This new Apprenticeship Standard enables students to develop skills, professional behaviours and knowledge which are essential for an excellent Teaching Assistant.
The course will enhance apprentices’ skills in supporting children or young people’s learning in schools or colleges. It also develops their responsibilities so they can work independently with groups of children and/or equips them for supporting the learning of pupils with special educational needs. The apprentice will also help to plan, carry out and evaluate a wide range of learning activities.
This programme is an excellent stepping stone to a Higher Level Teaching Assistant course, Foundation Degree or higher level training. It also develops professional behaviours which are essential in the workforce.
What are the benefits:
The apprentice must be over 16 years old and have:
Alongside the Apprenticeship Standard for Teaching Assistants, the apprentice will study Level 2 Functional Skills qualifications in English and Maths (if these have not already been achieved at point of entry).
The Maths and English Functional Skills must be achieved prior to the End-point Assessment.
Units covered include:
You will be formatively assessed through a range of written tasks, presentations, developmental professional discussions, developmental observations of your skills and practice in school, reflective practice and professional and personal development plans.
If you undertake a Supporting Teaching and Learning qualification as part of your apprenticeship, you will also be assessed through this range of methods. Your Functional Skills qualifications, if needed, will be assessed through examinations.
You will attend a weekly learning session on a Monday afternoon and other learning time is organised on a flexible basis to accommodate your employer’s needs and your own needs. You will normally be required to attend College to achieve the Functional Skills qualifications if you do not already hold GCSE Maths and English at grade 4 or above.
End-point Assessment
In order to evidence the Apprenticeship Standards and become an outstanding Teaching Assistant, you must achieve the End-point Assessment for the Apprenticeship Standards (conducted by an external End-point Assessment Centre). This involves:
No.
Part-time postgraduate student Louise Rae Allen says Derby College helped her land the teaching job she longed for from childhood.
Psychology graduate Louise, 29, from Ambergate, was taken on by Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Ashbourne while she works towards a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE).
Louise, who has dreamed of being a teacher from the age of 11, switched direction after working for five years as a careers co-ordinator at Queen Elizabeth.
She chose the course because it gave her the flexibility to study part-time, while continuing to work, and because of the strong reputation of its tutors. In 2016, the college achieved an "Outstanding" Ofsted rating for PGCE provision.
Louise is completing a two year part-time Postgraduate Certificate in Education, Post 14 in Compulsory Education.
She said: "I'm sure I wouldn't have been taken on as a teacher without taking the course.
"The college tutors are excellent, the quality of their teaching and feedback is always of a high standard. The sessions they deliver are intellectually challenging, interesting and engaging.
"A lot of us work full-time, and the tutors are flexible and supportive. They really go the extra mile."