Training to become a teaching assistant

hennagirl

After being SAHM for 11 years, I have been trying to apply for TA positions as they still fit in with the kids school hours and more importantly holiday times. I have been volunteering at school for about five years but stopped about a year ago when i relocated. The problem I seem to be having is that even with five years support and a degree, I am still being overlooked because I do not have a TA qualification. I have looked at all the quals availiable but cannot get my head around which is better one to take - cache, btec, nvq etc. Any guidance would be appreciated.

foxy-roxy

Hi, i have an N.V.Q. 3 in childcare and was looking into being a teaching assistant, it is a very hard field to get into as you need to be reccomended most of the time.
The N.V.Q. i was advised to by my ex employers at a private nursery because it is a working on the job qualifications so basically i can say not only have i done the written work i have on the job experience as well.
The Btec i wasn't interested in as it was all written at college and obviously anyone can copy from a text book but i think on the job exp. is more valuable, but seeing as you have that anyway from volunterring it really wouldn't matter.

Go to your local college and talk it through, i think the N.V.Q. will be quicker though, i did mine in under 18 months where as fellow students doing the Btec were taking 2 years or more to do it.

Good Luck

alocacoc

my gf is doing an NVQ with real time experience

however one thing to consider is from what Ive found out

theres not many full time positions

the part time positions the pay isnt that good

thats if the school havent already got a waiting list for teaching !!!

moneysavingexpert79

If you've already got a degree then why not try for teacher training rather than teaching assistant? You can become qualified in 1 year!

Oldernotwiser

moneysavingexpert79 wrote: »

If you've already got a degree then why not try for teacher training rather than teaching assistant? You can become qualified in 1 year!

Possibly because she's looking for a job tha tfits in with her children's school hours?

moneysavingexpert79

I am guessing if the lady is thinking about teaching assistant jobs then you may be right. If you are looking for another job that fits into the same schedule, then teaching is just a good an idea...:rolleyes:

Find out about childcare for the next year which they are likely to have at the university, and you'll be able to get paid for going with the amount of grants and bursaries they have going.

Oldernotwiser

moneysavingexpert79 wrote: »

I am guessing if the lady is thinking about teaching assistant jobs then you may be right. If you are looking for another job that fits into the same schedule, then teaching is just a good an idea...:rolleyes:
.

If you think that being a teacher fits in with a child's hours at school, then you're very much mistaken! Unlike a TA's job, teachers work far longer hours than the schools are open with marking, preparation, meetings and paperwork to do.

Many people work as a TA when their children are young because of the hours and then progress to teaching when their children are older and more independent.

hennagirl

Thanks for all your input guys. I did think about teacher training and actually applied last year, got through to the interview and was up against a drove of people who had either come out of banking jobs in the City or had Masters degrees, second degrees or were already lecturers in other fields. Having been told that I would have an individual interview, when I got there, it was only to be told that they would conduct a group interview consisting of 25 people!! I don't see how they could have decided who to pick. Anyways, needless to say that my experience and "lowly" qualifications were no match against the others and I was rejected.

As much as I would like to give teaching a try, I still do not feel that I can give my full commitment to it - I am still about two years away until youngest is at a more independent level.

Backup from dh is hard as he works very long hours and cannot be relied on for the childrens' school hours and holidays. Thats why I thought that TA maybe a better fit.

To be honest, am now starting to think about just going for agency work as it seems to be no joy with TAing. I would do the training but considering what it costs and that it is hard to break into, I do not know whether it would make a difference.

CHARDONNAY_3

I'm currently doing an TA NVQ & Volunteering 1 day a week in a primary school. I realise competition is tough for paid work, but I'm doing it as I enjoy learning new things and helping the kids gives me a great deal of satisfaction, if it leads to paid work all the better.

If your main concern is a term time job, why not look at admin / receptionist jobs at local schools or colleges or if there's a uni near by, see what vacancies they have. Over the summer mine was recruiting for house-keeping, retail, catrering, library & admin staff, almost all to work term-time.

Also, if you wouldn't mind call-centre work, give that a go as many places now offer term-time working.

If you really want to work with kids you could try breakfast / out of school clubs. I have a friend who works term time for a private nusery as they are often quieter in school hols, so don't need as many staff.

Good luck

ExLibris_2

It is very competitive indeed getting a TA job at present in many areas. TA jobs in my county commonly receive 70 - 100 applications. Local authorities set their own benchmarks for TA qualifications - there's currently no one national standard though this will change by about 2011 when new TAs will need to have level 2 literacy/numeracy qualifications to gain employment, but at the moment entry requirements vary considerably around the country. Your difficulty will be your lack of paid work experience in this role (volunteering is valuable experience but the role is different, and as a volunteer helper you won't have experienced all the aspects of supporting teaching and learning that a TA carries out) but also your lack of current involvement; having stopped volunteering a year ago, that makes you no longer up to date with eg curriculum developments, and whilst you could quickly make that up when in post, it's a disadvantage when you're applying against lots of candidates with absolutely up to date current experience.

I teach a course from which people often progress to TA employment and the following is based on the advice I give my students:

If you're really interested in a TA role then I'd suggest restarting or boosting your voluntary support role right now, as a way in - then make sure you maximise a voluntary role to gain the most rounded and relevant experience. By this I mean make sure you are supporting children's learning directly (so, lots of small group work, 1:1 support, leading group activities etc) rather than eg tidying the library books and mounting displays. Make sure you get experience in different year groups, ability ranges, curriculum areas - it's no good having a lot of support experience if it's within narrow limits. The depth and breadth of your volunteer support experience is likely to be much more persuasive to a potential employer than the length of time involved.

Most NVQ courses are workplace qualifications and the norm (not always, but mostly) is to get the TA job first then do the qualification. The economic reality is that all the experienced qualified people will be ahead of you in the application game at the moment. However, the reality is also that the first people to hear of tiny bits of paid TA work (an hour per week here and there, often short term, often not publicly advertised) are the regular school volunteer helpers, and this is still one of the ways people often get a foot in the door of gaining paid TA work and thus professional experience, which will give you a better chance at interview for a role with more substantial paid hours.

It takes time to build up sufficient experience and you'll need to do more than just cite your previous voluntary work ;you need to be in an active voluntary school role now, demonstrating that you are developing your skills and experience, to be in with a chance.