Career change? Pastoral care in education... Where to start?

[theobstacleisthwonlyway]

Having worked in a university as an admin assistant for 10 years, I will finally be able to change circumstances in about a year (dc end of primary school) and I will be able to concentrate on myself and my career.

I would like to get into pastoral care in education, preferably secondary school. But I don't know where to start.

What courses should I be looking to do to get started? I've looked on line and it seems its all aimed at teachers. Can you do pastoral care without being a teacher?

My place of work are happy to get me on any courses because pastoral care is relevant to my current role (I deal with students on a daily basis)

Any pointers would be really helpful.

TIA

Nearly everyone I know who works in pastoral care in school (and doesn't have QTS) went straight in and trained on the job. Some started as Teaching Assistants or cover supervisors, got their foot in the door and moved across as its the relationship element that is so important in these roles.

Are you near a TA101 course? It's a two-day introduction to Transactional Analysis counselling.