Specialist teaching assistant apprenticeships launching 2025: Trailblazer co-chairs Dr Diane Swift and Andy Ogden share key insights with TA Digest
A level 5 specialist teaching assistant apprenticeship has been created by an Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) trailblazer group with enrollment anticipated to open in 2025.
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‘A long-awaited and welcome development’
Professor Dame Alison Peacock, CEO of the Chartered College of Teaching, acknowledges that teaching assistants play a ‘critical role’ and make a ‘significant contribution in supporting the education of young people, particularly those with diverse, and often challenging, special needs and behaviours’.?
Peacock adds: ‘It’s vital that there are clear opportunities for professional development for support staff and an apprenticeship route offers exciting possibilities for career enhancement and progression.’
Dr Diane Swift, co-chair of the trailblazer group, said: ‘We are delighted to introduce the level 5 specialist teaching assistant apprenticeship, which we know for many is a long-awaited and welcome development.’
The teaching assistant role is a career in its own right and many in the TA community have felt frustrated by the idea that career progression for TAs is typically seen as enrolling on teacher training.
Instead, many have asked for ‘long-awaited’ formal routes of specialising in particular areas as a TA and the course developers recognise that.
Andy Ogden, co-chair of the trailblazer group and director for CPD at Tarka Learning Partnership, explained: ‘Many colleagues have told us that once a practitioner has completed a level 3 apprenticeship, a significant and valued step in itself, that there was not an obvious route for those colleagues who wanted to take their career to the next level whilst continuing in their TA role.’?
The introduction of the level 5 specialist teaching assistant apprenticeship is about ‘expanding, enhancing and enriching the workforce’ – valuing colleagues with different areas of expertise and giving experienced TAs a progression opportunity within the TA role.
The hope is that teachers and teaching assistants, supported by school leaders, will benefit from each other’s distinctive capabilities through training, communication and appropriate deployment.
It is appropriate for experienced staff who are already qualified and are seeking to develop a specialism.
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FAQs
What can I specialise in?
Teaching assistants can specialise in:
The apprenticeship is designed to be personalised to the apprentice.
Across all three specialisms, the core themes include:
Apprentices across all three specialisms will be required to evidence how they meet set knowledge, skills and behaviours (KSB) standards.
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How long does the apprenticeship take?
The qualification will typically take 24 months but can be completed in 12 months depending on the prior learning and specialist experience of the applicant.?
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How much will it cost me?
Schools and educational settings can use their apprenticeship funding to cover the cost of training.
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How will I be assessed?
The end-point assessment (EPA) contains two assessment methods – observation with questions and a professional discussion underpinned by a portfolio of evidence.
An Independent End Point Assessor (IEPA) will carry out the observation and the discussion.
The observation will allow apprentices to demonstrate how they meet the KSBs naturally in their everyday practice.
The following professional discussion will be structured in a way that will allow the apprentice to share their ‘knowledge, understanding and capabilities’ relating to the KSBs.?
During the discussion, apprentices will have access to their portfolio of evidence to refer to.
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What is the time commitment for studying?
The apprenticeship has been designed so that apprentices can draw on their day-to-day work to inform their ‘off the job’ training (and vice versa).?
For apprentices who work 30 hours or more, this will be an average of six hours per week.?
Apprentices will gain ‘valuable experiences’ both on and off the job – each offering a ‘distinctive form of knowledge that enriches each other’.
Whilst in school working, you’ll be supported by a mentor.?
For ‘off the job’ training (around six hours a week), you might be:?
The exact time commitments will depend on your training provider.?
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What will I be paid while training?
If you’re already employed, you should continue to be paid your salary by your employer.
If you are a new starter, you will be paid the appropriate rate of pay as advertised by the employer – this could be apprenticeship pay.
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What will I be paid as a specialist teaching assistant?
As there is no set national pay scale for teaching assistants, pay is determined by schools and the local authority.
Trailblazer co-chairs, Swift and Ogden, are clear: ‘The trailblazer group is not responsible for pay, conditions and salary.’
However, they add: ‘What we are ambitious for is that this standard could change the dial on that – this standard is about making it explicit the demands, rigour and challenge of working at this level.’
They hope the introduction and rollout of the apprenticeship will contribute to wider conversations around TA pay and a pay scale beyond the trailblazer group.
Stacey Booth, National Officer for schools and academies at GMB, said: ‘We need a really effective skills programme right across the board for all TAs to be able to access.’
‘Without the finer details’, Booth adds, ‘any training is welcomed, however, we don’t want to set our members up to do extra training, in an already stressful environment with retention issues, for low pay to find out there’s no remuneration at the end of it.’
She adds escalating responsibilities for continued low pay are currently ‘a huge issue in the sector’.?
Last week, a DfE spokesperson told TA Digest: 'We recognise the vital role that teaching assistants play in children’s education and development. We will treat teaching assistants with the respect and dignity they deserve, as partners in the push for better.
'That is why the Education Secretary is resetting the relationship with the sector and has committed to reinstating the School Support Staff Negotiating Body.'
Read: New DfE report: ‘The roles and responsibilities of TAs have increased significantly in recent years’
The School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB) that Labour plans to reinstate will address TA pay and conditions. MP Stephen Morgan told TA Digest at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool that TA pay is on the DfE’s radar.
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Is this standard enabling teachers on the cheap?
The ethos of this standard is to enable the development of a well-trained and supported workforce.
Appropriate deployment can, on occasions, involve delivering work specified by the headteacher.?
The standard is consistent with the requirements of the Education (Specified Work)(England) Regulations 2012 for maintained schools in England.?
Colleagues can only deliver specified work if:
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What could I do next?
Following the successful completion of a level 5 specialist teaching assistant apprenticeship, you’ll be a specialist in your chosen field.
You could go on to work towards level 6 qualifications, such as the teacher degree apprenticeship or early years teacher degree apprenticeship, if you wanted to.?
Some providers will be able to run a foundation degree alongside the apprenticeship to enable those who wish to gain 240 credits. This would be an option within some programmes.
However, there is no expectation to go onto teacher training following completion of the apprenticeship.?
A specialist teaching assistant role is a vitally important career in its own right.
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Have questions? Let TA Digest know.
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2 个月@
Intentional Educational Consultant, Mentor and CIT |TRCN/ ESL Certified. Passionate about impacting lives globally.
2 个月This is what I call an awesome innovation... Recreating educators for the next level.. ?? `. So many people are working behind the scene tirelessly. Educational sector will never fail by God's grace. Well done to the team that has brought this on board ?? ?? ??