High School Educational Assistant (0.4-0.6 FTE)

Who We Are

Vancouver Christian School is a diverse K-12 independent school in Vancouver, British Columbia. With a vibrant and close-knit community of 945 students, VCS has been shaping lives through Christ-centred education for over 75 years. We are committed to nurturing students’ academic, social, spiritual, and emotional growth, equipping them to live lives of transformation and service.

Join our team

VCS is accepting applications for an educational assistant (0.4-0.6 FTE) working with high school students. A full-time high school educational assistant works from 8:15 am - 4:15 pm Monday to Friday. The Educational Assistant is supervised by the High School Inclusive Education Coordinator and works with teachers and staff to support student learning.

As a High School Educational Assistant, key responsibilities include:

• Working in collaboration with the teacher and Educational Support Services team with their assigned student(s) with their assessed needs from a strength-based approach
• Collaborating with teachers, counsellors, ESS team members, and other support personnel to serve the needs of the student - advocating for an inclusive approach to their educational journey
• Demonstrating effective verbal, non-verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills, and understanding confidentiality
• Demonstrating organizational skills, ethical behavior, and accountability as an educational assistant working in a school environment
• Being familiar with students’ specific learning needs and preferences, which can help build positive relationships with students, which increases the effectiveness of student learning support
• Assisting students who require ongoing, long-term support through plans developed specifically for them by the School Based Team. This is done under the direction of teachers and other professional staff. EAs may be called upon to work together with members of an individual student’s SBT.
• Supporting specific plans that work towards outcomes that are specified to their learning needs: eg. IEPs (individualized education plans); Behaviour Action Plans; Emergency Response Plans; Individualized Health Care Plans.
• Providing personal care or medical support to students as required and permitted by regulations and school policy

Demonstrating capability in supporting students, which may include non-verbal or minimally verbal students, in a life skills program with modified lessons, which include:

• teaching life skills such as taking public transportation, traffic safety, meal preparation, personal care, knowledge of the community services, social skills & communication, emotional self-regulation
• planning relevant activities/project such as our gardening project, the pop-up cafe/shop project, and implementing modified lessons for literacy, math, PHE, music, art, foods, science and other lessons in collaboration with the life skills teacher; creating visual schedules for the student
• applying recommendations and tools prepared by paraprofessionals such as the Speech Language Pathologist (eg. applying AAC device), Occupational Therapist (eg. dressing/undressing skills, toileting, feeding, traffic safety), Physiotherapist (eg. specific gross motor and fine motor exercises), and Behavioural Consultants (eg. ABA practices)
• Operating and maintaining specialized devices, equipment and technologies

Working with teachers to facilitate the participation of all students with learning differences in classroom activities. Keeping students engaged in a range of activities that take place in the learning environment to encourage and support their intellectual, emotional, academic, social development

• Providing support to the student individually or in small groups in the classroom and/or outside the classroom in the least intrusive environment for students and peers
• Assisting classroom activities and lessons by:
• keeping lines of communication open with members of the school staff by sharing information, giving & receiving feedback
• evaluating & maintaining records of student progress through observation notes and ABA assessment practices for goal-setting
• assembling, organizing and constructing support materials as directed by the teacher while attending to one or more students
• assisting students by explaining, demonstrating and modeling the skills and attitudes necessary to encourage and support learning as facilitated by the teacher
• teaching executive functioning skills, socio-emotional regulation, study skills, self-advocacy and other skills to support the student’s educational journey
• Participating in the Christian community and life of the school (eg. leading a pastoral care group, leading staff devotions, mentoring students in their spiritual journey)

Salary range

$28.70 - $31.67 per hour (dependent on education, qualifications, and experience)

Ideal Qualifications

• VCS endeavours to hire Educational Assistants who will support the unique abilities and disabilities of students from a Christian perspective. It is the expectation that Educational Assistants at VCS will be grounded in their Christian faith and committed to their own professional and spiritual growth through continuous learning and development.
• EA Certification preferred OR a Completion of a recognized Post-Secondary Special Education Assistant program
• and/or a Degree/Diploma in a related field (Education/Psychology degree)
• and/or extensive experience in an equivalent field (e.g., Child & Youth Worker, ECE certificate (special needs designation course recommended), SLP, OT, nursing), as determined by the school
• and/or 1,000 hours home team/Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) training and work experience documented by a Professional Consultant
• and/or completion of a certificate/diploma whose primary focus is on empirically supported approaches to supporting children with ASD or an equivalent certification

While we appreciate your interest in Vancouver Christian School, only short-listed candidates will be contacted.