Schools need support staff who can work inside the SEND Code of Practice without impersonating the designated SENCO. Marketplace autism diplomas still sound like those jobs. We run assessed practice for people already in a school. We do not award QTS. We do not award the NPQ for SENCOs. The verdict upfront: if the person spec names those qualifications, buy them. If you needed Code of Practice literacy under a SENCO, that is the product we sell.
Part of Special educational needs.
Code of Practice literacy and support-staff practice for people already in schools, without printing QTS or the NPQ for SENCOs on the certificate.
Not for: Anyone who needed QTS or the NPQ for SENCOs
£399or from £66.50/mo, interest-free
The Code of Practice as a working document, EHCP literacy, working under a designated SENCO, and a hard stop at diagnosis. Awareness of autism or ADHD is not a school job on its own. If the provider cannot say who marks case work, and the certificate implies the SENCO award, treat it as marketing.
Our SEND Practice for School Staff programme marks a school-facing case. For family coaching outside school employment, see ADHD Coaching Practitioner — still not diagnosis.
Sources
No. SENCOs in maintained mainstream schools must be qualified teachers, and new SENCOs must complete the NPQ for SENCOs within three years of appointment. Support-staff practice is a different product. A diploma that prints SENCO in the title without those requirements is flattening a statutory role into a search term.
| Goal | Buy this | Skip this |
|---|---|---|
| Designated SENCO | QTS plus the NPQ for SENCOs | Online autism diploma |
| Better TA or pastoral practice | SEND Practice for School Staff | Diagnostic practitioner branding |
| Clinical diagnosis | Clinical training | Any awareness course |
Sources
Anyone whose spec named QTS or the NPQ for SENCOs. Anyone planning to diagnose. Anyone seeking a private practitioner identity with no school employer. Anyone who wanted to coach adults and thought a school course would cover it. Awareness remains useful for parents when it stays in that lane.
Skip also if you are not in a school and wanted a career-change identity. See the parent special educational needs hub.
The designated SENCO is a school-employed leadership role with a mandatory qualification. Support-staff practice is a different product. An awareness diploma that prints SENCO in the title is flattening a statutory job into a search term. Read the person spec, then buy only that.
No. The mandatory qualification is the NPQ for SENCOs, and SENCOs must be qualified teachers.
No. Diagnosis is clinical. School support does not create that right.
A 10-week live SEND programme for school staff, taught by a former SENCO who will not award QTS or the mandatory SENCO qualification.
SubjectWhat UK SEND support roles actually require, how that differs from an autism awareness diploma, and why SENCOs are not trained by weekend courses.
CareerHow SEND support roles in UK schools actually work, why they are not the SENCO job, and what training can honestly cover for staff already in post.
AnswerSENCOs in English mainstream schools must be qualified teachers and complete the NPQ for SENCOs. An online awareness diploma is not that award.
ProgrammeAn 8-week live ADHD-coaching programme with marked recordings, taught by a coach who has worked with diagnosed adults for nine years.
ProgrammeAn 8-week live counselling-skills programme with marked recordings, taught by a BACP-registered counsellor, explicitly not counsellor training.