Chinook’s Edge launches new Educational Assistant certification program
Chinook’s Edge has launched a new professional learning opportunity for the division’s Educational Assistants. The opportunity is in response to feedback directly from EA’s about the skills they want to develop to meet the needs of students, and about the desire for certification.
“I am thrilled that our EA’s have this opportunity,” says Marcie Perdue, Superintendent of Student Services. “We’ve developed our own made-in-Chinook’s Edge professional learning that will give our staff a chance to learn directly from experts, and once they’ve completed it, they will be considered as certified in Chinook’s Edge.”
Educational Assistants will have the opportunity to complete the requirements to become certified within Chinook’s Edge, resulting in an increase in pay for EAs. EAs will not have to pay to participate in the training. Also, because the training sessions are held on a work day, EAs don’t have to seek certification outside of school hours.
“EAs were telling us they wanted to be certified, but barriers they faced were the cost of post-secondary training and time constraints with employment,” says Perdue. “We are hopeful this program will provide a way forward, as well as access to highly relevant training.”
The courses will be offered on three professional learning days each school year. Every year, each EA can choose which module they would like to participate in. EAs who have three years or less experience will participate first in the “Educational Assistant 101” module. Once they have completed that, they will have access to the other five modules more experienced EAs can take. The five additional modules are:
- Autism
- Supporting adolescent learners
- Emotional regulation
- Trauma & anxiety
- The Behavior Code - intensive book study
It will take each EA five or six years to complete the training, depending on whether they are enrolled in the EA 101 module. The focus of each module was developed based on input directly from EAs. Perdue combed through comments and questions that were submitted to the Support Staff Matters group over the past couple years to pull out the areas that EAs highlighted as areas to focus on.
Perdue then approached the Central Alberta Regional Consortium with those focus areas and asked for support in finding expert instructors for each of the topics. Also, the consortium helped to develop the curriculum for each module.
Amanda Gee is a new Educational Assistant in Chinook’s Edge this year. She chose to become an EA after her son’s experience at school. “I saw the amazing EAs that have helped him so much. I wanted to help kids too. It feels good to give back,” says Gee, who now works at Cremona School.
Gee is enrolled in the EA 101 module, and says during the first session she appreciated “all the good information. It is helpful to learn about all the resources we have access to.”
Gail Schwartz is an EA from Carstairs Elementary School who says the best part of her job is “the kids.” She says, “I like trying to figure them out. I like trying to understand what their behavior is saying.”
Schwartz chose to participate in “the behavior code” module first. “I enjoyed learning more about emotional regulation and behavior strategies,” she says.
Schwartz was pleased to see this opportunity be offered to EAs. Schwartz has EA training from Red Deer Polytechnic. “It was hard to get that while I was working full time,” she recalls. “Providing an opportunity for EAs to do this on professional learning days is good. It’s a great way to support us.”
Schwartz believes the learning is very needed. She says, “It will help us work together with the same ideologies, strategies and understanding of student behaviors.”
Perdue says she is excited to see the positive impact of the new program. “We hope this opportunity provides EAs with the skills and information they need to do their important work. Also, what we hope this communicates is that we care about Educational Assistants, and that their work matters to Chinook’s Edge,” says Perdue.