Special Education Teacher

Job Location: Oakwood Specialist College, Yate, BS37 5JB

Salary: Between £30,014.40 and £37,003.20, per annum, based on 40 hours per week, 42.4 weeks of the year.

Contract Type: Permanent

Every person deserves the right to access meaningful education. As a Teacher, you will play a key role in delivering personalised learning programmes to neurodiverse young adults (ages 16 to 25), ensuring they receive the best educational opportunities possible.

We encourage creativity in teaching, so you are free to design lessons that are engaging and tailored to each learner's interests—whether it’s incorporating hobbies or exploring new ways to make learning fun. Our curriculum follows the Post-16 Study Programme model, where learners engage in work experience, life skills activities, and essential functional skills subjects like Maths and English, helping them prepare for adulthood.

We encourage and welcome you to visit our college and experience first-hand the engaging world of teaching in a SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) environment. With small class sizes of just 5-7 learners, you will experience how it’s possible to build strong, meaningful connections with the learners.

Some learners may face social and emotional challenges, and part of your role will be to help our learners build essential life skills. A key focus will be on developing communication and language techniques, as well as supporting emotional expression through a neurodiverse-affirming curriculum. You will have excellent support in this, as our college is committed to a total communication environment and work collaboratively across the campus.

You will get all the training and support you need to make sure our learners have the best experience possible. Whether it be curriculum development skills, seeking guidance from colleagues or working with our integrated therapies team.

Responsibilities

• Leading classroom activities including planning, teaching, and assessing learning, particularly with ‘your’ class. This will involve a range of subjects and topics involved in pathways to adulthood and pastoral support.
• Monitoring and recording progress, both academically and against EHCP outcomes.
• Working closely with learners, keeping them engaged, motivated, and inspired to reach their full potential.
• Providing inspirational learning opportunities to learners, whether in the classroom or out in the community. You will work either 1:1 with learners or in small group settings to help them achieve their learning goals.
• Working closely with Learning Support Assistants to direct them to effectively support the learners.
• Being able to provide and develop a curriculum bespoke to each individual learner. You will need to be adaptable in your teaching style as some learners may focus on becoming more independent, while others aim to secure employment.
• Being able to recognise when a learner's progress is at risk, and where we could improve. You will need to be committed to seeking to understand each young person and their needs.

Qualifications

• Patience, compassion, and resilience—All of the learners you will support will be neurodiverse, which may impact their learning behaviour and communication needs.
• Great communication skills – This is important in this role as you will be speaking to a lot of different people at different times, whether it be learners, parents, or other stakeholders. You will need to be able to contribute to a range of resources as well as share information effectively.
• To be able to be involved in EHCPs, and shaping a curriculum based on the individual target outcomes of your learners.
• To be flexible and adaptable. Not all days go to plan, you will need to be comfortable dealing with change.
• A genuine interest in a career focused on the education of people with a wide range of needs.

In return for your time, you will get:

• Holidays – You will work 42.4 weeks of the year during term time, but you will be paid annual leave to cover the remaining 9.6 weeks.
• Pension scheme– Our pension scheme is based on you paying in 5%, and us adding 3%.
• Learning & Development Opportunities – We provide comprehensive learning opportunities for team members to develop themselves.
• Discounts – You will have access to brilliant discounts through the Blue Light Card and our own employee benefits platform.
• Wellbeing Support – Your wellbeing is always our priority. You will have access to mental health and wellbeing support. On top of this, our therapies team offers a monthly confidential check-in clinic, and group reflective practice sessions.
• Cycle2Work - The cycle to work scheme enables you to buy a bicycle at a discounted rate.
• DBS – As this role requires you to have an enhanced DBS carried out, we will cover this cost.
• After 12 months service - You will also be eligible for our Medicash scheme which covers a wide range of medical, health and wellbeing expenses (Including immediate access to a GP!). You will get life assurance paid at x2 your annual salary, and even more high street discounts.

Please note that as part of our safer recruitment processes, successful applicants will be subject to pre-employment checks including an enhanced disclosure and barring service (DBS) check, and online and social media checks, and reference validation.

At Phoenix Learning and Care, we pride ourselves on our diverse workforce, and ensuring we have an inclusive environment for all our team members. We remain committed to ensuring our teams can bring their true selves to work without risk or fear of discrimination.