A teacher is one of the most important people in a school setting. They are responsible for ensuring that children have access to the proper education and that they can have the best start in life.
Whilst this is true, it is also essential for those teachers to have the right support. Without support staff and teaching and learning assistants, teachers will find it very hard to offer the right level of attention to each child in the class.
With this in mind, let’s consider supporting school teaching and learning.
As we have already covered, the idea of supporting teaching and learning in schools will usually be a teaching assistant. Their role is to ensure that all the learning delivered to the children in the class can be accessed and that they are given the best chance to succeed in their education and get the best start in their school life.
This could be on a one-to-one basis if time and funding allow. Or, more often than not, group-based interventions that help children of a similar level to be able to achieve their end goals.
Anyone who wants to work in a school setting and has a good level of numeracy and literacy can apply for a standard TA role. However, you must take the Level 3 Supporting Teaching and Learning course to be a supporting teaching and learning teacher.
Not every child will find school easy, and whilst many can do well in a class setting with just the support of a teacher, there are also lots of children, particularly those with additional needs, who will need extra support.
This support can help the child or children in question to be able to access the learning that they need properly. It can help them to understand what is expected of them within the school and to be able to progress towards their expected learning goals.
Without this support and with only a teacher, they might not be able to get that same level of focus, which means that they then do not succeed to as high a level as they may otherwise have been able to reach.
The role of a learning support teacher is to offer a supportive role to the children within the class. They will work alongside the fully qualified teacher in the classroom to identify the children who will need additional support and how best to approach this.
They can then offer targeted interventions to ensure those children reach the level they can reach, rather than being left behind.
Other than that, this role is mainly like a normal teaching assistant role, and you will be expected to undertake everyday teaching assistant tasks as well as these additional responsibilities.
There are three levels to the supporting teaching and learning in schools qualification. The first level is level 2. This work-based qualification is targeted mainly at those who have not yet started to work within a school setting but are looking to do so in the future.
Once you have passed this course, you can take the Level 3 (although you can also take the Level 3 course without prior passing the level 2) course. This is aimed at those who are already working in the school setting but want to ensure that they have all the skills and knowledge needed to work as a TA to a high standard.
They can then, should they want to, move onto Level 4, which is usually called the Higher Level Teaching Assistant course, which gives them the knowledge to allow them to take on even more responsibilities within a school setting.
If you have your level 2 in Learning Support, you will be ready to work in a school setting. You will have some of the skills required to support teachers and provide the children in the class with the very best learning possible.
A stage up from Level 2. The Level 3 Certificate in Supporting Teaching and Learning can help you to fully embed yourself into working within a school. It will help you learn techniques you can then use in the classroom and ensure that you understand regulations and legislation that applies to working within a school and that you need to follow.
If you have achieved either the Level 2, 3 or HLTA qualification, then the good news is that this should make it even easier for you to apply for a job within a school. This is especially true if you are looking to step up and work as a higher-level TA.
A learner in a school handbook will usually refer to the children or students who are within that school.
You can access the Level 2 and Level 3 course for Supporting Teaching and Learning in many different places. It is down to you to take the time to find out more about each one and assess whether it will be the right choice for you.
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There are a number of ways that a teaching assistant will support a teacher. They will be responsible for setting up the classroom and ensuring that it is neat, tidy and organised. The ideal environment for learning.
A teaching assistant will also need to be there to support children during the day, helping them with their learning. This could be one to one or in as small group.
A teaching assistant will be on hand to provide the teacher with insights on individual children and feel comfortable discussing some of the challenges and successes of that child in their learning.
More often than not, a teaching assistant is simply there to ensure that the children have the support that they need to be able to learn, and that the teacher can focus on teaching, whilst their teaching assistant tackles some of the other things in class.
A good teaching assistant will be patient, calm and kind. They will be able to listen to children and support them in a variety of their daily tasks. A good teaching assistant is creative, friendly and organised. They are able to tackle a variety of tasks and get them completed to a high standard.
They will be able to identify key areas of learning and provide support to the children that need it most. Children within the school should feel comfortable to talk to their teaching assistant and view them as a trusted adult in the setting.
A good teaching assistant will also enjoy working with children and take great pride in being able to show them that they can learn and grow.
In order to become a teaching assistant, you will not need to have any formal qualifications (such as a degree or further learning). However, you will usually be required to have GCSEs in grade 4 (C) or above, in both English and Maths.
If you want to have the best chance of getting a placement and standing out from the competition, plus offering the highest quality possible, you may find that a qualification that relates to childcare or working within an educational setting – such as the LearnQ Level 2 Award in Supporting Teaching and Learning in Schools will be beneficial to your application.
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