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News1,000 TA's in Barnet train with ECDL for Educators1,000 of Barnet's Teaching Assistants Get the Chance to Gain ICT Skills Over 1,000 Teaching Assistants in Barnet’s 120 schools are being given the chance to brush up on crucial ICT skills with the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) for Educators Courseware. The programme has been designed specifically for those in the teaching profession and will enable Barnet’s teaching assistants to train for the ECDL benchmark qualification. This will develop their ICT skills allowing them to help children with ICT at school and support teachers in reducing their workload as part of the government’s Remodelling initiative. The London Borough of Barnet Authority is funding the initiative for those wishing to undertake the ECDL for Educators training. So far 80 teaching assistants have enrolled for the programme, of which there are 10 classes held regularly across the borough after school hours. The course has proved very popular with a further 100 staff on the waiting list to attend next term’s workshops. Aston Swann, the providers of ECDL for Educators Courseware, trained a number of teaching assistants prior to the courses within Barnet to enable them to train their own peers. Helen McClennon, Manager of Continued Professional Development, Support Staff and Remodelling for the London Borough of Barnet Authority, commented, “The ECDL for Educators Courseware has enabled us to offer staff the opportunity to work towards a recognised qualification at their own pace. As the courseware is specifically tailored towards the education workplace, the candidates will gain a knowledge of the applications that they encounter on a day to day basis in schools, giving them the confidence to use ICT more efficiently in their given roles. This training will benefit all of the schools in the borough as the teaching assistants will be able to support both teachers and pupils in the use of ICT in the classroom.” ECDL for Educators Courseware comprises seven modules with a classroom focus that provides teachers, teaching assistants and anyone working in schools with the core ICT skills based upon developing resources for the classroom. Creating lesson plans using a word processor, managing classroom data using a spreadsheet and searching the Internet for classroom resources are just a few of the very practical skills that can be acquired. Debbie Skyrme, Education Programme Developer, Aston Swann, explained, “We are delighted that so many teaching assistants in Barnet are being given the opportunity to gain the core ICT skills that will make them feel comfortable helping pupils in the classroom. With the Remodelling initiative now underway we are seeing more and more support staff enrolling for ECDL for Educators. This will in turn ease the pressure on teachers and help them to embed ICT throughout their lessons.” Contact us for more information |
