Careers Brief - Education Support (Teaching Assistants) FdA
Overview
Your part-time Foundation degree in Education Support (Teaching Assistants) will have given you both a nationally recognised qualification at a higher education level and evidence of your ability in your field. You will also have the opportunity for progression onto Honours degree programmes.
Education and social care are among the largest employment sectors in the UK and opportunities are buoyant. However, to progress your career, you will need to be prepared to do further training and preferably be mobile.
Before deciding whether to continue on to complete an Honours degree, take time to review your career plans as alternative applied training courses might be more appropriate, particularly within the allied health and social care professions.
To gain a qualification to enable you to teach in state maintained schools, you will need to achieve qualified teacher status (QTS) through initial teacher training (ITT). You would normally do this either through an appropriate Education Honours degree or a one-year postgraduate course following completion of an Honours degree. You will need to consider the age range and/or subject you would like to teach. School-based training schemes and even on-line study might be an option.
Apart from the knowledge and experience of work with children and young people gained from your employment and training, you will also have developed additional effective transferable skills, such as team working, time management, written and verbal communication, giving presentations and IT.
Use the website links below to find out more.
To consider a wider choice of careers, matched to your interests, use Prospects Planner www.prospects.ac.uk/links/Pplanner/ and other tools listed in the Career Planning section of this Careers Guide.
Further Study
With success in your Foundation degree, you will be able to apply for a Top-up degree or transfer into an Honours degree. Top-up degrees are designed as a direct progression from Foundation degrees to achieve an Ordinary or Honours degree. Entry point into an Honours degree would depend on your grades, experience and overlap between courses.
To search for degree courses, go to www.ucas.com/ (UCAS - Universities and Colleges Admissions Service). Use the university/college links for course details.
To search for degree courses which also provide qualified teacher status, check under the subject title of 'QTS'. These could be BEd courses or BA or BSc with QTS.
You will need to use UCAS to apply for courses. Contact the Course Tutor of your chosen course to find out your position, before you make your formal application.
Find out how much this will cost you. Where is the funding coming from? Go to the university/college site for information on costs and finance and to www.direct.gov.uk/uni for additional help with student support.
If you aim to make your career as a school teacher and have not taken a degree course with QTS (Qualified Teacher Status), you will need to apply through GTTR (Graduate Teacher Training Registry) for a PGCE (Postgraduate Certificate in Education) course at the beginning of Level 3. If you were born after September 1st 1979, you will need Maths, English and Science at GCSE grade C or above or equivalent.
Check out the government teacher training site www.tda.gov.uk/ for more information.
With a good Honours degree (First or 2.1), you could progress onto an appropriate higher level Masters and/or PhD doctorate. This could be to develop your area of study to a more in-depth academic level or to gain other specialist training.
For information on all postgraduate courses and research, go to the national online directory at www.prospects.ac.uk/links/pgstudy/ .
Resources
Graduate Prospects - online national careers service for HE students studying in the UK:
- Drop down 'Career advice' and click on 'Your Foundation degree...what next?'
- Drop down 'Sectors' and click on 'Teaching & education'
- Drop down 'Jobs & work' and click on 'What job would suit me?' for Prospects Planner
Training and Development Agency for Schools - use the Teaching Information Line for advice
Graduate Teacher Training Registry - applying for postgraduate teacher training courses
http://careersadvice.direct.gov.uk/helpwithyourcareer/jobprofiles/
Careers Advice Service
www.connexions-direct.com/jobs4u/
Jobs4U Careers Database - click on sub-heading 'Job Families & Articles' or Quick Search by typing in job title
Hobsons/GTI graduate careers publication - Careers advice section
http://jobseekers.direct.gov.uk/
Careers database and links to jobs nationally. Search by either clicking on side-heading 'Careers' and choose a category or type in job title.
University of Brighton Careers Service - click on sub-heading 'Looking for work' - click on 'Researching careers' - go to 'Education advice and development' for the guide 'What else can a Teacher do except Teach?'
TES The Times Educational Supplement online - key source for current news and jobs
The Guardian newspaper online - key source for current education news and jobs
UK local government jobs on the web
Teaching opportunities in the independent sector
www.guidance-research.org/future-trends/education/
Warwick Institute for Employment Research - Education
Social Care and Social Work Careers information site for social work training and jobs in care without a degree
Community Care magazine online - includes jobs and employer search
British Association of Social Workers - information and jobs
Care and Health magazine - features and jobs
Working in the NHS - find out about careers in the NHS in England and look for jobs
Go to the Job Applications section of this Careers Guide for additional help and advice with making applications.
