Once Upon an Outreach Teacher: Stories, Tips and Insights Into Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Schools

An outreach teacher’s job is full of challenges, questions and surprises! Once Upon an Outreach Teacher is a collection of stories about young people with special educational needs and disabilities at the heart of mainstream schools, and about the people who support them and help them succeed.

The authentic, insightful and sometimes humorous stories explore themes ranging from the learning environment, pupil independence and the importance of self-esteem, to working with parents and other professionals. Each chapter is accompanied by checklists or helpful tips drawn from real-life situations to increase understanding, offer solutions and provoke further thought. The stories and anecdotes, which follow the author’s life as an outreach teacher, span from nursery to secondary settings and share both the struggles and the triumphs of children and young people. The author goes on to consider inclusion more broadly and what the future may hold.

This unique and informative collection will appeal to anyone who works in mainstream or special schools who is looking for an entertaining read which will also enable them to better support their pupils. It will be of particular interest to working and aspiring outreach teachers, special educational needs coordinators, teachers and teaching assistants and anyone who is interested in what is happening in our schools today.

Ginny Brown qualified as a teacher in Nottingham in 1980. Since then, she has taught in a range of special and mainstream schools and has held various positions including classroom teacher, teaching assistant and deputy head. Ginny is now an outreach teacher, working within a team that supports the needs of children and young people with a range of learning needs in dozens of schools, from nursery to secondary.