Special Teacher Training Course: Things you should know about

Special needs children ARE special and so, they do need teachers who would be especially trained to understand their needs and direct them towards learning. Patience and dedication are two main traits that a special needs teacher must possess despite challenges to be faced every day.

There are various teacher training institutes offering courses for people like you who aspire to be a special needs teacher. But before you enroll into one you should know a few important things about the aspect of teaching in this field. The following article is all about those.

1. What are the job roles of special needs teacher?

These children are faced with some degrees of difficulties and disabilities. The knowledge that you acquire in your special need teacher training course teaches you how to help the children grow socially and intellectually.

Your job role includes teaching them in an interesting way so that they learn easily. Also, as a special needs teacher, your job is detecting children and placing them in the class designed and best suited for them. Your teaching method and the curriculum should encourage the children to delve into learning further.

Your job role is also inclusive of helping the children develop life skills so that in future they can be a part of the mainstream society. From being the mentor to counsellor- you are an all-in-all when you are a special needs teacher.

2. How is the employment opportunity?

It is our wholehearted wish that every child is born without any disability and grows perfectly well. Yet, there is significant rise in the percentage of students in desperate need of special education. But the number of teachers always falls short.

So, you can easily guess the extent of employment opportunities available here. There is always a gap in between the demand of such teachers and the availability of them. So, scope of getting employed is always high.

As far as salaries are concerned, it can be varied from one workplace to another. The salary is fixed by the educational institute and the competent authority. But if you have a teacher training course certificate and prior experiences in this field, you are surely going to earn a handsome amount.

3. What training does one need to be a special needs teacher?

Regarding educational qualification, you need to be at least a graduate in a stream of your choice. But what is mandatory is having a certificate of completing training programme of special education teaching. You can choose an online or an offline programme for this.

Various institutes offer various courses. As there are certificate courses, so are advanced degrees to choose from. You can avail diploma, advanced diploma, integrated PG diploma etc degrees from the course of your choice.

The courses teach you about developmental disorders, theories of development in practice, intervention methods of communication and in classroom, alternative therapies to be implemented to tackle situation at hand etc. Learning them by heart enables you to complete the training successfully and makes you eligible for employment in this sector.

4. What is the typical characteristic of a special needs teacher job?

It is undeniable that teaching itself is quite a stressful job. The stress is multiplied manifold in teaching special needs children. You can never put aside the fact that these children demand more attention and patience as they might find the process of learning quite difficult.

In your class there might be children with various disabilities, children with emotional disturbances, children who find it difficult to communicate what exactly he/she wants. You might have to face meltdown of a particular student on any given day.

What should you do? The thumb rule here is never to lose your calm and control. You will receive extensive first-hand experience while teaching in a classroom. Gradually, you will find yourself in control of the whole thing.

5. What are the types of jobs available?

There probably is not one country where we will not come across special needs children. So, along with your teacher training degree and certificate, if you can also grab an international teaching diploma, you will be ready to launch your global career.

There are various NGOs running institutions for special children working cross countries. You can always tie up with them. You can be a general teacher or a teacher with the responsibility of children with special needs. The job of being a shadow teacher is always there for you.

A special needs teacher needs to be full of patience, care, compassion and empathy. Remember, these children are deprived of a childhood like other children without any special need. If you are up for bringing positive changes to the lives of them, opting for a training programme in this field is your answer.

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