Different Types of Teaching Assistant Courses

Undertaking some teaching assistant courses can be a great start to your career. Other than the fact that they will help you gain new skills, they shall also give you a far higher chance of being able to secure a good job within the industry. What many people do not realise; is that there are many different types and specialities involved, and choosing the right one for you is imperatively important. During this article I shall be explaining the different types of courses and helping you to make the right choice for you.

Distance Learning

Recently, there has been a massive surge in the quantity of long distance learning opportunities come into the marketplace. This is no different when it comes to teaching assistant courses, and this rise in supply has gone a great way to providing prospective students with a huge range of choice. Such courses are also likely to be far more flexible than their college based counterparts. This flexibility enables the person undertaking it to work as and when they are free, which allows them to continue tending to other commitments, such as work, their children or their social life. Combine this with the fact that such courses are normally far cheaper than modules you have to complete in an institution, as there are far less costs involved for the college, such as building costs etc.

Special Education Needs Teaching Assistant Courses

Naturally, children with special educational needs require far more hands on care and you need specialist and comprehensive training to be able to work with them. As the level of awareness for special needs has risen, so has the availability of such training schemes. More and more schools are choosing to have a Special Needs Unit in-house, so this will only increase the quantity of jobs on offer once you have finished your training. Not only are you likely to receive more money than standard roles, but the level of work satisfaction you receive is likely to be higher as you will feel like you’re making a real difference to people’s lives.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students

There are now specialist teaching assistant courses which focus on you helping deaf and hard of hearing students. These students will normally struggle in a standard class room as they are expected to listen to what the teacher is saying and act accordingly, but for some deaf students, this is just not possible. 

Assistants who have completed a specialist training program will have been required to learn a certain level of British Sign Language, which will enable them to communicate with the student in question and help them to understand the teaching and what they are being asked to do. As these teaching assistant training courses naturally take much longer to complete, they can therefor demand more money for their services and are likely to be more in demand than those with standard skills. 

I hope this article has helped explain some different types of training schemes, feel free to read some of my other articles to get more information on the subject.