Level 3 Diploma in Supporting Teaching and Learning
The full level 3 teaching assistant qualification, covering learning support, SEND, speech and language, and supporting English and maths.
About this course
This is the substantial teaching assistant qualification. Sixteen units take you well beyond the basics, into supporting learners with special educational needs, supporting speech, language and communication, supporting English and maths, and helping with assessment for learning.
The diploma carries UCAS points, so it can also be a route into higher education if you want to go further.
Who this is for
You must be at least 16 and working or on placement in a school or college. There is no formal entry requirement, though NCFE notes that learners often find it helpful to have already achieved a level 2 qualification. NCFE recommends around 200 hours of placement. Simulated evidence is not permitted, so everything must come from real practice.
What you will study
Sixteen mandatory units, all of which must be achieved.
Schools and colleges as organisations
Structure, governance and accountability in education settings.
Support health and safety in a learning environment
Risk, responsibility and safe practice.
Understand how to safeguard children and young people
Recognising, recording and reporting concerns.
Develop professional relationships with children, young people and adults
Working effectively across the whole school community.
Understand how children and young people develop
Development across the age range and what influences it.
Support positive behaviour in children and young people
Applying behaviour policy and understanding what sits behind behaviour.
Support children and young people during learning activities
Planning and delivering support within lessons.
Support English and maths skills
Helping learners build the underpinning skills that everything else depends on.
Support the use of ICT in the learning environment
Using technology to support learning.
Support assessment for learning
Contributing to assessment and giving useful feedback.
Engage in personal and professional development
Reflecting on your own practice and improving it.
Support speech, language and communication
Recognising and supporting communication needs.
Understand how to support bilingual learners
Supporting learners for whom English is an additional language.
Understand how to support learning of children and young people with SEND
Supporting learners with special educational needs and disabilities.
Support children and young people during transitions
Helping learners through the points of change that unsettle them.
Support the role of play, leisure and extra-curricular activities
The learning that happens outside the lesson.
Where this can lead
Roles this can lead to
Further study
How you are assessed
Internally assessed through a portfolio of evidence built up in your setting, and quality assured by NCFE. Simulation is not permitted.
Support while you study
Every learner gets an individual learning plan, an initial assessment of English and maths, and a named tutor. You will have a college email address and access to Microsoft Teams. See our learning support and career support pages for what else is available.
Part of a pathway
This course sits within the following employment pathways. A pathway combines several qualifications into a route towards a particular kind of job.
Ready to get started?
Talk to us about whether this course is right for you, what funding you might be eligible for, and when the next start date is.
01287 280800 | adultlearning@atomix.ac.uk