Teaching assistant apprentices? English TAs' perspectives on apprenticeships in schools

Potential implications of degree apprenticeships for healthcare education

“…Irons acknowledges that although the apprenticeship route offers new opportunities and models of learning, it needs to be economically viable and sustainable. Irons also recognises that the apprentices themselves need to be committed to their programme of learning, perhaps echoing the findings of Smith (2010). Irons (2017) reports the need for enhanced partnership working and tenacity when bringing together all of the elements required to design, deliver and fund apprenticeships, suggesting that some of the bureaucracy identified by Spielhofer and Sims (2004a) is still present.…”

“…Smith (2010) reports that the apprentices themselves had reservations about the use of apprenticeships to develop the teaching assistant role and that on-going workforce transformation in education could potentially be undermined by the need to respond to Government drivers. The association of apprenticeships with the acquisition of low level skills and competencies did not align with the progressive professionalisation of the teaching assistant role at the time.…”

“…The split between the traditional and vocational learning is described by Turbin et al (2014) as 'privileging' of academic qualifications over those achieved in workplace learning. The perception of apprenticeships appealing to young people with lower levels of educational attainment also provides continuing confusion for participants (Smith, 2010), while Gambin & Hogarth (2016) and Mangan & Trendle (2017) both note that apprentices with prior educational achievements are more likely to complete their apprenticeships. Brockmann & Laurie, (2016) suggest that the government's use of apprenticeships is a way to scoop up any 'low achievers' though a low entry point (level 2) (p229) surely reinforcing the stereotype that apprenticeships are for those who do not do well at school is perhaps challenged by these findings.…”

“…Where apprenticeships are being used to address a recruitment problem such as that described in Fuller & Unwin, (2003), outcomes for both employer and learner are less favourable and whilst the apprentice becomes a productive worker, their knowledge and skills are narrow and restricted. Smith, (2010) reports that the apprentices themselves had reservations about the use of apprenticeships to develop the teaching assistant role and that on-going workforce transformation in education could potentially be undermined by the need to respond to Government drivers. The association of apprenticeships with the acquisition of low level skills and competencies did not align with the progressive professionalisation of the teaching assistant role at the time.…”

Troops to Teaching: lessons from English teaching assistants’ experiences of foundation degree study

“…Flexible modes of study have been developed to allow foundation degree students to 'earn as they learn' (Smith and Betts 2003). Foundation degrees for teaching assistants generally recruit students who often fall into the mature student category, and offer an entry into higher education programmes for those who may not have the Advanced level (A-level) qualifications that British higher education institutions normally require for undergraduate entry (Dunne, Goddard, and Woolhouse 2008a;Smith 2010). Research that documents the experiences of one such group of teaching assistants who have undertaken this form of study is discussed in the final part of this article.…”