Education support includes a wide range of academic, administrative, technical, and financial services to help learners, teachers, and educational institutions. These services can have many benefits, including improving learning outcomes, increasing access and equity, fostering innovation, and strengthening accountability and governance.
Educators can maximize the impact of their education support services by engaging with them and making use of them. Here are some ways to do so:
1. Improving student achievement and well-being
Students often face academic, personal, and emotional challenges that affect their learning and development. Education support can help them overcome these obstacles and build a strong foundation for their future success and well-being.
Educators can provide education support services to students by providing them with guidance, feedback, and mentoring. They can also help them improve their pedagogical skills, update their content knowledge, and adopt innovative teaching methods. Moreover, educators can help students develop their critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
Education support can help students with various employment goals and skills, including tutoring or formal classes to obtain a Test Assessing Secondary Completion (TASC) diploma, vocational training, apprenticeship programs, and community college, university, and other college-level courses and classes. However, it is important to ensure that these services are centered on students’ needs and preferences. This will require a learner-centered approach and a flexible system of supports that is tailored to their individual circumstances. It will also necessitate collaboration and communication between students, educators, and policymakers.
2. Fostering school improvement
Education support is crucial for students’ success in school. It can help them to develop the skills and knowledge they need for lifelong learning. It can also be used to improve the quality and effectiveness of education systems.
Education supporters can play a role in supporting families and promoting educational equity. Organizations like Love Your School can help families navigate the educational system, finding the best options for their children, including tuition tax credits, empowerment scholarships, open enrollment programs, microschools, and homeschooling.
Research shows that school improvement initiatives rarely succeed without a holistic, systemic approach. This includes the right structure, culture, and capacity to foster change. It also includes strong partnerships with the education community and communities of practice. Moreover, it is often difficult to implement and sustain strategic initiatives in schools without the engagement of multiple champions. A sole champion can easily be overwhelmed by adversity and resource constraints. (Lee & Louis, 2019). Education support can help schools build this infrastructure and foster a continuous improvement mindset.
3. Supporting teachers
The work of education support professionals is crucial to the success of students and classrooms. It’s important to keep them happy and engaged so they can continue to help their students grow and thrive.
One way to do this is by giving them the tools and resources they need to succeed. This includes offering them professional development opportunities that are relevant to their pedagogy and teaching styles. It also means being open to feedback and collaboration and fostering a positive school culture and climate.
Another way to support teachers is by including them in the decision making process. While there will be some decisions that only administrators can make (HR concerns, budget issues, and legal matters), many other bigger or smaller choices like curriculum choices, schedule shifts, school culture planning, and policy initiatives can benefit from teacher input. This helps ensure that they feel valued and that their opinions and choices are heard. It also shows them that administration supports their work.
4. Engaging with the service
Students who have a passion for social justice can use their skills and talents to make an impact through education support services. This career path can be extremely rewarding for students and educators alike, fostering a lifelong love for learning.
Learners need a wide variety of personalized, customized, and accessible education support services. They need to be able to select the tutors, mentors, counselors, or educational experts that best suit their needs and goals, as well as choose how often they want to meet with them.
The quality and sustainability of education support depends on a number of factors, including funding and resources, and coordination and collaboration with different stakeholders. This is especially important for ensuring the coherence and integration of education support. It also involves establishing clear roles and responsibilities, communication channels, and referral systems among education support providers. In addition, learners and educators need to be engaged in the planning, design, delivery, and evaluation of education support services.