'They now stand in front of a group with a lot of confidence'

Teaching assistants from Eenbes schools have progressed from teaching assistants to teacher support staff in just one year, thanks to a program run by Expertise Network Eenbes and Summa. "They now stand in front of a class with great confidence," says Eric van Son, director of Expertise Network Eenbes.

Eenbes consists of 26 schools in Geldrop and the surrounding area, employing 550 people. The Eenbes Expertise Network promotes knowledge sharing within and between schools and is responsible for staff training. A few years ago, the need arose to train teaching assistants so they could work independently with larger groups of students. Together with Summa, we developed a teaching and pedagogical program for this purpose. It's a fantastic program. A group of 11 teaching assistants successfully completed the program: every Friday, they attended classes or worked on assignments, and received practical support at work.

Continue to grow

The program has been very beneficial. First and foremost for the teaching assistants themselves. They've now progressed from teaching assistant to teacher assistant; they've been given more responsibility and tasks, and are receiving a higher salary for it. Their self-confidence has also grown: they're confident enough to stand in front of a group; they now know they can do it. This is also positive for the schools where they work; the teacher assistants can work independently with a group and take over a class if, for example, the teacher wants to give a child extra personal attention. That's given them a real boost; half of them want to become teachers and are now in teacher training college. We're proud of that!

Exchange

Several new teaching assistants are currently joining our schools. There's a good chance we'll offer them the one-year program from teaching assistant to teacher support staff. This program has strengthened our partnership with Summa. For example, Summa now offers themed workshops for staff, and we're discussing staff exchanges: Summa teachers are eager to teach at a primary school, and our teachers can work with us at Summa. This way, we learn from each other. We've really found common ground in this new program. This makes it easier to explore more new things.

Want to know more?

Are you also looking for training or a customized solution? Contact the Education & Upbringing sector contact point via education-upbringing@summaenbedrijf.nl.