that 😂

I hope he changes his mind maybe it will take a year too of working in that setting after he’s finished A Levels to see the light. I

I agree but he’s not interested in that field

Sorry, but that's not going to happen. Someone could get to that post without a teaching qualification, but they would need degree level qualifications in social work, psychology or other related area.

Heads of year are generally teachers with responsibility points schools that don't employ teachers for this role pay much lower salaries around 25 to 28k to pastoral leads. There is nowhere to progress to after this. You don't get these roles from being a TA. They are often people who come from roles in social work or family support. Your ds needs a reality check.