What does a SENCO do?

A SENCO — special educational needs co-ordinator — is the member of school staff responsible for the day-to-day operation of the school's SEN policy: identifying need, co-ordinating support, working with families and outside services, and holding the school's SEN records. In England it is a statutory role, and that changes what the job is allowed to be.

The statutory position in England

Under the SEND Code of Practice for England, every mainstream school must appoint a qualified teacher as SENCO. The Code expects the SENCO to have the time, the information and the influence to do the job — which in practice means access to leadership decisions and to the budget conversation, not simply a list of pupils. Schools are also expected to publish an SEN information report, and the SENCO usually writes it.

The role is co-ordination, not sole delivery. Class and subject teachers remain responsible for the progress of the pupils they teach, including pupils receiving additional support. A school where SEND is treated as the SENCO's private caseload is a school with a structural problem, and it is a fair thing to probe at interview.

What the job involves week to week

The recurring work is assessment and review: graduated-approach cycles of assess, plan, do and review; meetings with parents and carers; annual reviews for pupils with statutory plans; deployment and briefing of support staff; and applications and evidence for statutory assessment. Around that sits liaison with educational psychologists, speech-and-language therapists, specialist advisory teachers, social care and health services.

There is a substantial administrative core — provision maps, records, funding evidence, exam access arrangements — and a substantial professional-development core, because most improvement in SEND outcomes comes from what teachers do in ordinary lessons rather than from separate provision.

How schools structure the role

In a small primary the SENCO is often a class teacher with release time, sometimes combined with a deputy or assistant head role. In a large secondary it is usually a full-time leadership post with a team of learning support staff and, increasingly, an inclusion or pastoral remit alongside SEND. Multi-academy trusts sometimes add a central SEND lead above school-level SENCOs, which changes who sets policy and who negotiates with the local authority.

Qualifications and route in

In England the SENCO must be a qualified teacher, and there is a mandatory national qualification for SENCOs which new SENCOs are expected to complete within a set period of appointment. The historic route was the National Award for SEN Co-ordination; the current route is the national professional qualification for SENCOs. Check which is being asked for in any advert, and who pays for it.

Most SENCOs arrive from teaching with additional inclusion experience — leading an intervention, running a year group's pastoral work, or supporting pupils with an education, health and care plan in their own class.

The equivalent role elsewhere in the UK

The title is not UK-wide. In Wales the equivalent statutory role is the additional learning needs co-ordinator (ALNCo) under the Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018, working to individual development plans rather than to England's SEN support and EHC plan structure. Northern Ireland has SENCos under its own special educational needs legislation and Code of Practice. Scotland has no SENCO post as such: support for learning is co-ordinated under additional support for learning legislation, usually by a principal teacher of support for learning or a depute head.

If you are comparing vacancies across nations, read the framework named in the advert before you read the job title.

Is it the right move?

It suits people who like systems, evidence and difficult conversations held well, and who can accept that the work is rarely finished. It suits people less well if they want to keep a full timetable and no administrative load, because the co-ordination cannot be done in gaps.

Live SENCO vacancies will show you how local schools scope the role — release time, team size and whether it sits on the leadership structure are the three details that decide what the job is really like.