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Sendcos need better pay, more strategic input and monthly supervision sessions to prevent “burnout”, according to leaders.

The calls were made by a panel of experts at yesterday’s Schools and Academies Show in London, in a session on SEND and inclusion.

Much of the discussion focused on the challenges facing Sendcos, and the likelihood of the role becoming even tougher under the government’s planned reforms.

Claire Dorer, chief executive officer of the National Association of Special Schools, said: “I would love to see every Sendco having an entitlement to clinical supervision.

“It’s a thinking, feeling role - you have to deal with difficulties coming at you from all directions - and it is a role where the risk of burnout has got to be huge.”

Pressure on Sendcos

The as a “specialised form of mentoring provided for practitioners responsible for undertaking challenging work with people”.

While it is common in roles such as social work and healthcare, it is not typically offered to teachers.

Ms Dorer argued that this should change, saying: “I would like to see us take much better care of our Sendcos by giving them a monthly independent space where they can be human beings who are doing very difficult work.”

The pressures of the role were underlined in ����Vlog findings last year, showing that just 6 per cent of Sendcos felt able to complete their administrative tasks during weekly working hours.

And there are concerns that this will only become more pronounced under plans to make mainstream schools more inclusive.

Sendcos need more support

Other panellists at yesterday’s session agreed that the role required more support - particularly in light of the government’s planned SEND reforms.

Syra Sowe, interim principal at Swiss Cottage School in London, said: “I think it’s very clear that the Sendco role has become a very, very challenging one.”

To be effective, Sendcos need to be able to feed into strategic decisions, she said.

“There needs to be some standardisation in terms of whether they are on the leadership team, because if you are not informing curriculum design, delivery and school improvement, you are simply putting a plaster on this fundamental issue,” she warned.

In reality, Sendcos often have “very little” influence in teaching, learning, and curriculum design, according to Adam Kohlbeck, director of teacher quality at Chiltern Learning Trust.

He said: “It has become a really administrative and bureaucratic role, in some cases. They need to have a significant level of agency, which they don’t currently have.”

Sam Henson, deputy chief executive of the National Governance Association, agreed that, for too long, Sendcos have lacked status “in the system more widely”.

He said: “There needs to be a much bigger emphasis on how important these skillsets are. We need to pay them better. We need to recognise them better. I think we know that’s not going to happen overnight, but there is no argument against it, really.”

Earlier this year, headteachers’ leaders warned that the workload for Sendcos caused by Ofsted’s new inspections and its focus on inclusion was emerging as a concern.