Qualifications

Our qualification and work skills courses all require an interview and assessment before enrolling. Please contact us on 0345 601 0161 or email us at enquiries@aspiresussex.org.uk to arrange your assessment. Please see page 21 for more information.

NCFE Cache Level 1 Award in Early Years Settings

This qualification develops a basic knowledge of childcare in early years settings. It covers working with children up to the age of 5 years old. The units include subjects such as the value of play, roles and responsibilities of carers and volunteers, and the importance of developing links in the local community.

City and Guilds Level 2 Certificate in Supporting Teaching and Learning in Schools

This qualification measures the knowledge and skills required to meet the support needs of primary, secondary and special needs schools. Achieving this qualification demonstrates an individual’s ability relating to pupil welfare, care, behaviour and learning.

City and Guilds Level 3 Award in Education and Training

This qualification is for candidates who work, or want to work, as teachers/trainers in the Further Education or Skills sector.

City and Guilds Level 3 Certificate in Supporting Teaching and Learning in Schools

This Level 3 qualification is ideal if you have significant experience as a school support worker and wish to move into a more specialised role in administration, learning support and/or management.

NCFE Level 1 Award in Volunteering

This qualification is suitable for students who are thinking about working as a volunteer and will provide them with an insight into the role. It is also suitable for those students who are already in a volunteering role and will enhance both their knowledge and skills.

NCFE Cache Level 2 Understanding Working with People with Mental Health Needs

This qualification aims to raise awareness of the role of the mental health worker and the process and approaches involved in the care and support of those who experience ill mental health.

Are you looking for a qualification for a career like Christina?

“I decided to begin my journey to becoming a Counsellor at Aspire Sussex with the Level 2 Counselling Skills course. I look forward to attending each week and have felt nothing but warmth and acceptance from everybody and couldn’t praise our tutor Rebekah enough. I have built a lot of confidence and knowledge since starting the course and have already noticed the positive impact it has had on all of us.”

NCFE Level 2 Certificate in Counselling Skills

This qualification is useful for anyone who would like to develop their use of counselling skills for use in either a work or a personal capacity.

ABC Awards Level 3 Certificate in Counselling Skills

This qualification helps students develop a repertoire of interpersonal skills and counselling skills, promotes personal growth, and provides essential industry knowledge to help learners make informed career decisions.

Please note: Level 2 in Counselling Skills must be completed before enrolling on this course.

Want to know what it’s like to take a qualification at Aspire Sussex? Just ask Harriet!

“I am thoroughly enjoying my course. The sessions are very well organised and objectives are always clearly set out. I have always felt very well supported by my tutor especially when I have found a session particularly challenging. This has given me the confidence to continue with the course and to embark on a level 3 course in the future.”

Do you need a qualification to achieve your dream job like Karen?

Karen has taken several of our Level 2 Certificate distance learning courses which lead her onto our Support Teaching and Learning in Schools (STLS) course. She is now a full time Teaching Assistant! “I had been working as a Food Service Assistant in a school for 7 years when I was told I was great with the Special Needs pupils. I then volunteered to help them in class and I absolutely loved it! I needed qualifications to apply for a Learning Support Assistant role though and I had heard about Aspire Sussex’s Distance Learning courses, which I could do at home without any childcare problems. My girls and I did ‘our homework’ every evening and I passed my first course within 3 months. 19 months later, I have just started my fifth distance learning course as well as branching out to the STLS course and I can’t see me ever wanting to stop learning! After taking the STLS course, I can hardly recognise myself from the person I was 19 months ago. The support I had from the school and my assessor and the understanding I have gained from the courses have given me belief in myself. My husband is delighted to see me aiming for a better-paid job and my younger daughter always found settling to homework difficult but having me do my work beside her has motivated her. In school, course knowledge gives me courage to offer my opinion. When I started the STLS course I had already taken three Distance Learning courses and I found I could express myself better in assignments, relating the volunteering work I was doing with pupils to the understanding my courses gave me. The more courses I take, the more I learn and the more the pieces of the Special Needs jigsaw fit together.

I am pleased to say that I have been offered a full time Teaching Assistant position at the school I am at, starting in September 2020.” Her tutor Margaret says, “Over the past 19 months, I saw Karen grow in confidence and became the outstanding student she is today; at our first meeting, Karen was almost apologetic for daring to enrol on a course! Her daughters are in awe of their mum and during her STLS in-school assessment, I saw a confident Karen supporting a variety of children with learning difficulties. Colleagues told me about the valuable work she was doing as she built relationships with vulnerable students and how her feedback to staff enabled new pupil targets to be set and achieved.”