It’s a career known by various names including teachers’ aide, integration aide, or education support officer.
Whatever you call it, it’s an important and rewarding role, which ultimately involves supporting students of all abilities, and from all walks of life, as they learn.
You could find yourself assisting a teacher by working with small groups of children who need extra guidance in a mainstream classroom, one-on-one with a learner with special needs or helping a child or adult who speaks English as a second language.
Here’s how to get your education support career started:
Decide if becoming a teachers’ aide is right for you
If you have a passion for education, enjoy being in a school setting and like the idea of helping others to learn, this could be a rewarding career choice for you.
Chisholm education support teacher Mena Antonopoulos, an experienced teachers’ aide herself, says many of her students are parents who have seen how important education support workers are in schools and decided to pursue it as a career. “It often attracts parents who want to work in the school environment and people who themselves struggled in school and want to support others and improve the experience for future students,” she says.
Teachers’ aides need to be patient and caring with students and enthusiastic about learning. They’ll need to be able to work with students who may have learning and behavioural issues and be able to adapt to different learning styles and challenges.
“It suits people who care and want to make a difference,” Mena says. “You’ve got to have patience, be persistent and try different strategies as what works for one learner might not work for another. We have a pretty special job in my view.”
Study an education support course
Completing an education support course can help both with finding a role and with the knowledge and skills you’ll need on the job.
The Certificate III in Education Support is an entry level qualification and will give you the skills you need to support students with additional needs in the classroom environment, assist in the implementation of planned educational programs, to support the behaviour of children and young people and to comply with legislative and policy requirements in education environments.
The more specialised Certificate IV in Education Support will give you strong foundational skills and knowledge relevant to the student support industry and will also equip you with specialist understandings in how to support students on the Autistic Spectrum and deepen teaching abilities in literacy and numeracy within educational programs.
Complete work placement
As part of your course, you’ll need to complete a work placement, which helps students to gain real-world experience.
“Ideally when students go on placement I like them to shadow an education support worker, not just work in a classroom with a teacher,” Mena says. “It’s a different skill than a teacher delivering education to a whole class, and this helps them pick up skills, strategies and effective ways of helping students.”
Find a job
According to the Australian Government’s JobOutlook, very strong job growth is expected for teachers’ aides over the next five years.
Mena says teachers’ aides are needed in pre-schools, mainstream primary and secondary schools, specialist schools and adult education environments, including in TAFE classes. “We are seeing a lot of students with special needs in mainstream schools, not all can go to special schools,” she says.
And, Mena says, modern schools have an increasing need for assistance. “It’s not rote learning anymore, the environment has changed and the learner has changed,” she says. “There are more mental health issues and learners are coming from broken homes and different economic areas.”
Mena says it’s a career which offers flexibility, with many teachers’ aides working part-time. “If you are considering a role in education support, I’d encourage you to go for it. It’s such a rewarding role which offers flexibility and diversity to work in various classroom settings”.
