Exploring newly qualified primary school teachers’ experiences of SEND training in their initial teacher training programme and support in their first years of teaching

Abstract

Educating and supporting children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) is a key aspect of teaching in mainstream schools in England (Children and Families Act, 2014). This is particularly as the national statistics indicate an annual increase in children with SEND (DfE, 2023).
The present study used a mixed method approach to explore newly qualified primary school teachers’ experiences of SEND training in their Initial Teacher Training (ITT) programme and support in their first years of teaching. This research project coincides with recent changes made to the induction of new teachers in England, from the previous ‘Newly Qualified Teacher’ (NQT) framework to the new Early Career Teacher (ECT) framework. As such, this research offers new insights and reflections from the perspective of ECTs, taking into account these new changes.

The current study was divided into two phases. Phase one included the use of an online survey and phase two involved a virtual semi-structured interview. The interviewees were recruited through identifying themselves in phase one of the study. Overall, forty participants completed the survey, and two participants took part in the interview. Analysis involved the use of descriptive frequency analysis and Reflexive Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2021a), from which four main themes were identified.

The findings contributed to the current knowledge base within this topic area as well as offering new perspectives. Specifically, the findings indicated that ECTs felt that learning about teaching and supporting children with SEND was important, though they felt that their level of training in this was limited in their ITT programs. The findings also indicated the significant role of the school in developing ECTs’ understanding and experience of teaching and supporting children with SEND. The current research study has implications for schools, initial teacher training providers and Educational Psychologists (EPs).

Date of Award	3 Apr 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bristol
Supervisor	Beth Tarleton (Supervisor) & Jak L Lee (Supervisor)