Training teaching assitant

[Gemstones2]

Does anyone have advice on how to become a teaching assistant its something i really want to do after a relatively tough few years. Are the online courses good or do I definitely need a college course, id be juggling it around children. Hopefully i can get somewhere . Thanks in advance x

You can do the Level 3 award in Supporting Teaching and Learning at several distance learning colleges. It’s only 4 units. That’ll give you the foundation qualification to access that line of work. Then try to get a voluntary or paid placement of one day a week for an academic year and do the Level 3 Certificate in Supporting Teaching and Learning in Schools; again, there are several distance learning colleges you can do this with. If you’ve done the award first you will only have 7 units to complete. Covid is making it hard to get placements in some schools but certainly it is still possible.

Make sure you go for the RQF status of qualification. That’s the standard accepted by schools.

When you get a placement, you’ll be asked to do a DBS check. It’s well worth doing the online one where you can take it with you, rather than it being a one-setting only option.

Good luck!

Thank you for your reply! Thats helpful thanks il keep looking, it is confusing as some courses are online but not sure if they are proper qualifications. Also alot of the college ones say need to already be employed in the job. Hmm, I feel like i dont know where to start , feel like im starting again. Can you start at doing the level 3? Or do you mean do the level 2 first? Thank you.

I’d stick to Level 3 if you can. You’re more likely to access work with it. There are some good Level 2 courses but most jobs require Level 3.
Start at a distance learning college, such as UK Open College, on the Level 3 Award in Supporting Teaching and Learning (RQF). It is an industry recognised qualification and you don’t need a placement to do it.

Once you’ve done the award, you can (covid-willing!) get a placement or a paid job as a teaching assistant and complete the Certificate level course.

You can do this with a distance college, too and again it is an industry recognised qualification.

To upskill yourself further while doing the Level 3 Award, you can access free CPD courses on the Open University site; they do short courses on autism, behaviour management and so on. They’ll look good on your CV.

Best of luck!

Thank you for your reply! Is this something you have done. ? Obviously doing the online course is straightforward but im just thinking how officially recognised the qualifictaoons are as its time and money to do. Thats definitely helpful information thanks, when you say certificate level course after what is the difference, if you do the online one would you not be “qualified” . Sorry all the questions x

All qualifications that are industry recognised have to be on the Regulated Qualification Framework (RQF). This means that these courses are completed under supervision, assessed and moderated and independently quality checked.

All qualifications are weighted to a specific number of credits. This means an Award level is usually around 9 credits, Certificates usually around 20 and Diplomas can be around 30 upwards.

The A/ C/ D are not an indication of difficulty (like GCSE and A-Levels), instead it is an indication of the length of study. Generally, add a ‘0’ to the amount of credits a qualification is and that’ll tell you how many hours (roughly) you are likely to spend studying.

The course Level (1,2,3,4 etc) that you see on course information is the determination of difficulty. Level 2 qualifications are around a GCSE old-style A-C grade. Level 3 is around a BTEC/ National Diploma/ AS-Level.

If you do an RQF qualification it will definitely be recognised by industry.

Some distance learning colleges are wishywashy, definitely. I know the one I referred to earlier is legit and works properly.

I work in this field, assessing and moderating teaching assistant qualifications, delivering qualification courses and CPD courses.

Ideally you would have some work experience so that you can reference it in assignments - could be a school volunteer or paid role working with children ie lunchtime supervisor, working in a preschool or after-school club, or helping with sessions in library. Future learn also offers free short courses in child development.

Thank you for the detailed reply thats really helped me understand better. I want to start with the online course but also dont want to if its completely madeup. Il have another look at it all again. Thanks also liz for your reply thats good to know

Work experience is worth far more than qualifications.

Obviously this is different due to covid but I volunteered in the same primary school as my children for a few years and then did a a level two course in supporting teaching and learning?

As part of that course I used the experiences of the classroom to help me with the course The assignments were easier if you had classroom experience I found.

I should say that despite the qualifications I am still a volunteer only as I do not wish to do the job, I love what I do but don't want full time or even part time work.