Two new NVQs specifically designed for the country's 95,000 classroom and teaching assistants are being launched this year as part of the Government's drive to raise educational standards.
The qualifications are at NVQ Level 2 and 3. The level 2 award is for new entrants to the profession and those with limited responsibilities, while the level 3 award is for experienced teaching and classroom assistants and those whose role calls for competence across a range of responsibilities.
The qualifications will enable classroom support staff to fulfil the brief outlined by education secretary Estelle Morris in her speech to the Social Market Foundation in November, calling for further improvements in classroom standards.
In a pamphlet accompanying the speech entitled Professionalism and Trust, she describes her vision for schools in ten years' time when she says, 'Teaching assistants will be:
* supervising classes that are undertaking work set by a teacher, or working with small groups of pupils on reading practice;
* supervising lunchtime activities and invigilating tests;
* giving pastoral and other individual support to pupils;
* covering for teacher absence.'
Since New Labour took office, the number of classroom assistants has risen sharply from 61,262 in 1997 to 95,815 in November 2001.
Gill Mason, centre manager at MACTAC, a voluntary organisation in Liverpool providing training for people wanting to work with children and young people, says, 'These qualifications show that being a classroom assistant is not just about washing paint pots. It shows how much support they can provide and it is laying down a specific role for them.' The two qualifications will be appropriate for people working in teacher support in primary and secondary schools and further education and will cover issues like special educational needs and supporting teachers in literacy and numeracy. The qualifications cover four key aspects of a classroom assistant's work: supporting the pupil, supporting the teacher, supporting the curriculum and supporting the school.
The awarding bodies are in the process of submitting the qualifications for accreditation and some training providers will be in a position to offer the courses from the spring.
Mrs Mason says, 'We have been inundated with enquiries from people who have been working in schools and want to get a qualification that recognises their skills. We have got 33 people ready to start training. We will be starting them off with an induction course before they begin training on the new NVQs.
'Up until now we have been adapting the early years NVQ to cover classroom assistants and it is not always a very good fit as some of it is not relevant. The early years NVQ obviously covers people working in a whole range of different settings and not just classrooms. One of the early years units is about dealing with parents, but a classroom assistant does not have the sort of contact with parents that someone working in a nursery has. In the classroom, that is the teacher's responsibility.' She says the new qualifications meet the heartfelt wish of teaching assistants to have a career structure along which they can progress. 'The majority of the classroom assistants who have been coming to us want to have recognition of the skills they have. It will give them confidence when they go for interviews to be able to take this piece of paper that states what they can do.' Potential candidates for the courses include the long-term unemployed trying to break into the job market as well as people already working in a school - including parent volunteers.
NVQs were introduced as practical work-based qualifications to assess the application of skills and knowledge. However, candidates are not always able to use evidence of real work situations so simulation may be used to obtain evidence of competent performance.
The awards were developed from the National Occupational Standards for Teaching/Classroom Assistants published by the Local Government National Training Organisation last spring. Both the new qualifications contain a core of mandatory units plus optional choices.
There are no rules on the choice of optional units although employment expectations are likely to make some options more relevant than others. For example, most teaching and classroom assistants are involved in supporting literacy and numeracy and would, therefore, select the relevant options to demonstrate their classroom competence.
COURSE CONTENT
NVQ Level 2 for Teaching and Classroom Assistants requires the achievement of seven units of competence from the national occupational standards comprising four mandatory and three optional units.
Mandatory units:
* Help with classroom resources and records.
* Help with the care and support of pupils.
* Provide support for learning activities.
* Provide effective support for your colleagues.
Optional units:
* Support literacy and numeracy activities in the classroom.
* Contribute to the management of pupil behaviour.
* Support the maintenance of pupil safety and security.
* Contribute to the health and well-being of pupils.
* Support the use of ICT in the classroom.
NVQ Level 3 for Teaching and Classroom Assistants comprises four mandatory and six optional units.
Mandatory units:
* Contribute to the management of pupil behaviour.
* Establish and maintain relationships with individual pupils and groups.
* Support pupils during learning activities.
* Review and develop your own professional practice.
Optional units: The selection of optional units must include one from each of groups A, B, C and D, plus two others.
Set A
* Assist in preparing and maintaining the learning environment.
* Contribute to maintaining pupil records.
* Observe and report on pupil performance.
* Contribute to the planning and evaluation of learning activities.
Set B
* Promote pupil's social and emotional development.
* Support the maintenance of pupil safety and security.
* Contribute to the health and well-being of pupils.
* Provide support for bilingual/multilingual pupils.
* Support pupils with communication and interaction difficulties.
* Support pupils with cognition and learning difficulties.
* Support pupils with behavioural, emotional and social development needs.
* Provide support for pupils with sensory and/or physical impairment.
Set C
* Support the use of ICT in the classroom.
* Help pupils to develop their literacy skills.
* Help pupils to develop their numeracy skills.
* Help pupils to access the curriculum.
Set D
* Support the development and effectiveness of work teams.
* Develop and maintain working relationships with other professionals.
* Liaise effectively with parents.
MORE INFORMATION
The national occupational standards for teaching/classroom assistants and details of the NVQ structures are available from the LGNTO web site at www.ignto.gov.uk.
