What does a Student Support Assistant do?
Stephanie Granger tells us what it's involved in being a Student Support Assistant.
Hi, I’m Stephanie. I’m a Student Support Assistant with Ayrshire College. The main area of my job role is to support students with learning difficulties and additional support needs such as autism. My role is quite over-arching – I could be in a class offering 1-1 support with a student notetaking for them, or doing a study support session, or proof-reading, or sometimes I will be a 1-1 escort for the safety of a student, depending on their learning difficulty.
I often work with students who have severe dyslexia, dyspraxia, and dyscalculia. These students struggle to keep up and concentrate in class environments. Student Support Assistants offer note-taking support to ensure students do not miss any valuable information. We also help them by reading questions and working on specific tasks to help them understand what they are being asked to do. Another form of support we offer is proof-reading their work before it is sent for submission to their lecturer. This eliminates the need for the lecturer to ask the student to explain their work.
Inclusive Learning can have a massive impact on student’s success, which is why I would advise students to get in touch with our team. Sometimes it can be as simple as students not feeling supported in a class which can lead to them withdrawing from the college. This also affects the college in general as they then do not have the retention numbers that are needed.
What Other Ways Do We Help Students?
Compared to school which is very much a 1-1 support, the Inclusive Learning team also support students to work independently and build on their skills to advance to university or employment.
The student support team are also available to support students who require help in another way, who do not necessarily have a disability. As we work so closely with students, we do occasionally deal with safeguarding issues, to make sure that the students get the correct support that they require.
You can get in touch with Inclusive Learning at inclusivelearning@ayrshire.ac.uk or on 01294 555325.
Visit https://www1.ayrshire.ac.uk/students/student-support/inclusive-learning/ for more information.