Education and Training | Oldham College

What will I learn on my apprenticeship?

We offer the Level 3 Teaching Assistant Apprenticeship Standard.

This Apprenticeship is for learning support staff who work in partnership with teachers. Some learning and support staff have specialist roles such as supporting special educational needs, music or they work with small groups or individuals. As you progress to your end point assessment you will develop the knowledge, skills and behaviours required for professional working relationships with children, young people and adults. You will learn about schools as organisations, including types of schools and the policies and procedures you will be required to work within.

In this Level 3 Apprenticeship you will develop an in-depth understanding of the knowledge and skills required to work directly with children or young people in primary, secondary or special schools. In a level 3 role. You will have greater responsibilities and learn about all aspects of specialist support. This will include planning, delivering, and reviewing assessment strategies and supporting learning alongside the teacher. You may specialise in particular aspect of classroom support, such as bilingual or special needs support. You will learn about personal development and reflective practice. Over the 18-21 months of your programme, you will work under the direction of the class teacher and develop the skills to enable you to effectively contribute to planning for learning and evaluating of learning activities.

Although there are no specific entry requirements for this Apprenticeship, employers will usually require you to have a GCSE Grade 4 equivalent in English and Maths.

If you do not have these grades, you will need to score tat Level1 in the English and Maths screening assessments.

If you do not have GCSE grade 4 or above in English and/or Maths you will be required to achieve your Functional Skills at Level 2.

How will I be assessed?

The Teaching Assistant Apprenticeship requires you to undertake off-the-job learning for 20% of your working week. This can be made up of classroom learning, learning in the work place and in shadowing, mentoring and supervision activities. You will also complete distance learning, assignment completion and online learning activities.

You will attend College to complete your Functional Skills. This is assessed through online tests.

Your Assessor/Coach will visit you in the workplace to undertake a variety of assessment activities such as observations, professional discussions, reflective accounts, and a review of your work products. This is to ensure that your knowledge and skills development is evidenced consistently in your everyday practice, and to assess the integration of your theory into practice. You will also be assessed through assignment work, and written and oral questions.

Your Assessor/Coach will review your learning and progress in relation to a series of defined milestones and keep you on track to progress and achieve as planned.

You will produce a portfolio of evidence to demonstrate the development of your knowledge, skills and behaviours as you progress towards your end point assessment.

For the Teaching Assistant Standard the end point assessment is an observation of practice and a professional discussion.

What will my apprenticeship lead to?

On achievement of your Advanced Apprenticeship, you need to consolidate your learning and practice. You can then progress to higher-level study. The kind of study you undertake will be dependent on your job role. There is the Level 4 in Advanced Practitioner in Schools and Colleges or there is a range of education and training options available at the College or UCO.

Cost of my apprenticeship

Contribution Rules

16-18 Where the employer has under 50 employees and they are not a levy paying employer the learner is fully funded by the government, this rule also applies to 19-24 year old who are Care Leavers or in possession of an Educational Healthcare Plan
16-18 Where the employer has 50 or more employees and they are not a levy payer there will be a 5% charge with the government paying the remaining 95%. The 5% contribution will be invoiced as per the table above.
16-18 Where the employer is a levy payer, 100% of the funding will be claimed from their digital account on a monthly basis where the payments are scheduled according to the length of the learner's programme
19+ All employers that are not a levy payers there will be a 5% charge with the government paying the remaining 95%. The 5% contribution will be invoiced as per the table above.
19+ Where the employer is a levy payer, 100% of the funding will be claimed from their digital account on a monthly basis where the payments are scheduled according to the length of the learner's programme

Incentives

16-18 The employer will receive £1,000 incentive, 50% at 90 days following enrolment and 50% at 365 days following enrolment assuming the student is still employed and active on the Apprenticeship. The employer will need to invoice the college for this at that time and confirm their eligibility to make the claims at that point. This applies to Apprenticeship Frameworks only and not new Standards.
19-24 Where an employer has an Apprentice under the age of 25 where their earnings are below £43,000 per year the employer does not have to pay National Insurance Contributions (NIC's). Correct at the time of publication, check the HMRC section on gov.uk website

How to apply

You can apply for this programme via the Apply Now button, at the top.

If this course area is available as an apprenticeship, this will show under 'Study Option' on the right-hand side, just below the Apply Now button. You can view all of our apprenticeship vacanices and subjects by clicking the 'Apprenticeships' in the top menu.