Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Career Prospects for Education Assistants


Becoming an education assistant is an excellent choice for anyone who likes working with children, wants to make a difference in their lives and also wishes to build a career in education. Taking an education assistant diploma program might be a good starting point for a successful career in this field and a foundation for further potential growth.

Scope of Work
The first step on the road to career success is receiving proper training. Taking an education assistant course will equip you with the necessary knowledge on how to support students with diverse learning challenges and special needs. You will understand how to identify the types of problems that hinder children’s development and study progress and will learn how to solve them.
The support that education assistants provide to students can include behaviour management, curriculum implementation, development of social skills, and assistance with mobility and personal care. They work together with teachers, parents and medical personnel to help meet a student’s physical, emotional and learning needs. 

While studying an education assistant program, you will learn how to design individual education plans for the students who require support. You will also find out how to communicate with them to make sure they understand what is needed and can to follow the instructions. Education in today’s world is evolving rapidly, and there are a lot of new tools and techniques available to facilitate the process of working with children with special needs. Taking an education assistant course will allow you to learn how to use them properly.  

Job Overview
The education industry nowadays is experiencing a shortage of qualified professionals to work in schools. The inclusive education model stimulates the demand for more and more education assistants who can provide the necessary support to children and teens with disabilities and special needs. For roles working with children with particular challenges, additional training may be required. For example, knowledge of sign language or applied behaviour analysis therapy.
The average salary for an education assistant is $24.47 per hour in British Columbia, which is 6% above the national average. If an assistant can offer unique skills, such as caring for younger kids, working with aboriginal children or knowledge of other languages, the starting threshold of their salary can be even higher than the average one.



Education assistants can work on a full-time or part-time basis. Sometimes they can be offered on-call positions. Most often, they can find employment opportunities with elementary and secondary schools. However, other organizations can hire education assistants as well, such as special schools, educational and treatment centres. Additionally, education assistants can work with children in private educational institutions, homeschooling environments, medical facilities, summer camps and other places.  

Opportunities to Grow
Since education assistants work at the entry level, they have plenty of opportunities for career growth. They will require training in addition to their education assistant diploma to occupy more demanding positions that ask for higher qualifications. Education assistants, for instance, can become early childhood educators, childcare attendants, preschool and school teachers, tutors, social workers and other professionals. It ultimately depends on the aspect of the work with children that you are most interested in.

The only way to find out what you are good at and what career opportunities you can strive for in the future is to take the education assistant course first and start working with children. Supporting students with special needs is a rewarding yet challenging career. Starting from this point is a smart move as you will learn whether you’d like to work in a school environment and how you’d prefer to grow before enrolling in expensive degree programs to further develop your career.