Course overview
About this course This qualification is designed to help teaching assistants to expand their skills. If you work in a school environment and want to take the next step in your career, then the Focus Awards Level 4 Certificate for Higher Level Teaching Assistants (QRN – 601/8533/8) is for you. Teaching assistants provide essential support and feedback in a classroom.
With professional training, you can increase your responsibilities and salary by becoming a higher level teaching assistant. As you progress, you can take on the task of teaching lessons, setting learning objectives and managing a class. What will I learn? Find out more about the day-to-day duties of a higher level teaching assistant and requirements for the role.
Understand child development and the factors that can influence it. Support students who need extra help or have special educational needs (SEN). Develop the skills you need to react to challenging situations and promote positive behaviour. Plan effective learning activities, tailored to both groups and individuals. Encourage communication with children, teachers and parents.
Teach lessons to suit a range of different ability and language levels. All this and much, much more. How can I study? Complete this qualification in your free time, from home. Distance learning offers the flexibility to update your skills, while working full-time. Benefit from the support of a personal tutor and connect with our vibrant online community.
On average learners will take between 3 – 5 months to complete this course.
Course units Unit 1: Understand the Higher Level Teaching Assistant role Unit 2: Child development and welfare Unit 3: Awareness of special educational needs Unit 4: Promoting children and young people’s positive behaviour Unit 5: Providing support for individual learners and small groups Unit 6: Developing skills to promote positive working relationships Unit 7: Curriculum planning, delivery and assessment Assessment Our course takes on average 180 hours to finish and is assessed based on a series of written assignments and questions (requiring descriptive answers) that will test your course knowledge on a unit by unit basis.
Within these assignments, you will need to be able to demonstrate your knowledge to your personal tutor, as well as be able to reflect on your practice when applied within the workplace. Requirements All learners must have a work placement arranged to be able to gather the evidence for the course. The position can be either paid or unpaid in order to complete the qualification in a suitable setting.
You are required to undertake a minimum of 50 hours work experience within a school. The placement will need to be in an infant, primary, junior or secondary school, supporting learners between the ages of 4/5 (reception/EYFS class) and 16. You can support children in academies as well as mainstream, independent or specialist settings.
Please note: the work experience cannot be achieved in any of the following settings: • Nursery • Pre-school • After School Club • Holiday Club • College • University • Any other external learning sources i.e. open learning colleges, Sunday schools etc. Developing your career Following the Focus Awards Level 4 Certificate for Higher Level Teaching Assistants (RQF), you can apply to be a higher level teaching assistant.
This challenging and rewarding job will see you play a key role in the classroom. Have you always wanted to lead your own class and have a direct impact on children’s learning? This respected Level 4 qualification will open up many exciting career opportunities, whilst giving you the confidence to work independently. In the future, you may decide to go on to further study at Level 5.
If you have ambitions to become a teacher, you can apply to university and gain a PGCE. Success in the education industry can also come in many forms. There are numerous opportunities in coaching, community work, administratio
Learning objectives
Course objectives will be confirmed by the academic team.