We’ve helped launch a new apprenticeship for teaching assistants

We have had the opportunity to help launch a ‘long-awaited’ new Apprenticeship standard hoped to remedy the lack of progression routes for teaching assistants.

The new standard – created by a select Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) trailblazer group of colleges, universities, local authorities and other organisations – will allow current and new teaching assistants to gain specialisms in areas such as special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), social and emotional wellbeing or curriculum provision.

We are planning to offer the Level 5 apprenticeship from March 2025, having helped to create the standard as part of the trailblazer group.

It recognises that the role of teaching assistant is a valuable career in its own right, and is critical to supporting young people’s educational development alongside teachers.

“This has been an amazing opportunity for the Apprenticeships team to work with IfATE and the other institutions in the trailblazer group,” said Sarah Halford, Senior Trainer at Barnsley College, who worked on the trailblazer group.

“There has not been that obvious progression route for teaching assistants. Once they have that qualification, they either stay employed in the same role, or the implication is that career progression means going down the teaching route.

“We will be working with our partners and employers over the coming months to create a learning plan that’s meaningful and bespoke to the region and the skills needed.

“The Level 5 standard will be offered to new teaching assistants, and to existing employees who might want to train as apprentices.”

The qualification typically takes 24 months, but may take 12 months dependent on experience. Schools and educational settings can use their apprenticeship levy to cover training costs.

Dr Diane Swift, co-chair of the trailblazer group, said: “We are delighted to introduce the Level 5 Specialist Teaching Assistant Apprenticeship, which we know for many is a long-awaited and welcome development.

“It is not a universal panacea, but a welcome contribution towards addressing some of the dilemmas that the sector faces in relation to its ambitions to develop a well-trained workforce, meeting the needs of vulnerable learners, enhancing their curriculum offer, and increasing the sector’s expertise in relation to social and emotional wellbeing.

“It offers a distinctive opportunity through its focus on specialisms, and this will enable providers to develop specific programmes that expand and enrich their current offer.”

Andy Ogden, co-chair of the trailblazer group and Director for CPD at Tarka Learning Partnership, added: “Many colleagues have told us that once a practitioner has completed a Level 3 apprenticeship, a significant and valued step in itself, that there was not an obvious route for those colleagues who wanted to take their career to the next level whilst continuing in their role.

“By undertaking this apprenticeship colleagues will develop their ability to reflect on practice in an informed and systematic way through engagement with a range of appropriate evidence.”

Employers involved in creating the Level 5 Specialist Teaching Assistant Apprenticeship are: Academies Enterprise Trust, Academy Transformation Trust, Ambition Institute, Aspiration Academies Trust, Barnsley College, Bridgewater & Taunton College, Central Bedfordshire Council, Church of England Education Office, City & Guilds, Department for Education (DfE), Edsential, ELA Training, Gateshead Council, Ixion, Keele and North Staffordshire Teacher Education (SCITT), Lift Schools, Manor Green School, NCFE, NCFE, Norfolk County Council, Northumbria County Council, Northumbria University, Notra Dame High School, Nottingham City Council, Oasis UK, Orange Moon Training, Phoenix Learning and Care Group, Real Group Ltd, Shaw Education Trust, Somerset Skills and Learning, South Devon College, South Gloucestershire and Stroud College, Sporting Futures, Tarka Learning Partnership, Tykes Teaching Alliance, Unison, TQUK, Walsall College.