Education Assistant

**Education Assistant (Behaviour) - 1.0 FTE Probationary**
**Central Office
**Located in Calgary, Foundations for the Future Charter Academy (FFCA) is the largest
public charter school in Alberta, serving over 3700 students in eight campuses
throughout the city. We offer educational programming through a distinctive Direct
Instruction Teaching and Learning Framework (DITLF) that has been refined and
developed within the Alberta context for students from Kindergarten to Grade 12. Our
mission is to provide a safe and caring environment where the four pillars of our charter,
namely academic excellence, character development, parental involvement and staff
leadership are valued and fostered.

An Education Assistant (Behaviour) is required for a full-time probationary position to
begin immediately. This position will be based out of Central Office and will require
travel to multiple campuses.

The Education Assistant (Behaviour) will work under the direction of the Coordinator of
Inclusion, supporting students who may have severe social/emotional and/or
behavioural disabilities associated with one or more co-occurring diagnoses including,
but not be limited to:

- attention deficit hyperactivity disorder,
- autism spectrum disorder,
- cognitive disabilities,
- fetal alcohol spectrum disorders,
- oppositional defiance disorder,
- sensory processing disorder,
- selective mutism,
- speech / language delays.

Students may demonstrate challenging, and often unsafe, behaviours:

- Avoidance behaviour (running, hiding)
- Aggressive behaviour (hitting, biting)
- Destructive behaviour (throwing, breaking)
- Disruptive behaviour (crying, screaming)
- Self-harming behaviours (hitting, cutting)

The Education Assistant (Behaviour) will support a specific student or small to large
group of students, depending on the scheduled daily activities within the class(es) in
which they work.

**Responsibilities**
- Collaborate with internal support team personnel including: classroom teacher(s),

campus administrators, parents/guardians, youth development counsellor / family
liaison counsellor, and external service providers such as medical professionals,
Calgary Health Region, Calgary and Area Child and Family Services, Youth Justice,
AADAC, Youth Shelters to assist students with the identification and achievement of
personal behavioural and academic learning goals.
- Participate, in collaboration with other support personnel, in the design,

implementation, and assessment of a student’s behaviour support plan by
documenting behavioural issues and concerns; recording qualitative and quantitative
data related to the student’s behaviour.
- Design and provide a broad spectrum of activities and experiences by delivering

individual and small group instruction such as anger management and social skills
development in order to address the personal behavioural and academic learning
goals.
- Contribute proactively to the safety and security of the learning environment by

identifying and accessing resources, designing and implementing safety plans, and
other interventions in order to provide or make available resources/support for
students in order achieve their personal behavioural and academic learning goals.
- Contribute proactively to the safety and security of the learning environment by

implementing appropriate interventions:

- ensuring adherence to safety standards
- providing personal care as required,
- managing inappropriate behavior, including appropriate implementation of
physical restraint techniques when required
- administering first aid
- Ensure compliance with FFCA policy and administrative procedures as well as

relevant provincial legislation, regulation, and policy requirements.
- Perform responsibilities in a professional manner by acting in ways that are

consistent with recognizing and respecting each other, working to earn and sustain
trust, communicating with each other in ways that promote mutual understanding,
using collaborative approaches to problem-solving, decision-making, and creating
and maintaining positive working relationships that lead to quality learning
experiences for students.
- Support others, e.g., Supervision Assistants, Education Assistants, Teachers,

parents by providing programming recommendations for behaviour support as well
as in-service opportunities for others in order to build capacity of others in support of
student learning.
- Other duties as assigned.

**Qualifications
- 2 year diploma in related field (child/youth care, justice, social work) or Education

Assistant certificate with demonstrated knowledge/skills/training in behaviour
disabilities.
- Standard First Aid.
- Current Therapeutic Crisis Intervention, Non-violent Crisis Intervention or
- equivalent.- Additional certification as required for site specific programs.
- Minimum 2 years’ experience working with diverse learning students or other
- severe behavioural needs.- Ability to deal with social/emotional and mental