Location: Nationwide
Contract Type: Freelancer, self-employed

We are looking for experienced Specialist Support Professionals to join our education team on a freelance basis, to provide support to students that have Multiple Sensory Impairment (MSI). This is a highly rewarding opportunity, giving students the support they need to reach their full potential and making a meaningful difference to their lives.

Job Description:

To provide support to students in higher or further education who have combined vision and hearing impairment.

This support is bespoke support for the individual needs of students with a sensory impairment which reflects their method of communication, educational history, and experience. Support may include breaking down assignment briefs and English concepts, developing research and composition strategies, working on the structure and mode of presentations, organisation, time management, communication, etc., which should facilitate strategies for independent learning. This support is not subject specialist support but support to enable access to the course. The SSP may also, where appropriate and with the student’s permission, provide advice to the HEP’s disability officers and teaching staff on the adjustments that could be made to create an inclusive learning environment for the student.

The support provided by the SSP-MSI role is bespoke to the combined vision and hearing impairments of the student (including deafblind students). The support worker uses appropriate communication strategies to enable access and understanding of vocabulary, and to support access to research sources and appropriate modification of the language of assignments.

Mandatory Qualifications/Training:

Teachers of Children and Young People with Multi-Sensory Impairment (Deafblindness) MA/Postgraduate Diploma

OR
ANY Postgraduate qualification eg. AFHE, FHEA, PGDip, PGDE, PGCE, MA, MSc, PhD etc.
PLUS a vision-related, deaf-related or multi-sensory impairment-related specialist qualification.
Qualifications for SSP-MSI can be taken from SSP-HI or SSP VI dependent on the advice of the student’s need assessor.
PLUS For a student whose preferred communication is BSL, the SSP must also have a BSL qualification at Level 2/3 or higher.

Please use this link to access the NMH Mandatory Criteria for this role: https://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/media/1987/final-nmh-qualifications-matrix-july2023.pdf

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

• Provide advice on effective planning and preparing for assignments – for example, checking comprehension of the task and the understanding of course materials.
• Assist with planning/organisation of projects, the structure of essays and or advise students about the presentation of written, signed or spoken work.
• Study, read and adapt course material to facilitate access to texts and comprehension.
• Support the Student to understand the concepts introduced through academic studies.
• At times, proof-reading of written work may be necessary.
• Assist and advice on preparation for examinations.
• Provide support with sentence structure, verb tenses, word omissions as well as assist with the understanding of grammar (incorrect verb endings and spelling mistakes) as well as syntax (incorrect word order, words missed out, or included unnecessary and other abnormalities in the use of English).
• Explain unfamiliar words, or words that have not been specifically introduced to the student, and therefore cannot be lip-read.
• Assist with reading texts with the technical jargon and terminology related to the subject matter; this will include explanation of particular words with fixed meaning or multiple meanings in various contexts.
• Assist and advice the student in accessing support available through the higher education Institute.
• Regularly assess and monitor a student’s functional vision and advise disability officers and teaching staff of any necessary changes.
• Support the student in use of specialist equipment and ICT.
• Work with the higher education institute with regards to modifications required to any learning material.
• Support the student to encourage independence.
• To represent Clarion in a professional manner, this includes adhering to our policies regarding confidentiality, safeguarding, and maintaining professional boundaries.
• To work closely with the Education Team regarding the needs of individual students, ensuring that any concerns are addressed in a timely manner.
• To communicate effectively with the Education team regarding the student’s attendance.
• To complete Individual Learning Plans documenting the student’s progress and goals. This is to be reviewed on a termly basis.
• To monitor the number of sessions delivered to ensure support is kept within the allocated DSA allowance.
• To keep your knowledge and skills up-to-date ensuring that they are in line with practices of a Professional Body membership.
• Add to your Continual Professional Development on a yearly basis.https://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/media/1987/final-nmh-qualifications-matrix-july2023.pdf