Trainee Teacher, SEN / High Needs
Exeter and North Devon Colleges Group, North Devon College, Old Sticklepath Hill, Barnstaple, EX31 2BQ22 days remaining to apply
Start date details
As soon as possible
Closing date
18 November 2026 at 11:59pm
Date listed
27 October 2026
Job details
Job role
- Teacher or lecturer
- View all Suitable for early career teachers (608)jobs
Visa sponsorship
- Visas cannot be sponsored
Subject
- Functional skills
Working pattern
- Full time: Full time, 37 hours per week
Contract type
- Permanent
Pay scale
- £30,825 starting salary
What skills and experience we're looking for
Are you a dog or a dolphin? Wait, I’ll explain…
We’re looking for people who want to swim alongside our students, challenging them and enabling them to become confident, independent and employable. We’re not looking for people who want to bark instructions and complete tasks on their behalf. You don’t need a teaching qualification for this role, but you do need enthusiasm, resilience and a passion for supporting young people with high needs on their journey to independence and employment.
We’ll give you mentoring, on-the-job training, a reduced timetable and training to become a trained teacher with a much higher earning potential. This trainee role would suit a graduate with a passion for SEN or people experienced in supporting teenagers with mental health, learning or behavioural difficulties. If you’re an outstanding graduate, youth worker, probation officer, or teaching assistant for example, we’d love to hear from you.
We’ll give you plenty of support from a dedicated mentor and an Advanced Teaching Practitioner. In your first year you’ll be on our Development Track, leading to a Level 3 Teaching Award. In year two, we’ll support you to gain your Cert Ed.
What you’ll be doing…
- delivering small group sessions to post 16 students with high needs
- engaging students who may have struggled with confidence in the past
- supporting students to develop independence, communication and employability skills
- creating a positive, inclusive and inspiring classroom environment
What we’re looking for…
- a graduate with a sound academic track record or
- experience of supporting young people to find confidence, independence and work
- a confident communicator who enjoys working with young people with high needs
If your approach is to engage and challenge young people to learn for themselves and become confident, independent and employable, we really should be talking. If your approach is to instruct young people and complete tasks for them, then maybe we shouldn’t…
Are you ready for the challenge? Come and join us in stunning North Devon, a few minutes from gorgeous beaches and picturesque Exmoor.
What the college offers its staff
Benefits
We’ll give you incredibly generous holidays and a superb pension scheme. You’ll also get a package of amazing benefits, including free counselling and discounted supermarket shopping, spa treatments, electric cars and paddleboarding. Read more on our careers page.
Applying for the role
If you’re reading this on our website, click on the apply button, below.
If you’re reading this advert on another site, visit our vacancies page.
The closing date for receipt of completed applications is Wednesday 18th November 2026 at midnight.
Interviews will be held in Barnstaple, date TBC.
No CVs or agencies please.
Everyone’s welcome to apply for a role here, regardless of personal characteristics, including race, age, gender, religion, ability, disability, or sexuality.
We’re totally committed to the safeguarding and welfare of all our students, and we expect you to be too. We follow safer recruitment statutory guidance (Keeping Children Safe in Education). If you’re successful, you’ll be required to complete thorough pre-employment checks, including an enhanced DBS check and satisfactory references. All posts at North Devon College are exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA) 1974. The amendments to the ROA 1974 (Exceptions Order 1975, (amended 2013 and 2020)) mean that when applying for certain jobs and activities, certain spent convictions and cautions are ‘protected’, so they do not need to be disclosed to employers, and if they are disclosed, employers cannot take them into account. The MOJ’s guidance on the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the Exceptions Order 1975, provides information about which convictions must be declared during job applications, related exceptions and further information.
Further information about the job
Commitment to safeguarding
Our organisation is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. We expect all staff, volunteers and trustees to share this commitment.
Our recruitment process follows the keeping children safe in education guidance.
Offers of employment may be subject to the following checks (where relevant):
childcare disqualification
Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
medical
online and social media
prohibition from teaching
right to work
satisfactory references
suitability to work with children
You must tell us about any unspent conviction, cautions, reprimands or warnings under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975.
Applying for the job
Apply for the job by following the link below.
CVs will not be accepted for this application.
View advert on college website (opens in new tab)Additional documents
If you need these documents in an accessible format, please contact the school.
About Exeter and North Devon Colleges Group
- Organisation type
- FE College, ages 16 to 99
- Education phase
- Sixth form or FE college
- Size
- No information available
- Age range
- 16 to 99
- Ofsted report
- View Ofsted report
- Email address
- People-Team@exe-coll.ac.uk
Exeter CollegeWhy Work For Us?Exeter College (part of Exeter & North Devon Colleges Group) is an Ofsted Outstanding, multi award-winning education provider in Devon with campuses in Exeter and Tiverton.Our vision to be an exceptional college is only made possible with the determination and enthusiasm of our staff. We offer a wide range of fulfilling roles across multiple sites, all with the opportunity for further training and development. We acknowledge our employees’ involvement in shaping futures and making a difference by offering amazing benefits and the opportunity to progress and grow in one of the most successful colleges in the South West.Exeter College ranked 65th in the 2022 Best Companies League Tables as one of the UK’s Best Large Companies to work for, the third year in a row we have featured in the top 100. A Disability Confident employer, we aim to provide an environment where all staff can thrive because they feel valued, engaged and challenged. If you would like to join our team of exceptional people, please have a look at our vacancies below.If you would like to join our team of exceptional people in either Exeter or Tiverton, please have a look at our vacancies below.Our BenefitsWe depend on exceptional people to sustain our outstanding performance and reward staff for their hard work. We provide an array of progressive benefits to encourage a healthy work-life balance, including:🔹 Two defined benefits pension schemes, one for teachers and one for support staff
🔹 Generous Annual Leave entitlement as well as a two-week Christmas shutdown🔹 Staff Development including away days for employees🔹 We have an onsite gym, Central Fitness, and a variety of classes including spinning, yoga and Pilates, which is affordable and discounted for staff 🔹 We offer a cycle scheme that saves you 26-40% on a bike and accessories. You pay nothing upfront and can spread the cost of new equipment over a year 🔹 Get discounts on over 1200 retailers with our Pluxee platform, plus the ability to access student discount sites with your college e-mail🔹 Be able to register and join Blue Light Card and have access to over 10,000 discounts🔹 Access to 24-hour counselling services🔹Staff can receive a voucher every 2 years which will pay for the basic eye test 🔹 Our H2B spa and salon offers a wonderful pampering experience at discounted rates PrincipalJohn Laramy Values and visionExeter College aims to be an exceptional college, working with partners to provide inspirational education and training.SafeguardingWe are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults and we expect all our staff to share this commitment. Successful applicants will be required to undertake an enhanced check by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). For further information on the College’s commitment visit our Safeguarding page. Ofsted report “As a result of the highly motivated, skilled and experienced staff, the quality of teaching, learning and assessment is outstanding. Lecturers provide learners with challenging work that prepares them extremely well for their next steps. The colleges uses its excellent links with schools, employers and other agencies to understand, and respond quickly to the education and training needs of the local area.” View Exeter College’s latest Ofsted report
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