Qualifications are just one way of recognising or improving the skills of your staff. Undertaking a qualification can mean a considerable investment of time and money, both for the staff member concerned and those supporting their training or assessment process. This makes it important for you to have the right information to help your staff choose qualifications that are right for them and for the school. The career development framework for school support staff and the accompanying guidance may be a helpful resource to support discussions with your staff.

Development is not just about qualifications; alternatives include work shadowing a more experienced colleague, on-the-job project work, or coaching and mentoring less experienced colleagues. These, and how they can be supported by relevant standards, are also covered in the career development framework guidance.

There are a wide variety of training and qualification options available. These include:

• skills for life qualifications in literacy and numeracy
• induction and introductory training programmes
• vocational qualifications with units to select according to job role (such as the support work in schools qualifications)
• national vocational qualifications
• specialist qualifications
• apprenticeships
• foundation degrees.
  

The career development framework can help identify appropriate qualifications that are relevant to the roles in your school. You can also explore the training and development options further by visiting the websites in our Useful websites section.