A Day in the Life of a SENDIASS Officer
08 Aug, 20241-2 minutes
In this blog, you will learn:
- What a day in the life of a SENDIASS Officer is like.
- Advice and tips for anyone considering a career as a SENDIASS Officer.
- How to find and apply for the best SEND jobs.
The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) sector is under a lot of pressure to deliver the best services and ensure every child and young person with SEND and their families feel supported. The role of a Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS) Officer is to be a voice of reason and offer advocacy support.
Children, parents and carers require SENDIASS services to support them with Education Health Care Plan’s, SEN support in schools not meeting needs as well as tribunal and permanent exclusions. SENDIASS Officers provide impartial advice and information to parents and carers based on the individual's needs in order to help them make informed choices.
From a career as a Primary School Teacher to a SENDIASS Officer, Zoe Thompson has a wealth of experience and an understanding of the types of challenges parents face. In this interview with Zoe, we uncover how SENDIASS Officers provide support to those in the SEND sector and her advice for anyone considering a career in SENDIASS services.
Tell us about your career journey so far
After leaving sixth form in 2016, I headed straight into university to complete my BA Hons Primary Education degree with Qualified Teacher status. I then went into primary teaching to complete my ‘New Qualified Teacher’ year in a small village Primary School.
This first academic year was heavily disrupted by lockdowns, so I had to continue my Newly Qualified Teaching (NQT) year into the second academic year at the school. Once again disrupted by lockdown, I finally passed my NQT year in the Spring Term.
My third-year teaching was technically my first full year uninterrupted, and the pressures and strains of full-on full-time teaching became more and more obvious. I knew I wouldn’t be able to sustain this as a career so decided to take a break and look for alternatives that still utilised my skills.
What does your role as a SENDIASS Officer consist of?
Firstly, adviceline work, which involves calling parents, carers, young people or professionals to talk through any concerns or queries they have. I will signpost other services or specific people to contact and often follow up the conversation in an email. If the contact is via email or our website’s contact form, then I reply to them.
Sometimes these adviceline contacts require more work so would be ‘up for allocation’. As the SENDIASS Officer, I assign these cases to SEN Caseworkers or myself to then continue the support to the family/parent. From this, I would then be having regular casework supervisions with the caseworkers to go through their caseload and review the progress and advise if needed.
Another part of the role includes the Young Person’s Advisory Group, which is almost like a county-wide school council with a specific SEND focus on secondary school students typically Year 9 onwards. We have at least three meetings each academic year where we all come together to complete SEND focused tasks and gather Young People’s voices to improve our team, mostly recently our website.
As well as inviting guests to attend to capture their voices for Local Authority pieces of work, meetings can also be prepping for our Annual Preparing for Adulthood Conference, that is open to schools that are in the Advisory Group but also other secondary schools and settings in our Local Authority.
Behind the scenes I am also planning and organising this conference that we have hosted at our local University. I could probably list a lot more things that are part of my role, but these are the main jobs.
What does a typical day look like for you?
This very much varies! On the days when I am our adviceline, just like our caseworkers, it can look like this:
I wake up at 6:45am and I am up and dressed by 7:15am. I have my breakfast and at 8:00am I commute to the office. At 9:00am, I log on and check my own work emails. I begin the adviceline emails/calls/contact forms. Individual calls and emails typing times could vary from an hour to 110 minutes at a time. We also log our contacts from parents etc on our database which again adds to the time.
At 1:00pm, I usually finish the morning adviceline slot and have lunch, and at 1:30pm I start the afternoon adviceline slot until 4.30pm. Before I leave for the day I ensure data is added where needed and finish up any other emails.
However, on non-adviceline days this could consist of more travel time if I am in meetings in the office or at schools. It also depends if I’m working from home or have caseworks to do, information bulletin writing or any other organising and prepping.
What inspired you to become a SENDIASS Officer?
I stumbled across the job advert for a SENDIASS Caseworker role within my local authority and thought that this would extend my knowledge and skills of supporting children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) whilst maintaining a better work life balance for myself. It’s safe to say I thrived in this role and my confidence and mental health grew for the better.
When our then SENDIASS Officer within the team retired, I thought I would ‘throw my hat in the ring’ to take on more responsibilities within the team and also be more involved with our Young Person’s Advisory Group. Therefore, utilising my teaching skills once again. 5 months into being the SENDIASS Officer I am still learning everyday about SEND within my local authority and support children, young people and their families.
How do you keep up-to-date with changes in the education and SEND industry?
We have regular team meetings to discuss any day-to-day updates or concerns we have about Local Authority teams/services as well as schools and settings. We also take part in children’s services awayday training days, and this keeps us updated across the Local Authority and new guidance. We are also encouraged to take part in many different training courses and sessions beyond our initial SEND law training once joining the team.
From starting in this role, I have created our monthly information bulletins that take frequently asked topics from families and provide the key information, links and documents relevant in one document.
We share team news and highlight a parent support group within the Local Authority. I also ensure these are posted across our social media as well as other key posts including our events in schools and settings.
What’s the most valuable lesson that you’ve learned in your career so far?
The most valuable lesson that I’ve learned in my career so far, is that your mental health is top priority. This means deciding on a sustainable work life balance, planning and organising events or things to look forward to in your free time and maintaining your hobbies and things you enjoy doing. Whilst teaching I felt I had no free time, so my mental health spiralled significantly.
Within SENDIASS, particularly on the adviceline, you can have long calls with parents with very mixed emotions so you can’t help but take on those feelings too. So, allowing yourself a ‘brain break’ regularly is important to not get swept up in the high emotions.
What challenges or obstacles have you faced in your career?
SENDIASS is a service to provide information, advice and support. However, there are those occasions where we cannot suggest anything new that has not been trialled or we cannot support moving things along in the process.
This can leave parents and families feeling frustrated as they either have to wait for the outcome to occur, or they exhaust all options and are left still unsure of what the next steps could be.
What is the most rewarding part about your role as a SENDIASS Officer?
This can be summarised within one of many phone calls we have on our adviceline. The parent/carer will begin the phone call often with very negative emotions - anger, frustration, sadness, despair and confusion to name a few.
After providing clarity of information, signposting the correct document/link/service or providing them with new advice they very often leave the call feeling empowered, relieved and confident with what they need to do next.
We often end the call with the parent stating that they were glad we returned their call or relieved that they know what to do moving forward. This makes it all worth it!
How have things changed or progressed in the SEND sector since the start of your career?
I have only been with the SENDIASS team for almost 2 years now, so there have been only a few small changes. However, reflecting back to my Teacher training days, I personally feel far more confident in recommending services, provision and signposting parents to best support their child.
Within my Local Authority and nationally there is still a long way to go to ensure that children and young people with SEND are best supported with their education and therefore adulthood.
What changes would you like to see to boost SEND provision and improve the lives of children and young people with SEND?
I think sending the message that nobody should assume that people with SEND can’t do something. It’s important to have positive assumptions about everyone and to promote more independence as children and young people reach adulthood.
What advice would you give to anyone considering a career as a SENDIASS Officer within a local authority?
Any career in SEND can be emotionally demanding, so a real passion for supporting children and young people to achieve their best is essential. Communication is key as many parents will have increased anxiety and stress particularly if they are waiting a long time for an update or progress.
People skills are also essential as a lot of the time, particularly the adviceline, you can be calling and contacting many different people often for the first time and discussing very personal information (their child).
What’s next for you? Any future aspirations or upcoming projects?
I’ve been a SENDIASS Officer for around 5 months now so I will continue to grow into this role. As the next academic year begins we will be busy organising our Young Person’s Advisory Group meetings and our next Preparing for Adulthood Conference!
SEND jobs
If you’re searching for your next local authority SEND job, why not take a look at the latest vacancies, or simply upload your CV to be notified when a relevant position becomes available.
Local authority recruitment services
As specialist local authority SEND recruiters, we support local authorities nationwide with their temporary, interim and permanent staffing needs.
We can supply SEND staff for service redesign, tackling annual review backlogs and SEND/EHC Case workers to amend plans or hold annual review meetings.
If you’re struggling to fill a vacancy, why not get in touch with one of our team to see how we can help?
South of the UK - Richard Shorrock
Midlands & North of the UK - Adam Zyda
Share your experience
Every individual brings a unique set of experiences, thoughts, and insights to the table. We believe in giving a voice to a community of professionals to inspire positive change and champion reform in the SEND sector.
If you work in the SEND sector and would like to share your own personal and professional experiences, we’d love to hear from you. Perhaps you have a different perspective, could offer a fresh angle, or want to challenge assumptions.
Simply reach out to our Head of Content, Nicole Sherwood, to discuss a collaboration which makes your voice count.
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