What do I need to become a teaching assistant?

What do I need to become a teaching assistant?

If you enjoy working with children, are interested in their development and learning, have good organisational skills, and you enjoy a flexible work environment with up to 2-3 months holidays a year then you could consider becoming a teaching assistant   Teaching assistants work alongside school teachers, to assist them with any administration tasks that they need to complete to meet the particular school or National standards (OFSTED). There is also a part of a teaching assistant's role that involves helping pupils to get the most out of their learning. Some Teaching Assistants go on after gaining an initial knowledge of the role to develop a specialisation in literacy, numeracy, special educational needs (dealing with learning or physical disabilities and teaching children with such conditions) or the creative arts. They may supervise a class if the teacher is temporarily unavailable.   The role can vary and be different depending on the age of the children that a teaching Assistant is involved with. The role is most commonly practiced in a nursery or primary school (children aged three to eleven) and tasks can include:

• getting things ready for lessons
• helping pupils who need extra support
• listening to children read, reading to them or telling stories
• helping the teacher to maintain records
• helping with school activities, sports events, and outings

Secondary schools usually have learning support departments, where teaching assistants work with individuals or small groups of pupils to complement the work being done in class. There is a tendency for these children to be ones who are starting to or without extra support would fall behind with the standards or classwork set for children of their age-group.   Full-time teaching assistants normally work regular school hours, Monday to Friday, during term time only but as mentioned above would have to be at school for training days or parents' evenings and this work would not always be paid for. Full-time salaries vary in particular depending on what part of the country a Teaching Assistant is based in but you can hope to earn £11,000 – £14,000 for your first position of this type. Many teaching assistants work part-time.   There are no set qualifications to work as a Teaching Assistant and those who are employed in these positions tend to have come from backgrounds with a range of skills and qualifications. Potential candidates for such a role usually need to demonstrate good reading, writing and numeracy skills, possibly passing an ability test to show this before getting a formal interview. It is highly useful too to have some experience of working with children. If you do wish to increase your opportunities of getting a job in this area in the near future why not do some voluntary work first with local children activity groups.   Local authorities and individual schools are the ones who recruit for these positions and therefore you may wish to do some research locally as to how they recruit – i.e. do they advertise on the school website, in local newspapers, in national newspapers, via the local Council website or via recruitment consultants