Completing his apprenticeship during lockdown, we spoke to Jack Metcalfe-Chase to find out about what his qualification in education means to him, his experience and the support he’s received. Plus, we asked him to sum up his learning experience with us in words, in a song and as an animal! Find out more below …
“It has definitely given me a lot more information, knowledge and skills, and has made me better at my job. It’s been an eye opener, learning all the skills needed to be able to provide the best support in my role. It’s also made me want to continue learning.”
I’m currently working as a teaching assistant at Walton Hall Academy, part of Shaw Education Trust. It’s a school which prides itself on helping young people with a range of special educational needs and disabilities to achieve their full potential.
It’s a great school to work at, the staff are really supportive.
Before moving into my current role, I worked in outdoor education and wanted to change my career for guaranteed work as this was only seasonal and wasn’t sustainable.
I saw a position advertised for a Teaching Assistant at Walton Hall and I applied, and was successful!
I studied Fine Art previously, and I’m still very creative and where possible bring this into the classroom – it’s all about the process – and the students I work with are very receptive to creativity. There is no such thing as a bad artist – it’s all in the eye of the beholder!
I’d expressed my interest in wanting to get a formal qualification in what I was doing, and one of our other staff members was doing an apprenticeship and also recommended it. The school shared they had funding for apprenticeships for me to develop professionally so naturally I took this opportunity to study for a Level 3 Teaching Assistant Apprenticeship.
I opted for an apprenticeship in part because it was funded training, but also because it meant on-the-job training – I could stay in my current role at the school and apply the skills and knowledge as I was learning.
It has definitely given me a lot more information, knowledge and skills, and has made me better at my job. It’s been an eye opener, learning all the skills needed to be able to provide the best support in my role. I’d previously gained some skills in education from past jobs and learning in my role here at the school, but all the background information was really useful.
It’s also made me want to continue learning – it had been over 10 years since I’d completed any formal education, and I’m now studying for a Level 3 as a School Leader.
During the apprenticeship I found the behaviour element really interesting, and this is something I might look into developing further as a speciality. It opened by eyes up to further education and this something I want to pursue.
Children growing up – a weird one as the kids I work with are secondary school age but I was interested to see the differences between secondary special needs and regular mainstream schools.
Prioritising time was definitely the most challenging – working full time and getting that perfect level of work and study was difficult and sometimes a struggle. The school however was really helpful, Adam understood that every day can be slightly different and was flexible with this when it came to observations – some days we just cracked on, other days were different!
My school has been excellent, whenever I needed time they gave it to me, they gave me days out the classroom, they swapped around lessons and gave me time out.
My tutors, Adam, Jim and Peter – they were all fantastic, really, really good, really helpful. Sending everything over, kind of working around me to to be honest as they knew my schedule. I would definitely recommend working with them. They were very good, passing on their skills.
It was actually fairly helpful which is probably the wrong thing to say! It gave me more time to get stuck into finishing. It was fairly hard to complete observations and this was a bit odd – I felt a but bad for Adam, my tutor, but his support continued even in difficult circumstances and was fantastic.
My school was brilliant, and offered me the opportunity to take time during lockdown to complete my apprenticeship – Adam was always really impressed with their support.
Yes, definitely. It’s good for young people such as my colleague who is an ex-student and is now a member of staff and it’s doing him wonders, it really is, and not-so-young people like myself (!) – It’s helped me be better at my job which I really value.
I think there are definitely a lot of employers that don’t understand how good apprenticeships are and they’d be surprised how much they can get from them.
Interesting, informative, fun, eye-opening and rewarding!
Friendly, interesting, knowledgeable, helpful and very communicative.
I think an owl, as there were some late nights but the apprenticeship was also a head-turner!
Probably Eye of the Tiger, that aspect of taking chances and rising to the top!
Disclaimer: the video is from an external course and subtitles aren’t available.
“Jack has been amazing from start to finish, he put effort into everything and it’s really great his positive apprenticeship experience has led him to want to continue learning. He’s an asset to the school with his passion for education and the support he provides for his students.”
Adam Docherty, Teaching Assessor
We provide a range of courses and qualifications in education, whether you’re looking to gain experience for your first job or enhance your career prospects with formal qualifications.