The Behaviour Specialist is a new position that will join the Delivery Support Team. The Delivery Support team also includes non-school based roles such as Learning and Wellbeing and Networked Specialist Facilitators, as well as school-based roles such as the Assistant Principal Learning and Support. The Behaviour Specialists (SEO1 and SEO2) will be available to work with schools to support students with complex behaviours as well as offer a range of capacity-building resources.

The Behaviour Specialists are located throughout NSW and will work alongside the local Delivery Support team. School staff can find their local non-school based Delivery Support team and contact details on the ‘School Support Contacts’ tab in the staff portal.

Can behaviour specialists provide support for individual students?

The Behaviour Specialist can provide a range of services to enhance the capacity of schools supporting student(s) with complex behaviour needs. This may include capacity building in the areas of development and/or review of a Functional Behaviour Assessment, recommendations and support in accessing external services (for example, Speech therapy, Occupational therapy) and broader educational resources, building the capacity of teachers through a range of whole-school professional learning or individualised supports, environmental assessments and advice in reviewing current plans.

Building the capacity of the school

A range of professional learning and capacity building activities exist that can be offered to teaching and non-teaching staff. These can also be discussed with the Learning and Wellbeing Officer or Assistant Principal Learning and Support who will make the request to the Delivery Support team on your behalf.

Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL) schools

The PBL resources are available to all schools through self-paced, eLearning materials. You can access these on the behaviour support toolkit professional learning webpage. There is a range of behaviour support professional learning options, including PBL, classroom fundamentals and functional behaviour assessments. If there are specific aspects that you would like support in, for example, Functional Behaviour assessments, talk to your Learning and Wellbeing Officer or Assistant Principal Learning and Support.

What sort of training will the Behaviour Specialists have?

The Behaviour Specialists have been recruited based on extensive skills and knowledge in behaviour. They will continue to receive ongoing, targeted training based on the data we receive from suspensions, incidents and support requests.

The Behaviour Specialist will be a part of your local Delivery Support team. Your first point of contact for behaviour support is the Assistant Principal Learning and Support or Learning and Wellbeing Officer. School Executive or school Learning and Support Teams can reach out to discuss supports for individual students or to build the capacity of teaching and non-teaching staff. 

Individual teachers should access the school Learning and Support team through the procedures at their school. Following this, the Learning and Support Team or school executive can contact the Assistant Principal Learning and Support or Learning and Wellbeing Officer where further assistance is required.

All new requests for support will need to be discussed with the Learning and Wellbeing Officer or Assistant Principal Learning and Support. This is to ensure that the person best suited to your need is matched to offer the support.

The Behaviour Specialist will most likely initiate support via an online platform. The needs of the school and the local supports available will be discussed and a plan of action agreed upon which may include face to face support.

Behaviour Specialists are situated throughout the state and can work with rural and remote schools. Many supports can be provided online or, where face to face support is required, a specialist can travel to you.

Immediate supporting following a serious incident

Follow the usual incident notification and response procedures. The Director, Educational Leadership can make a request for additional, immediate supports from the Delivery Support team directly through the Learning and Wellbeing Coordinator or Networked Specialist Facilitator. This support may include the Behaviour Specialist. 

Working with parents and carers

The Behaviour Specialist can work to build the capacity of all school staff to support and engage parents and carers. In addition, the Behaviour Specialist may support in accessing Department of Education support personnel or external providers to assist in meeting the needs of parents or carers. This may include Out of Home Care teachers, Aboriginal Community Liaison Officers, Family Referral Services or other locals support agencies. 

Issues, questions or concerns

Principals are encouraged to first discuss these concerns with the Behaviour Specialist. Where the concerns continue, you may wish to raise this with your local Learning and Wellbeing Coordinator or Networked Specialist Facilitator who can follow up with their supervisor.

The Delivery Support team comprises of non-school based roles such as the Learning and Wellbeing team, Behaviour Specialists, Networked Specialist Facilitators and NDIS Coordinators, as well as school-based roles including Assistant Principal Learning and Support, Senior Psychologists Education and itinerant teachers. School staff can find their local non-school based Delivery Support team and contact details on the ‘School Support Contacts’ tab in the staff portal. 

Broad support

The broad range of knowledge and experiences in the Delivery Support team can be harnessed to get you the right support, at the right time. There is also a range of pre-qualified external services that can be accessed where required. Networked Specialist Facilitators and Learning and Wellbeing Coordinators lead this team along with the Directors Delivery Support and are able to determine the best use of the team to support the school need. 

Behaviour Specialists are able to work with all schools to support all students from Kindergarten to Year 12.

The initial focus upon commencement in 2021 will be on the early years and transition points.

The Behaviour Specialist will also be liaising with colleagues in Aboriginal Education, Aboriginal Community Liaison Officers and Aboriginal School Liaison Officers.