Study days

Launched last year, the NVQ for teaching assistants lays down a specific role and recognises how much support these practitioners now supply in the classroom. The qualification spans four key support aspects of a classroom assistant's work, covering the pupil, teacher, curriculum and school.

Importantly, it provides a career structure, giving employers a clear picture of the skills a teaching assistant possesses.

Former solicitor Michelle Austin, who completed the course in 2004, felt it provided a balance of practical and theory. She had started out working in childcare as a volunteer, progressing to a paid classroom assistant working with Key Stage 1 and 2 children. Her subsequent role in a pre-school, involving one-to-one sessions with a child with special needs, led to her position as a part-time learning support assistant at Christ Church Primary School in Ware.

She says, 'I approached the Ware Assessment Centre, at Hertford Regional College, and discussed my options with the staff there and decided the course was my preferred choice because it focused on the National Occupational Standards, and was more practical than theory-based.'

At level 3 Ms Austin studied mandatory units including contributing to the management of pupil behaviour, supporting those children with learning difficulties and establishing and maintaining relationships with individual pupils and groups of children.

Ms Austin says, 'I then chose six options that I felt would help me within my practice which included literacy, numeracy, preparing and maintaining the learning environment and supporting children with learning difficulties.'

She says she found the course useful because she was able to carry over strategies discussed in the fortnightly workshops into her own practice.

'It was valuable to get together with classroom assistants from other schools and share ideas. Looking back, I can see that the course increased my confidence and helped me progress one step further in the way I carried out my job in practice.'

As a teaching assistant Ms Austin has to deal with a wide range of responsibilities. 'One of the areas I really enjoy is taking the responsibility for both groups and individual children, to encourage them to progress by means of more focused assistance,' she says.

'I also enjoy extracurricular activities and become involved in these wherever I can.'

More information

NVQ Level 3 Teaching Assistants

* Course provider: Further education colleges and training providers

* Duration: completion usually takes 12 to 18 months

* Course content: study is work-based. Mandatory units include contributing to the management of pupil behaviour, supporting pupils during learning activities, reviewing and developing your own professional practice.

* www.cache.org.uk

* www.edexcel.org.uk