TA courses

[britespark1]

I have just started as a TA 2 at a local
primary on the proviso that I complete an appropriate qualification. The Head doesn’t seem to know which exact course I should do and is almost leaving it to me to sort out. I will
mainly work 1-1 with pupils with additional needs and just wondered which courses/qualifications others have done please?

Contact your local college and ask them for the Support in Teaching and Learning course. Ideally I’d recommend you do level 3.

What area are you?

Supporting children with SEN in education.

I am assuming mainstream school if you’re supporting 1:1?

This. You can add on SEND or use it as examples.

Apologies, yes a mainstream primary school. I have worked as a lunchtime supervisor and parent volunteer in a couple of schools and have a degree in Psychology if that makes any difference. I thought the Head would have sorted something before with other TAs but really doesn’t seem to know where to start with this. And in Worcestershire.

Ok so if you have a degree it’s unlikely you’ll get funding for a level 3 course, at least you wouldn't in my area, yours may differ.

If being a TA is something you’d like to do for a while, then definitely look at level 3 but it is more expensive than a level 2 course. There are some online but I would recommend going through the local college as there’s loads online that aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. I am under the impression that eventually level 3 will become the minimum needed to secure employment but again this could be LA dependent, which is why I suggested the level 3, but if you’re just using it as stop gap for a couple of years, level 2 could be enough.

My TA is paid as a level 1 even though she has a masters in educational psychology as our LA require the Support in Teaching and Learning to pay anything more.

Not sure how close this would be for you. https://www.kidderminster.ac.uk/courses/775002005067182/diploma-in-supporting-teaching-and-learning-level-3

Also, this may help? There’s a short boot camp one, not sure how that would work around your current working commitments though, but it is free.

https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/find-a-course/page?searchTerm=Teaching%2520&distance=10%2520miles&town=Kidderminster%2520(Wyre%2520Forest,%2520Worcestershire)&orderByValue=Distance&startDate=Anytime&courseType=&sectors=&learningMethod=&courseHours=&courseStudyTime=&filterA=true&page=1&D=1&coordinates=-2.249232%7C52.388198&campaignCode=&qualificationLevels=

Thanks so much for the help to everyone who has replied. I will take everything on board look into all suggestions.