Teaching Assistant training

[vvvvfedup]

I've been a sahm for the last 5 years and am thinking of returning to work soon.
I'm considering training as a teaching assistant - has anyone done this an have any advice to offer re courses, or anything really?
TIA

I was hoping you'd get some replies as this is something I'm interested in too. So bump! :)

I used to work as a TA - you don't need any training per se to get started. Some (but not all) schools require you to have GCSEs in Maths and English (but I think you'd find the job difficult if you don't have them).

Before applying for jobs most schools would expect you to have some experience of working with children/young people or supporting learning - for me volunteering as a classroom assistant in basic literacy and numeracy classes at my local adult education college got me my first TA job.

Once you are in a post you can do vocational Level 2 and Level 3 qualifications - e.g. the Level 3 Diploma for the Children and Young People's Workforce - that will help you get other jobs.

Once you have Level 3 you can work towards gaining Higher Level Teaching Assistant (HLTA) status. Again this is something you can only actually do if you're already working as a TA. There is no guarantee if you gain HLTA status that you'll be able to work as a HLTA. Jobs are scarce. Two out of the three schools I worked at were happy to support TAs in gaining HLTA status but at one they "couldn't guarantee" a promotion/pay rise and at the other it was completely out of the question. Another option after Level 3 is doing a foundation degree in Supporting Teaching and Learning e.g. with the Open University.

In our school we always get a huge number of applications for teaching assistant posts and so can really pick and choose the very best experienced and qualified. It's been many years since we've taken anyone without a massive amount of experience.

rainbowinthesky, is your school primary? Should probably have said I worked in secondary schools.

Again, is that primary school? How can one do NVQ Level 3 without first being in a job? Always a reasonable number of jobs in my local area, even with the economic problems.

You can look for TA jobs in your local area at: www.schoolsrecruitment.education.gov.uk/

And not necessarily competition - for one of my jobs there were just two of us at the interview.