Relevant Qualifications to Work with Children

Gaining additional qualifications is a great way to increase your earning capacity and the variety of jobs working with children that you can apply for. Although you may already have qualifications, perhaps A Levels and some further education, specific qualifications will certainly help your application stand out.

Maths & English for Adults

If you do not already have basic maths and English qualifications, either GCSEs, O Levels or the equivalent, then there are plenty of opportunities to gain them as an adult. This is certainly worth doing if you are keen to work in a school in some capacity. A good place to start is your local library as they will either have their own classes or be able to sign post you to the local adult education office.

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Open University

A popular way to gain additional qualifications as an adult is by taking an Open University degree. You do not need to have any specific background to start, although many people find that they study something they are particularly interested in, such as psychology, or that will help their career development, such as child development.

The Open University has a very good website that details the wide variety of courses available. People have been known to take many years to complete all the modules as you can add more ‘points’ in your own time, depending on how much time you can dedicate to studying. There are usually local meeting groups or tutorials throughout the year, with the majority of work being done through home study.

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Dancing Qualifications

As dance classes are very popular with children most towns have at least one dance studio that offers ballet, tap, modern and disco dancing lessons. Most teachers and assistants at these dancing schools have danced themselves for many years, but it is increasingly necessary for them to have both ISTD and BBO qualifications (specialist ballet dancing qualifications).

Gaining these dancing qualifications not only gives you the authority required to conduct such classes, it is also a legal requirement if your pupils want to pass dancing exams. You will be required to pass both practical and written exams, with regional testing centres often set up once or twice a year for all local dance schools to attend. Although teachers are not required to attend once they have gained the qualification, booster sessions are encouraged to stay ahead of changes in the business. In addition those applying for a position in this field, potential staff will also need a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), check.

Learning Support Qualifications

Many learning support assistants choose to boost their career opportunities by gaining additional qualifications. Although they do not usually have teaching qualifications initially, working in this job often encourages them to become fully qualified teachers. If you do not want to go down this route (which usually entails going to university as a mature student to gain a PGCE, or gaining on the job training) you can also gain qualifications for specific learning difficulties, such as dyslexia, autism or British Sign Language. This offers considerable career benefits as you can be employed as a learning support assistant on a one to one basis for children with particular support needs.

The Next Step

Now that you have read through the advice above, you might want to put it into practice. Our Childcare Career Finder lets you tell us what draws you to working with children and we will match you with the UK careers or volunteering roles that fit you best. Try it now →