District education assistant diploma program prepares EAs for rewarding careers
Education assistants are foundational to the success of our students, and the district’s Education Assistant Diploma Program at Surrey Community College offers valuable insight, experience and opportunities for prospective EAs to work in our elementary and secondary schools and learning centres.
Semiahmoo Trail Elementary education assistant Tamara Robertson is a recent graduate of the program, having completed it in 2020 after deciding to change careers. Looking back on the past two years, she said pursuing a career as an education assistant was the right decision for her and her family.
“My husband is in education, so are my mother-in-law and my father-in-law, I’ve been around the school system and it sort of permeated our life,” she said, adding that her husband is an administrator in the Delta School District. “I first volunteered at my husband’s school to see if this was something I could see myself doing – it was super fun and I decided it was the route I wanted to take.”
The condensed nature of the five-month Surrey Schools EA program – offered twice a year, September to February and February to June – appealed to Robertson, with the flexibility of taking day or night courses and the benefits of doing her eight-week practicum while taking classes.
“It offered night school, which was really great – I have two young kids and we’re very busy doing all sorts of stuff, so it was very helpful that way,” she said. “The vast majority of the other students had jobs or kids, they were people who are busy in their everyday activities, so it was convenient for all of us.
“We’d do our practicum at school in the daytime and then debrief in the course at night. That was really great to pick other people’s brains, talk to the instructor about issues that came up that day – you’re analyzing in real time and the feedback was instantaneous, which was fantastic.”
While she didn’t have a background in education prior to the program, Robertson said the instructors gave her the tools to understand and address the varying needs of different children and how to best support them, without feeling like the program was a crash course.
“It was illuminating to learn about autism and FASD and other needs that students may have,” she said. “We had people come in and give seminars about it – it was very interesting and educational and made you feel a lot more secure in your competence.
“The instructors are extremely supportive and helpful. I felt a lot more confidence because I felt I had more competence.”
Robertson said she’d recommend the program to anyone interested in becoming an education assistant, saying it’s an ideal career for someone who likes every day to be different and wants to make a difference in the lives of students.
“It throws all sorts of things at you – I find that super fun, it’s the opposite of tedious,” she said. “The kids are fun and the people I work with are truly amazing.
“It’s so wonderful when you can help a kid and you see the change from September to the end of the school year and know that you may have had a hand in that. It’s a very gratifying feeling.”
Surrey Community College is currently accepting applications for the September 2022 EA program. For more information about the Education Assistant Diploma Program or to apply, visit surreyschools.ca/surreycollege
