NCFE LEVEL 1 Award in Preparing to Work in Schools

The Level 1 Award in Preparing to Work in Schools is designed to help you explore the role of a Teaching Assistant and prepare you for further learning and training to help reach your career goal. While studying your will develop an understanding in the following three areas:

Understand schools as organisations. You will learn:

• The different types of schools
• Policies, procedures
• Different areas of learning in schools

Understand how to keep children and young people healthy, safe and well. You will learn:

• The main stages of development from birth to 19 years of age
• How to keep individuals safe in the learning environment
• How to protect children and young people
• Healthy eating
• Equality, diversity and inclusion

Understand how to communicate with children, young people and adults. You will learn:

• How to communicate effectively with children, young people and adults
• How to communicate within a team
• How to encourage individuals in a learning environment

You will also develop the confidence and knowledge to pursue a teaching assistant role in a setting most appropriate to you, Primary, Secondary or Further Education. You will also develop the skills and behaviours needed to progress to the next stage in your learning, identify progression opportunities and create a plan to enable you to get there.

To join the course you do not need to be working or undertaking practical placements within a school.

There are no formal entry requirements for our Level 1 Preparing to work in Schools course, just an interest in exploring a career in the sector. Although, you will need basic literacy skills to enable you to produce the evidence for the qualification. 

To help ensure the course meets your starting point, you will be invited to attend college prior to the course start date to completed an initial assessments, meet your teacher and learn more about the course.

During the course, you will complete a number of assignments using a variety of assessment styles to help you develop a broad range of transferable skills. The assignments you complete are used to build your portfolio, which will be used to evidence your learning. 

For further information, please contact our Adult Education Team on 01782 254211 or email adult.education@nscg.ac.uk.

Once you have successfully achieved the Preparing to Work in Schools course, you may be able to progress on to further learning identified within your progression plan. This could include English, Maths or a Level 2 Award in Support Work in Schools and Colleges / Level 2 Certificate in Supporting Teaching and Learning.