Support work in schools (parent support)

The TDA has allocated funding through the School Support Staff Qualifications and Development Grant (2009/10) to enable local authorities to purchase accredited training for PSAs working in schools.

For more information, please contact your PSA regional champion.

The aim of the support work in schools (parent support) qualification is to ensure that PSAs

• understand the common core of skills and knowledge for the children’s workforce and can apply these to their role
• are aware of the ethos and policies of the school in which they work, and
• can access a choice of optional units that cover key aspects of their role.  
  

The qualification forms part of the wider framework of support work in schools (SWiS) qualifications and is made up of two strands:

• a certificate, covering the basic skills and knowledge needed to provide effective support for parents, and
• a diploma which is broader in scope and includes optional units in subjects such as improving attendance and meeting parents’ needs.

The future for PSA qualifications

The support work in schools (SWiS) parent support (PS) level 3 qualifications have proved popular and appropriate in securing accreditation for PSAs nationally. A new national framework for all qualifications is being put in place. To fit within this framework a sustainable level 3 qualification is required in a new format. This will retain the SWiS (PS) content while placing PSAs’ qualifications in the context of the wider parenting workforce.

TDA has been working in partnership with the Lifelong Learning UK (LLUK) sector skills body, the Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC) and the National Academy for Parenting Practitioners (NAPP) (whose training function is now part of CWDC) to transfer SWiS PS content into a pathway within the working with parents level 3 qualification framework. This revised pathway will be available from September 2010 and will provide long-term and secure provision for PSAs.

The SWiS PS award remains a valid and appropriate qualification for PSAs. Those local authorities currently supporting learners in this route are advised to continue. The revised qualification will be available for subsequent learners. New continuous professional vevelopment (CPD) units will also be available for all to consider as part of their longer term learning, development and accreditation plans. Some of these units will be at level 4.

More information will be available between April and August 2010 when TDA will be working with awarding bodies to ensue learners across the country can access the PSA pathway within the WWP qualification from September.