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Postgraduate Certificate Special Educational Needs Coordination (leading to National SENCo Award)

2024-25 (also available for 2025-26)

Start date

16 September 2024

6 January 2025

Duration

1 year part-time

About the course

This course is designed to develop your knowledge and expertise in special educational needs, disability (SEND) and inclusion, whilst allowing you to fulfil the Department for Education requirements for SENCos to achieve the National SENCo Award (NASENCO) within three years of taking up their role.

The course is informed by current practice, scholarship and research and will provide you with a critical awareness of current issues and developments in the field of SEND and inclusion. It also covers key concepts in leadership, supporting students to fulfil the strategic role required of SENCos in schools.

Course detail

Inclusion and SEND:Policy and Practice

In this module, you will explore and analyse inclusion, special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and the role of the special educational needs coordinator (SENCo). You will critically evaluate appropriate policy and legislation and how this has influenced the development of provision and practice. You will develop an in-depth understanding of definitions and theories of inclusion, and analyse how these align with disability rights, human rights and equality legislation. You will investigate how the needs arising from specific SEND conditions are culturally, socially and historically defined, and what this means for educational practice. You will reflect on how best to enable student progress and achievement, as well as examining and developing school approaches.

Strategic Leadership for SEND

In this module, you will develop a critical understanding of the strategic role of the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo). This will involve an exploration of current education policy and the processes of leadership within educational settings. Your studies will enable you to develop a critical awareness of the issues of developing and strategically leading whole school Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision. You will evaluate the key role played by the SENCo in multi-agency working, and consider how the SEND Code of Practice supports effective working with parents, senior leaders, governors and other professionals.

Teaching and Learning

You will learn through a combination of tutor led workshops and seminars, and directed work activities (such as learning walks) in the work environment.

Alongside the 60-credit qualification, you will complete a work-based practice portfolio in order to gain your National SENCo Award. This provides a focus for reflecting on your professional practice and personal and professional development across the course. Once you have been awarded your postgraduate certificate, you will then have one year to complete your work-based practice portfolio.

Entry requirements

Entry requirements for this course are normally:

  • An honours degree in a relevant subject at 2:2 or above, or a professional equivalent
  • You must have Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), OR Qualified Teacher Learning Status (QTLS), OR Early Years Teacher Status (EYTS - appropriate for ages 0-5 only) and need to be a Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo) or aspiring SENCo.
  • For SENCos new to the role, it is mandatory to achieve the award within three years of appointment.
  • You are required to have completed your Newly Qualified Teacher (NQT) induction year.
  • You need to evidence that you have the support of the Head Teacher or equivalent roles in other settings and services in order to emphasize and support the strategic nature of the role.
  • You must have access to a context that allows you to be able to complete the practical aspects required for completion of the National SENCo Award (for example, a reference/letter from a head teacher/equivalent stating this).

If your first language is not English, you will need to meet the minimum requirements of an English Language qualification. The minimum for IELTS is 6.0 overall with no element lower than 5.5, or equivalent. Read more about the University’s entry requirements for students outside of the UK on our Where are you from information pages.

Why Choose Huddersfield?


Watch this clip to find out five great reasons to choose the University of Huddersfield for postgraduate study.

Your career


A postgraduate qualification is a great way to stand out from your colleagues and position yourself for a promotion or pursue a career change.  In fact, here at Huddersfield, 98.4% of our postgraduates find employment or go onto further study within six months of graduating. 9 in 10 of them go onto work in professional or managerial roles.

*Percentage of our postgraduate students who go on to work and/or further study within six months of graduating (Destination of Leavers from Higher Education Survey 2016/17).

98.4% postgraduates employed*

Student support

At the University of Huddersfield, you'll find support networks and services to help you get ahead in your studies and social life. Whether you study at undergraduate or postgraduate level, you'll soon discover that you're never far away from our dedicated staff and resources to help you to navigate through your personal student journey. Find out more about all our support services.

Important information

We will always try to deliver your course as described on this web page. However, sometimes we may have to make changes as set out below.

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Changes to option modules

Where your course allows you to choose modules from a range of options, we will review these each year and change them to reflect the expertise of our staff, current trends in research and as a result of student feedback or demand for certain modules. We will always ensure that you have a range of options to choose from and we will let you know in good time the options available for you to choose for the following year.

Major changes

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For example, it may be necessary to make a major change to reflect changes in the law or the requirements of the University’s regulators; to meet the latest requirements of a commissioning or accrediting body; to improve the quality of educational provision; in response to student, examiners’ or other course evaluators’ feedback; and/or to reflect academic or professional changes within subject areas. Major changes may also be necessary because of circumstances outside our reasonable control, such as a key member of staff leaving the University or being unable to teach, where they have a particular specialism that can’t be adequately covered by other members of staff; or due to damage or interruption to buildings, facilities or equipment.

Major changes would usually be made with effect from the next academic year, but this may not always be the case. We will notify you as soon as possible should we need to make a major change and will carry out suitable consultation with affected students. If you reasonably believe that the proposed change will cause you detriment or hardship we will, if appropriate, work with you to try to reduce the adverse effect on you or find an appropriate solution. Where an appropriate solution cannot be found and you contact us in writing before the change takes effect you can cancel your registration and withdraw from the University without liability to the University for future tuition fees. We will provide reasonable support to assist you with transferring to another university if you wish to do so.

Termination of course

In exceptional circumstances, we may, for reasons outside of our control, be forced to discontinue or suspend your course. Where this is the case, a formal exit strategy will be followed and we will notify you as soon as possible about what your options are, which may include transferring to a suitable replacement course for which you are qualified, being provided with individual teaching to complete the award for which you were registered, or claiming an interim award and exiting the University. If you do not wish to take up any of the options that are made available to you, then you can cancel your registration and withdraw from the course without liability to the University for future tuition fees and you will be entitled to a refund of all course fees paid to date. We will provide reasonable support to assist you with transferring to another university if you wish to do so.

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