You will find that some courses are only available for WEA members at this time, as part of member's priority booking. Courses will become available for all at 11 am on Wednesday 3rd July. Alternatively, become a WEA member today to book right away. Click on the 'Become a member' link at the top of the page.

Early booking is a membership perk for WEA members, where courses are available exclusively before becoming available for everyone else.

Course overview

If you are thinking about a career in teaching, this introductory course is for you. Teaching assistants are an integral part of the classroom. Not only do they provide vital support for pupils, but they also support the teaching that takes place. This course is ideal if you would like to know more about working as a teaching assistant. The role varies widely with some specialising in certain areas of education such as literacy, numeracy, music, specific learning needs and other disability support, English as a second language or behaviour. Teaching assistants can be found in schools for Early Years right through to secondary schools, and the number of TAs in one school can vary widely depending on necessity and amount of funding provided. This course will give you information about working as a teaching assistant (also known as a classroom assistant, a pupil support assistant, a teacher's aide, or abbreviated as a TA) and how you can provide support to teachers by providing teaching and learning support in whatever way possible.
This course is for early booking only.

Course description

This course will give you information about working as a teaching assistant (also known as a classroom assistant, a pupil support assistant, a teacher's aide, or abbreviated as a TA) and how you can provide support to teachers by providing teaching and learning support in whatever way possible.

On this introductory course, you will gain an overview of how to provide confident and effective support in schools. The knowledge gained could also help you with your own children’s learning at home. It aims to give you an understanding of routes into different areas within the sector and we will briefly look at the skills you will need to progress.

We will explore the national curriculum of England, and all the different skills that are learnt through play. We will explore strategies for teaching literacy and numeracy and how this can be effective using digital research and paired mini-teach exercises. We will look at children's social, emotional, and behavioural development in education as well as disability and working in special needs education.

You will have the opportunity to ask questions and contribute to the group discussion, receive continual verbal feedback alongside the written marking of your work, and be encouraged to support each other in your learning. By the end of the course, you would have gained knowledge and skills necessary to progress onto the next stage of learning.

What financial support is available?

We don't want anything to stand in your way when it comes to bringing Adult learning within reach so if you need anything to support you to achieve your goals then speak to one of our education experts during your enrolment journey. Most of our courses are government funded but if you don't qualify or need alternative financial help to access them then let us know.

What other support is available?

All of our digital content, teaching and learning activities and assessments are designed to be accessible so if you need any additional support you can discuss this with the education experts during your enrolment journey and we will do all we can to make sure you have optimal access.

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