Bath Spa University

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Education Studies for Teaching Assistants (Foundation Degree)

This course is for all those currently employed as teaching assistants who wish to improve their qualifications and their knowledge and understanding of their role.

For more information about this course please visit the School of Education website.

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It is government policy to extend the role and qualifications of teacher assistants. This course is for assistants in all levels of teaching: Foundation Stage and early years, primary schools, secondary schools, special schools and post-16 teaching. The course covers all aspects of the work of the teacher assistant: the ways people develop and learn; teaching methods; learners with special needs; social and emotional issues; legal matters; the social context of learning.

The course is ideal if you are already working in an appropriate setting, and wish to study part-time. In each of the two years you will study six modules, two of which are based in your workplace, and four taught in college.

Course Structure and Content

Year 1

• Learning in the Workplace: Developmental Learning
• The Curriculum: Foundation to End Secondary
• The Reflective Practitioner: the Learning Environment
• Self Esteem and Learning
• Inclusion
• The Reflective Practitioner: Inclusion in Practice

Year 2

• Literacy and Numeracy in Action
• Learning in the Workplace: Individuals as Learners
• The Reflective Practitioner: Partnerships with Parents and the Wider Community
• Work Based Learning: Working with Colleagues
• Either Working with Children with SEN or a Focus on the Support for Children/Pupils/Students in a Specific Age/Phase or Key Stage
• The Reflective Practitioner: Action Research Study Linked to Chosen Route

In your second year, you will be able to apply to the third year of the BA (Hons) Education at Bath Spa. The BA (Hons) degree allows you to apply to progress onto our teacher training degree course to gain Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). Alternatively, you may want to apply to pursue the new Early Years Professional Status which is also run at Bath Spa.

Teaching Methods and Resources

Although you will be classed as a full-time student, you will only attend college for one day per week. Our partner colleges for delivering the FD Education Studies for Teaching Assistants are Norton Radstock College, New College Swindon and Wiltshire College Salisbury, so this is where you will be based for your taught modules. You will be a Bath Spa University student, and as such will have access to all the facilities of the Newton Park campus.

The majority of your learning will be work-based, and you will be supported in this by a mentor and tutor who will visit you in your workplace to monitor your progress and development.

Assessment Methods

Assessment is carried out in a variety of ways as follows:

• Written essays (some may be in timed 'test' conditions);
• Critical reading/literature reviews;
• Seminar presentations;
• Seminar reports and journals;
• Investigative reports;
• Practice in the workplace;
• Workplace portfolio.

Practical assessment in the workplace will be done on a pass/ fail, rather than percentage basis. There are no examinations.

Entry Requirements

Appropriate accredited Level 3 qualifications (for example A-levels or vocational qualifications) PLUS,

Working as a teaching assistant.

Candidates will be assessed on an individual basis.

Please be aware that you will be required to complete a new Criminal Records Bureau Enhanced Disclosure application through Bath Spa University as part of the admissions process for this course.