Support a student

Although Christian schools work is often assumed to only include taking assemblies and lessons or running Christian groups, pastoral support for students is also a very common activity by schools workers. Support might range from informal conversations with students during break times to scheduled counselling sessions or therapeutic groups. This guide explores the kind of pastoral support options available, the skills needed to work effectively, and the qualifications and accreditation available.

Pastoral support within the education system

It isn’t too long ago that the concept of formal pastoral support would have been alien to many schools. Students were in school to learn, and their emotional well-being was the responsibility of their family or the doctor. Of course, good teachers have always provided some kind of pastoral care, but the idea of a school devoting resources and staff to anything other than teaching the curriculum would have been very rare.

In the last twenty years this has changed radically in most schools. There is a general acceptance that not only must schools educate young people, they must also enable them to be emotionally and mentally in a receptive state to be educated. Alongside the teachers and administrators, who made up the staff in the past, there are now a wide range of non-teaching staff providing this pastoral care, as well as occasional input from specialists from the local council’s education team. The number of non teaching pastoral staff is growing: between 1996 and 2003 their numbers doubled in secondary schools.

Support for pupils could now come from any of the following:

Heads of Year

Although traditionally this has been an additional responsibility for a teacher, some schools are now employing non-teaching pastoral heads (often for a group of Year Groups: eg. a keystage 3 pastoral head).

Form Tutors

It is still very common for every student to be in a form with its own teacher who gives frontline pastoral support to the class and may follow the same group through their school career.

Education Welfare Officer (EWO)

Primarily responsible for resolving attendance issues, they may also help to arrange alternative educational provision for excluded pupils or prepare reports on pupils with special educational needs as part of the statementing process. Many educational welfare officers work from council offices with each one responsible for a geographical area containing several schools. However some local councils have based their EWO in a school where they can give more pastoral input.

Connexions Workers

Connexions is the Government’s front line support service for all young people aged 13-19. There are nearly 50 Connexions partnerships covering the whole of England, although there are significant variations in the way they are organised and staff are deployed. Many will work from Connexions offices based around an area, but some staff may be placed directly in a school. Connexions workers may visit a school to provide careers advice to a student, help deal with a pastoral issue or attend a formal meeting about a student’s welfare.

Learning Mentors

Learning mentors originated from a government initiative called Excellence in Cities. They work with school and college students to help them address barriers to learning, although the way they are used in schools varies widely. Some learning mentors roles remain focused on issues around learning, others have a brief that has evolved to include general pastoral support of students.

Behaviour support

Although this may be known by different terms, many schools have staff working to help students with behavioural difficulties. It’s common for there to be at least two teams, in secondary schools, dealing with keystage 3 and keystage 4. Their work might include having a student in a separate room for some or all of the weekly timetable and working with them on issues around their behaviour alongside curriculum input.

Special Needs Teaching Assistants/Learning Support Assistants

Many schools with have a team of special needs teaching assistants who’s role is to help pupils with a wide range of severe learning, physical or behavioural difficulties, often whilst they are in mainstream lessons. They will be overseen by a Special Needs Co-ordinator, which can either be a full time role or taken on part time by a subject teacher.

Looked After Children Coordinator

Schools will normally allocate a member of staff to be formally responsible for issues relating to looked after children.

Youth Workers

A strong divide has existed between education and a council’s youth service for many years. However some councils and individual schools are rethinking this approach and even appointing their own youth worker on site. Others are forging closer links with a youth club which may meet on the school site (but be run separately by the local council’s youth department).