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Supporting children’s development is an introductory course for anyone who is interested in children’s development, especially support staff in schools, such as teaching assistants. It builds on your knowledge and skills to develop a deeper understanding of children from the early years to school leavers. You will be introduced to some core ideas surrounding development and learning, behaviour, special needs and disabilities.
This course is free and you are welcome to study it without enrolling. However, the course gives you the opportunity to earn a digital badge as a recognition of your learning. To collect the badge, you’ll need to enrol. If you already have an Open University account, you need to sign in before you enrol. Otherwise, it’s easy to create an account. [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab.] Once you’ve signed in, return to this page and click on the ‘Enrol’ button above.
Course
Supporting children's development
Free statement of participation on completion

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Gain a digital badge
By studying the course you will have the opportunity to gain a digital badge – you need to click on the ‘Enrol’ button to be able to do the quizzes and earn the badge.
This course is part of a collection
This course is part of a collection of courses called Education. There is 1 course in this collection so you may find other courses here that maybe of interest to you.
See this collectionCourse learning outcomes
- Have gained an insight into the varying perspectives of children from early years through to secondary school
- Be able to reflect on personal experience and practice, identify strengths and weaknesses, and apply this to your practice issues
- Understand how some theories attempt to explain children’s development
- Be able to reflect on the value of the work of teaching assistants, the support skills involved, and think about your future role.
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Course content
- Course overview
- Section 1
- Section 2
- Section 3
- Section 4
- Section 5
- Next steps
- Resources
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- 15 hours study
- Level 0: Beginner
- Gain a digital badge
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Course rewards
Free Statement of Participation on completion of these courses.
Earn a free digital badge if you complete this course, to display and share your achievement.