Teaching Assistant Course 2024-2025
Here you can find an outline of the 10 modules in the course
This course is for anyone wanting to work in an educational environment.
Typically, teaching assistants are employed to work with children from Kindergarten to 11 years old.
No specific prerequisites are required. The course is delivered in English.
The course will take place on one Saturday per month. Sessions will run from 09.30 until 13.30. The first session is on Saturday 21st September 2024. All dates and rates are here.
Highly qualified staff from Foundations for Learning and outside speakers who are acknowledged experts in their field deliver the course.
Two-course textbooks are included
Videos, and case studies are used throughout.
Each module starts by:
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- Deepening the participants’ understanding of the subject being introduced
- Relating theory to practice
- Understanding and developing strategies that can be used in the classroom to support children
Objectives of the 10 Modules
Understanding the roles and responsibilities of a Teaching Assistant
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- To Understand the roles and responsibilities of Teaching Assistants in International Schools
- Overview of course materials
- Introduction to a framework for learning that can support best
How to work with children with behavioural difficulties
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- What is behaviour
- How can we interpret behaviour?
- How can we address problem behaviours?
- Introduction to Functional Analysis as a way of understanding and supporting children with behavioural difficulties
How to support students with reading and spelling difficulties
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- Gain an overview and understanding of reading development
- Develop an understanding of the specific skills involved in reading.
- Develop an understanding of where breakdowns in reading can occur and strategies to put in place to support the struggling reader.
Working with children with Autism
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- Understand what is meant by Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
- Identifying areas of challenge for children with ASD
- How ABA Therapy can support children with ASD
- Understand what behaviours might be seen in the classroom when children have ASD
- Learn how to support children in the classroom with ASD
Child Observations – why they are so important and how to write them
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- Understanding the importance of observation in supporting children
- Traps to avoid when observing children
- Different styles of observation
- A first step into observation by making video-based observations
Working with the Social and Emotional Child
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- Introducing the idea of a growth mindset
- How to support children with developing a growth mindset
- Questions that elicit strengths in children
- Ways to help children solve conflicts
Positive Behaviour Management in the Classroom
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- To understand what is meant by sensory processing
- Learn about positive behaviour support in schools
- The role of a TA
- What class / individual strategies can be used?
- Look at examples of strategies and behaviour plans through case studies.
Language Development and how to support students with language difficulties
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- To have an overview of typical language development.
- To understand what communication skills are and why they are important.
- Identifying common speech, language and communication needs and their impact.
- Signs of difficulty.
- Classroom strategies and case studies.
Supporting students with attention difficulties
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- To understand the different systems of attention as outlined by All Kinds of Minds
- To understand what a diagnosis of ADHD means
- To understand what behaviours might be seen in the classroom when children have attention difficulties
- To learn how to support children in the classroom with attention difficulties
Ways of supporting children in mathematics
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- To look at current educational research into teaching mathematics, for example, on the topics of maths myths and gender differences.
- Developing an understanding of what works best in schools
- Thinking about specific learning difficulties and their impact on the teaching and learning of maths.