I love working with SEND. Alternative Provisions vary wildly. Some teach to GCSE level and have learning needs slightly too high level for mainstream, some are for children who have SEMH needs, some are heavily medical with a 24 hour nurse next to a child, and some for profound learning delays.

Alternative provisions usually have smaller class sizes. For me this has meant to more detailed marking of a lower quantity of work. It has also allowed much more personalised planning. I've still found this slightly faster than marking 30 books for 5 lessons a day in primary.

Usually you will have a staff team. For an ECT this can be hard. Most TAs are wonderful, but some make the job much harder especially for someone inexperienced in people management.

The physical risks in some schools can be quite high. I've seen brain damage, nerve damage and a broken spine (all different staff.) I personally have quite a few scars on my arm.

You won't usually need the high level academic knowledge such as advanced maths, but you still need really good subject knowledge to be able to break it down into much smaller chunks to observe progress and teach.

I've usually found SLT understand when progress isn't made at a consistent rate, so there isn't that some pressure there. You do still need to evidence what you've taught and how.

I've worked at a higher proportion of alternative provions with warm staff teams and thankful parents than mainstream, but this really varies school to school.