Who says you need a teaching certificate to work with kids? If your true calling is to help in the classroom, Poss.ca has three ideas for rewarding educational careers.

Educational Assistant (EA)
Duties/Job Description
An educational assistant, sometimes called teacher's aide or special education assistant, supports students and teachers in the classroom.

Under the supervision of the classroom teacher EAs help prepare learning materials, monitor student progress and mark tests. According to Ontario Job Futures, other duties may include:

• Supervising students during recess or in gyms, laboratories, libraries, and on field trips
• Preparing classroom displays and bulletin boards
• Helping students who have developmental or physical disabilities with mobility, communication and personal hygiene

The exact duties vary depending on the school board, type of school, grade level and abilities of the students.

For Pat Power, an EA in a special education classroom in a Toronto senior public school, part of her work includes guiding students and focusing their attention. Sometimes, says Power, she can help to settle down students by doing something as simple as sitting down beside them.

Aptitude & Personal Characteristics
According to Power, those thinking of entering this field should have patience and a desire to help students learn. Other desirable traits include having flexibility, sensitivity, energy and enthusiasm as well as a positive attitude.

Skills
EAs should have good interpersonal, observation and problem-solving skills and they must know how to operate audiovisual equipment. According to the Onip.online profile of an educational assistant, the following special skills and training can be useful, depending on the place of work:

• Fluency in other languages
• Knowledge of sign language
• Crisis intervention training
• Proficiency with Braille

Working Conditions
The work can be emotionally stressful and the environment, at times, unruly. As Power puts it, sometimes the classroom is "like a riot -- it’s chaos." As well, the job can have physical challenges, especially for those who work with students with disabilities; their duties may include lifting children out of wheelchairs.

EAs work on contracts that extend from September to June; this means, of course, that as an EA you will be out of a job in the summer. As well, points out Power, who works for the Toronto District School Board (TDSB), EAs are not guaranteed a return to the same school each year.

EAs mainly work in public schools but some may work in private or special schools. The national Job Futures website notes that EAs are highly unionized and wages average about $15 per hour. (However, a recent job call put out by the TDSB for EAs in special education classes indicated that pay could go as high as $28 per hour.)

Education & Training
EAs need at least a Grade 12 education. They can also take an apprenticeship in this field. In Toronto, George Brown College offers the Educational Assistant Apprenticeship Certificate program. There are also other community colleges that offer relevant programs.

For example:

• Centennial College has a two-year Developmental Services Workers Program.
• In Oakville, Sheridan Institute offers a one-year Educational Assistant Certificate for those holding a diploma or degree or related work experience.
• In Hamilton, Mohawk College provides a two-year Educational Assistant Diploma.

Applying for Work
Those interested in this type of work should apply directly to school boards or private schools. The Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation offers a list of provincial boards. For jobs in Toronto, you can call the TDSB Support Staff Recruitment Information Line at 416-393-8072. (Currently, the TDSB is only hiring supply educational assistants to work in special needs classrooms.) For information on applying to the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) call 416- 222-8282, ext. 81490.

If you speak French you may want to check out opportunites at the French school boards in Toronto: Conseil Scolaire de District du Centre-Sud-Ouest and Conseil Scolaire de District Catholique Centre-Sud.

You can also check out the websites in our Education Job Boards.

For more information:

• Alberta Occupational Profiles: Educational Assistant Profile
• AnalyzeMyCareer.com: Teacher Assistants

Child and Youth Workers
Like some EAs, a child and youth worker (CYW) supports students with physical or developmental disabilities, autism, behavioural disorders, acquired brain injuries or hearing or vision loss.

"These are the hardest types of kids that you come across," says Jill Williams, a CYW who works in a small primary school classroom in Toronto. The behavioural problems range "from defiance to verbal or physical aggression, everything from lack of social skills to impulsiveness to ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder)."

Duties/Job Description
Despite the social and emotional problems faced by these students CYWs must try to develop trusting relationships with them. Part of their role is helping control aggressive and depressive self-destructive behaviours. CYWs, who often work as part of a team of teachers, social workers and other professionals, may help set up behaviour management programs and counselling. Child and youth care workers may also take part in crisis interventions and they may organize recreational and social activities and collaborate on school-wide violence prevention programs.

If the student has a physical disability, some CYWs may help them with basic daily activities such as toileting, says Williams.

Personal Characteristics/Skills
To be an effective CYW you need to have emotional maturity, patience and good listening skills. Alberta Occupational Profiles notes that CYWs need to enjoy working with young people, have excellent communication, decision-making and problem-solving skills and be reliable and consistent.

In addition, it helps to understand the different neurological disorders students might have, says Williams. Because the job can be stressful "you have to leave work at work," she adds. (Career Mattters' profile on CYW apprenticeships notes that a CYW may find the job physically as well as emotionally taxing.)

Education & Training
Those interested in this field should take a child and youth worker program and try to gain some volunteer or paid experience working with young people. The following colleges in Toronto offer three-year CYW programs:

• Centennial College
• Humber College
• George Brown

Centennial also offers an apprenticeship program. As well, Ryerson University delivers a four-year degree program that can be completed in two years if you have a CYW college diploma.

For more information:

• Jobboom: Child Worker Hopes to Impact Others
• Child & Youth Worker Brochure TCDSB (PDF)
• The Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board Child and Youth Workers Web

Settlement Workers in Schools
Although they do not work in the classroom like EAs or CYWs, Settlement Workers in Schools (SWISs) provide a valuable service for newcomer students and their parents. They support students in their lives both at school and outside of it.

Duties/Job Description
SWISs give families information about the school system and a wide range of other services including employment, health, income tax, child benefits and legal clinics. They also provide referrals and hand out brochures, run English as a second language (ESL) clubs and other multicultural activities and school events. They also set up workshops on such topics as community centres and libraries.

Students may need to know basic things such as the need to bring lunch to school or how to make friends, says Zohra Gillani, a SWIS employed by Catholic Cross-Cultural Services, who works out of two Toronto schools. "It's tiny, tiny things but they add up," she says. "We try to take a proactive approach and prevent a buildup."

In elementary schools, settlement workers mainly work with parents, helping them to understand the education system, including such things as the "no peanut policy," says Gillani. SWISs foster communication between school staff and parents by helping designated schools with parent-teacher interviews and other school events, she adds.

In high schools, a SWIS works more closely with students, who may open up to a settlement worker as she or he can relate to the students' culture, notes Gillani. She adds that a SWIS can have a more comprehensive view of what is going on with a student as they work with the student, his or her family and the school. This can lead to a better understanding of why a student may be having problems at school, says Gillani.

Part of a SWIS's duties is preparing for the Newcomer Orientation Week (NOW) program held in designated high schools. The four-day school-based training held in the last week of August is intended for newcomer youth to get a head start and make a smooth entry into the school system.

Working Conditions
Settlement workers are placed in different schools according to the language they speak, says Gillani, who speaks Urdu and Hindi. SWISs work out of between two to five schools. They have dedicated office space in the schools they work out of. Unlike CYWs and EAs they work the entire year; during the summer they are located in libraries and summer schools.

For more information:

• Education Today: Settlement Workers in Schools Help Newcomer Families
• Town Crier: Helping Newcomers to the Country is Old Hat to Fawzia Haji