Teaching assistant Courses

Teaching assistants support teachers and students both in and out of the classroom. They perform a wide range of tasks every day, which will vary depending on the age of the students and their needs.

Typical tasks that teaching assistants will perform on a daily basis include preparing materials, supporting smaller groups or individual students, monitoring student progress, and supervising students outside of the classroom during breaks and other activities.

There are a few different routes that can lead to a career as a teaching assistant. The job requirements will vary, depending on the specific school and position, so it’s always important to familiarise yourself with the typical requirements in your area of interest.

Some educational institutions provide college-level certifications that can lead to a career as a TA or HLTA. There are also apprenticeship opportunities that provide on-the-job training. In many schools, there are no official qualifications required to be a TA, which means you can also become a teaching assistant through an experiential route and apply directly to schools with your current experience.

However, in order to be seen as a qualified candidate, you’ll likely need to showcase experience working with students in an educational setting. Volunteering with schools, camps, or other children’s groups can help you to build this skill set.

Teaching assistants require many different types of skills and qualities, which will be applied in different ways inside and outside of the classroom. Some of the key qualities are patience, flexibility, and adaptability, which are very important when working with young people. It’s also important that you’re willing and able to learn new things yourself, and able to translate your own understanding in order to teach and support others.

Teaching assistant courses can help you develop many skills to help you be a successful TA, such as communication and listening skills, understanding of how different people learn, how to set effective classroom conditions for learning, and technical skills geared towards the classroom environment.

CPD for teaching assistants and HLTAs is vital in order to keep up to date with the most current standards for safeguarding and student support. Teaching assistant courses can also help you develop and build upon your teaching strategies, as well as allow you to specialise in a specific area of education such as English as a second language or supporting students with learning difficulties.

Teaching assistants have many transferable skills that can be applied across a variety of industries. Within education specifically, TAs can level up their qualifications and become a higher-level teaching assistant (HLTA), in which they’ll have more responsibility and expertise, and receive higher pay.

Becoming a teaching assistant is also a great start towards becoming a qualified teacher. Why not learn more about getting into teaching and how to start planning for your first teaching job?