how to qualify as a TA?

[Becaroooo]

Sorry if this is not the right place to post this...(if its not, let me know and I will get the thread moved)

Have been thinking of re-training as a TA for a while now (would really like to specialise in sen too) but am getting conflicting info from the internet!

Qualifications offered seem to be either;
CACHE
BTEC or
NVQ

Which is best? I dont know much about any of them tbh, wondered if any of you have any experience?

I have been a parent helper for 2 years at my sons old school and am about to start at his new one and was an assistant beaver leader til last summer.

I have done an OU course "Understanding young children" before ds2 was born but nothing since.

Any advice/tips gratefully recieved

x

Thanks for the reply BeerTricksPOtter, it does sound really interesting. Do they only take a certain number of people onto the course, or is it a case of if you've got £650 you can definitely do it?! When you did the course were you volunteering in a school as a TA and if so how many hours a week do they expect you to be getting practical experience whilst doing the course?

Hi all

On the site it states that E111 is equivalent to NVQ level 4 - is that HLTA level??

Not sure what fees are - not up yet on site but I would imagine about £700 but if you open an ousba account you can pay monthly and if you get benefits you may get some help with fees.

I haev done 3 courses with the OU up to now (before ds2 was born) and really raate them.

beer How did you fnid the course? Was it hard?

(course starts 6/10/12 btw)

jelly come on, sign up and we can do it together!!!

Jelly go on the OU site and type in E111 and it will give you all the info you need x

I did look at the E111 too, but was just too late to apply for this year, from 2012 the course is £2,500 hence I'm doing the L3...

£2,500 for this year BetsyBoop!!!???
Blimey, well that means I can't do it then!!! Sorry Becarooo but you're on your own!! When you consider how poorly paid even qualified TA roles are it seems a bit harsh to make the qualification so expensive that it puts it out of the reach of lots of people. I know that some schools (if you are already employed by them) are happy to sponsor you through it but that might be a bit less likely now that their budgets are cut and the cost has gone up by almost 400%!!!

At that price I'm not sure it's worth doing a course, TA pay is very low, and lots of schools won't pay you more just because you have a qualification, because they just won't have the budget to.

Definately worth just applying for every TA job going, volunteering at schools, and getting other experience that way.

£2,500?????????????

I don't think they have a choice about the fee as it is the whole of university funding has changed.

If you already have one OU course under your belt then you may be able to do this course under the old funding costs if you link them as a qualification (even if you don't continue to that qualification in the end).
link

Am phoning the OU at some point to clarify the situation as I have already done the recommended start course for this 5 years ago and that may help?

If not I will have to apply for a student loan...no idea how you do that though!

Hi beer

Yes I saw that but am a bit worried that as I am not 18 (ha!!) the usual student loan rules wont apply...?

depends where you live coconutty, in my area you have almost no chance of even getting an interview at the moment, if you don't have at least a L2, preferably L3 STLS (or equiv), even with loads of experience.

I agree though, I wouldn't spend £2,500 just to get a qualification to make you eligible for TA posts (different if you are doing it for your own personal development reasons - and can you afford it!) - hence why I'm doing a L3 for three hundred and odd quid!

One good reason to become qualified would be so that other qualified LSAs don't look sown their noses at you.

(Deep cleansing breaths.)

Just thought I'd let you know that since posting on here about whether or not I should look at doing a TA qualification, I applied for a TA role at a local school and have been offered the job!! I start next Monday! I have no formal experience, just volunteering once a week at my children's school and I used to be a school Governor. So clearly you can get TA jobs without qualifications! I'm going to be TA in Year 6 which is a bit daunting as all my voluntary experience is is KS1 and my own children are only 4 and 7 so Y6 children seem a world away!! Only problem is that it's not the job I applied for, it's 25 hours a week instead of 15...so I'm going to have all sorts of problems with dropping off and picking up my own kids as they are in a school on the opposite side of town!! But hey...at least it shows you can get TA roles without qualifications!

As a secondary SENCO who used to interview and manage a team of 30+ TAs I would agree that qualifications can be very helpful BUT it is not the only consideration. Schools need a mixed team to cope with the varying needs of the student population. We had graduates, teachers and other very well experienced people and others who had a genuine empathy with students who only had school as a safe environment. For example we had a school cleaner and I noticed that as she moved from room to room with her "Henry" she had a little gaggle of kids from her estate who followed her . We asked her to apply to be a TA and she was quite shocked. We filled in her app. form for her and interviewed her as she cleaned. She was amazing with the kids with social/emotional issues and we never tried to put her in a top set with ASD kids.

The point is that schools need a strong team of different types of TA. some graduates aren`t too hot on toiletting an MS boy !!!!

Congratulations JB! I am in a similar position, but am an unqualified LSA involved with challenging youngsters. It's hard but I feel very lucky.