In English law, special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs) are key personnel in developing school provision for children with special educational needs (SEN) (National College for Teaching and Leadership [NCTL], 2014). The position is like other roles in countries where inclusion is supported through schools operating internal mechanisms of support (Poon-McBrayer, 2012) (i.e., special educators supporting the practice of others within the same setting). This type of support is particularly prevalent across many nation states within Europe (European Commission, 2013). These countries include Sweden (Goransson et al., 2017; Klang et al., 2017), Ireland (Kearns, 2005; Fitzgerald and Radford, 2017), Greece (Agaliotis and Efrosini, 2011) and Finland (Sundqvist and Strom, 2015). This model of support also exists outside Europe (e.g., Hong Kong; Poon-McBrayer, 2012).

Most research on SENCOs has been conducted at the level of the organisation or school rather than that of the person. There are limited studies that look at the SENCOs themselves rather than the role they fulfil. Consequently, most of the literature has focused on how school decision-making has resulted in varied SENCO provision (Pearson et al., 2015). What is missing from most of this research is a deeper understanding of the person (SENCO), their needs and interests, and the compatibility of these with those of the organisation (school).

Using data derived from a cross sectional survey of SENCOs who are new to the post, Dobson and Douglas (2020) concluded that the explanations of why they entered the role offered by the SENCOs are often contextually situated. Drawing on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979), they argue that individually focused motivations are accompanied and influenced by national culture and policy. This broader approach has also been acknowledged theoretically by Patton and McMahon (2014), who have developed a systems-based approach to understanding career development. This incorporates the personality and trait factors such as those advocated by McCrae and Costa (2008), alongside an acknowledgement that these interact with other individually focused variables such as gender, values, and work skills. However, these factors do not exist in isolation, but are influenced by social and environmental factors. These include the groups to which individuals have belonged, including family groups, workplace groups and other peer groups. These groups also interact with wider factors such as location, employment market and political decisions.

Building on the Dobson and Douglas (2020) qualitative study, this study aimed to systematically explore the ecological drivers (social and individual) that motivate SENCOs to do their job. It builds on a more ecologically orientated approach by acknowledging the diverse reasons offered for career interest. Looking beyond much career interest theory that seeks to match people to occupations, the research seeks to understand how people come to develop an interest in a specific occupation—the SENCO. The study seeks to answer the following questions:

1. What are the main factors underlying teachers’ interest in becoming SENCOs?

2. Do these factors interact with school-level variables (i.e., school age range and school quality) and individual-level variables (i.e., SENCO education level, gender, actual or aspirant SENCO, leadership status and age)?

A self-report survey of current and in-training SENCOs was undertaken in which they offered views of what motivated them to be a SENCO. Views were gathered through a structured self-completion questionnaire. The questionnaire was specifically designed for the present study and consists of four sections. The first section contains a 32-item inventory covering reasons why the individual became or wanted to become a SENCO. These items were paraphrased versions of the 32 SENCO career interest themes identified through the Dobson and Douglas (2020) qualitative study. For each item, participants were asked to ‘rate how important the following have been in contributing towards you developing an interest in being a SENCO’ on a five-point scale: extremely important (5); very important (4); moderately important (3); slightly important (2); and not important at all (1). The second section requested demographic information using categories and identifiers from the English national workforce database (DfE, 2018), which could be compared to a national dataset of SENCOs (Dobson, 2019). The third section requested details about the respondent’s current post, including current job title, position of role. The final section requested information about the respondent’s establishment. The survey was distributed to teachers undertaking a professional qualification for SENCOs at 25 higher education providers in England. In addition, the survey was distributed to SENCOs at network events run within three local authorities and two private advisory services within the West Midlands area of England. This resulted in 618 valid responses. The results were subjected to a range of statistical measures. This analysis was driven by the research questions and followed a classic exploratory factor analysis (EFA) format. Firstly, the EFA was undertaken on the 32-item inventory concerned with reasons for becoming a SENCO. This identified the factors underlying teachers’ interest in becoming and being a SENCO (RQ1) and allowed the creation of these factors as variables which could be taken to the second stage of the analysis. Research question 2 (RQ2) is concerned with how these factors might interact with school-level and individual-level variables. This was explored through a series of analyses of variance (ANOVAs).

Four factors of why teachers become SENCOs were identified. These are listed in order of importance from the results of the whole sample. 1. ‘Inclusion’ (factor 1). The first factor suggests that SENCOs have an interest in promoting equity in society (influenced by policy and international accords). Several statutory mechanisms exist to ensure inclusion and SENCOs are interested in these being followed. This will enable them to increase participation of all children in school activities and develop greater equity. 2. ‘High-quality provision’ (factor 2). The second factor suggests that SENCOs have a clear vision of what they would like provision to be in their setting SENCOs have a desire to develop provision at the whole-school level and develop the skills of teachers to be more inclusive at the classroom level. Additionally, for some, the desire to change provision would appear to be related to working in settings where improvement was needed to support children with SEN. 3. ‘Educational and professional development’ (factor 3). The third factor suggests that many SENCOs are attracted to the role as a vehicle for developing their knowledge and skills and enhancing their voice and status within school settings. SENCOs are interested in formal learning opportunities such as further study and opportunities to develop inclusive practice. Some also wish to enhance their career prospects. 4. ‘Leadership voice and status’ (factor 4). The fourth factor suggests that many SENCOs want to be heard at senior leadership level within their school. They have a desire to be appointed to a position of school leader. However, these factors are not stable across all demographic characteristics with significant differences in interest between men and women and those who are leaders as opposed to those who are not. Interest in all factors decrease with age.

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