When I asked why there is no specialist qualification required to become a Special Education Teacher, several people raised something I hadn’t asked about at all:

How schools decide who becomes the SET.

Some people described SET as something that can sometimes be seen as a “handy role” or a “wind down”, which surprised me because it’s anything but that!

Others described inexperienced teachers being placed in SET because nobody else wanted it, and then there’s the teacher who becomes SET simply because it’s their turn.

I’m curious about what actually happens across schools. How is the SET role allocated in your school? Is it based on qualifications and expertise? Is it sometimes simply whoever is left after the mainstream classes have been allocated?

No need to identify your school. I’m interested in how the system actually works in practice.