TA Amber Gains Apprenticeship Distinction
Amber Pascoe is a 23-year-old high-performing Teaching Assistant at Nanstallon School in Cornwall with Inspire ATA. Amber recently completed her apprenticeship and gained a distinction grade. She shares her learner experience with us;
“I chose this apprenticeship as a way of getting back into being qualified to work in a school. When I first started college, I did an introduction to early years but found that working in a nursery wasn’t for me. This put me off the idea of wanting to work in the early years environment, and with no experience in primary education, I was ruling the idea of becoming a practitioner out. After this I moved to a different part of Cornwall and chose a college course that didn’t overly suit what I wanted to do so I was left a bit unsure about what to do with my future.
Covid hit before I left college and, in that time, I became a carer for my elderly parents. Not wanting to go to university as I didn’t know what I wanted to study and being in lockdown, left me out of education with no job. When the lockdowns had finished, I was left in quite a scary position where I had lots of anxiety over how I was going to get a job that I wanted to do/enjoy when I had no real qualifications to go into a chosen sector.
I had an idea that I wanted to try and get back into an assistant teacher role or something similar in a primary education setting but when I applied for things I was being turned down. I do a lot of coaching of young people through judo, so teaching was one thing I knew I was good at.
After some thinking, I decided that an apprenticeship would be a good thing to do to allow me to obtain the skills and qualifications I need to become a teaching assistant. Although I felt a bit silly being 21 and going through an apprenticeship which I saw as something that school leavers do, it was one of the best things I applied for. I wanted to learn skills to gain a new qualification that would get me working in a school, which it has. I have learnt so much doing my Level 3 Teaching Assistant Apprenticeship.
For me personally I think the main benefit of an apprenticeship is that it gives you another option to gain qualifications by doing the job first hand. This is a good way to quickly learn your chosen subject because you’re doing the job every day. Putting into practice the things you study really helps expand your understanding of a topic and it puts you into real life situations where you use your training to overcome or better a situation. For example, as a Teaching Assistant apprentice, I have used my understanding of safeguarding in a real-life situation. I would have known the procedures of safeguarding beforehand if I hadn’t done the training.
Although I feel the best part of an apprenticeship is the fact that you learn new skills. It’s also a benefit that you earn whilst you learn. Earning money instead of paying it out to go to university has allowed me to save up for a deposit on a house. If I went to university I instead would be in debt. This is a real positive as you get the best of both worlds, you earn money and learn at the same time.
Another benefit is you meet great people in your placement. Inspire ensure that all placements are suitable environments for an apprentice to work in. I have been so lucky in my placement; I’ve had great support from all the people I work with throughout my time as an apprentice, I’ve learnt from highly qualified teachers, I’ve made friends and most importantly I have grown in confidence when it comes to establishing my role and being a part of a team.
I love seeing the impact I have on children’s lives. Seeing how the children in my class have grown throughout the year is amazing. Sometimes being a TA can be tough as you take on many roles at a time, in a lot of cases we deal with many different things from first aid to teaching to safeguarding but, at the end of the day the child is the main priority and knowing that I have learnt the most I can to look after the best interests of each and every individual child allow me to feel a real sense of achievement.
The main thing is seeing smiles on the children's faces and knowing that I have contributed to every child’s learning journey, whether that be educational, social or emotional.
During my time as an apprentice, I have had constant contact through text, email and video calls with my line manager Jonathan from Inspire ATA. He has constantly checked in on me to ensure I am well and has answered any questions I may have had. Having this support made me feel secure in my job, knowing if I had a problem he would try and solve it. He had also kept in contact with the school I was in, arranging meetings with the head to ensure that I was having the best opportunities to complete whatever coursework I was doing.
As well as Inspire ATA, LMP Education gave me the resources that I needed to complete course work. Having monthly meetings with a mentor ensured I stayed on track and was aware of what I needed to complete.
I have learnt how to work in an environment where communication is key. During my apprenticeship I have become much more confident in talking to others to share my ideas or concerns. This is a key life skill as to work in any part of a team you need to be able to communicate effectively.
I am very lucky to have been taken on by the school in which I did my apprenticeship. Once I had done my end point assessment, I applied for a teaching assistant role in the school, interviewed and got the job. This means my next step is taking on the role as a permanent Teaching assistant. I couldn’t be more pleased as this is what I wanted to do when finishing my apprenticeship.
This goes to show that apprenticeships are a good path to choose. In my case, even if I didn’t get the job I still had a Level 3 qualification at the end of it that could have got me another job. “
Best of luck in the future Amber!
Discover more about the education apprenticeships available through Inspire ATA.
If you would like to begin your career journey email info@inspire-ata.co.uk
