Guest blog written by Rebecca, a Special Educational Needs Consultant for Teaching Personnel’s West and North Yorkshire branch.

When you’re due to graduate, the world of job seeking can seem pretty daunting. “Where do I want to work? Do I have the right skills? Will I have job security?” That’s where working for a company like Teaching Personnel can help.

Before my role as a consultant, I completed a degree in Theatre Studies and then trained as a Primary School Teacher. In between my undergraduate and postgraduate studies, I spent a lot of time in schools and alternative education settings, gaining experience in different areas before making a decision to train in Primary Education. I didn’t really know about the amount of roles available to graduates and it was only upon doing a bit of research that I was able to find a role as a Special Needs Support Worker – sharing my time between a home based education programme for pupils with Autism, and within a large SEN school across several sites.

This role gave me an insight into education that I hadn’t really thought about before. It enabled me to develop my skillset without making any hard and fast decisions and I was able to work with a wide range of young people in a variety of settings – learning more about lesson planning, differentiation, using resources and about behaviour management. This experience was so useful and really prepared me for my PGCE course, and I was eventually able to utilise the ideas I picked up from other teachers with my very own class!

It is this experience that inspired me to take up my current role as a Special Needs Consultant. Over the last 2 years in my role at Teaching Personnel, I have worked with a number of graduates, finding them positions in education settings. It is my role to develop relationships with specialist SEN settings and support those seeking work in education jobs – creating a match between employer and employee. This year, I have worked with graduates from York, Leeds, Manchester and further afield – and supported them in securing roles relevant to their degrees in Psychology, Education Studies, English and Maths – in both short and longer term assignments within a variety of education settings. There are lots of opportunities within schools and colleges – many of them seeking recent graduates to provide support as a Teaching Assistant, Learning Mentor, 1:1 Tutor, SATS Coach or Behaviour Support Worker – and this experience will prove invaluable to your career in education.

If you’re looking to go into further study and complete initial teacher training, gaining experience in Learning Support or Tuition roles is a step in the right direction. It’s all about gaining the right experience in an industry that you feel passionate about and being able to utilise the transferrable skills gained during your degree.

If you would like further information about registering with Teaching Personnel and how we may be able to support you in kick-starting your career in education, I would love to hear from you – I can be contacted on: 0113 224 0234 or by email: rebecca.holden@teachingpersonnel.com