Teaching Assistant

The challenging and varied role of a Teaching Assistant is ideal for anyone hoping to make a positive impact on the lives of children and young adults.

As a Teaching Assistant, you'll offer practical help and emotional support to children experiencing short or long-term difficulties. The focus of your role is to provide support to students, empowering them to address various challenges, reducing problems and risks. You might help children with a range of social and personal issues or specialise in a particular area such as Autism, Global development delay or downs syndrome.

Job titles vary and you may also be known as a:

• Learning Support Assistant
• Classroom Support
• TA
• HLTA
• Learning Mentor
• Behaviour Support
• SEN Support

Responsibilities

Your role will vary depending on the needs of the child you're helping, but you may also have a specialist area, depending on your school's focus.

The challenges faced by your students could relate to:

• Challenging behaviour
• Education and learning
• Language/Communication barriers
• Mental health issues
• Learning difficulties.

As a Teaching Assistant, you'll typically need to:

• Follow instructions from Teachers in order to support effectively in the class room
• Adhere to professional practice standards and legislation, including confidentiality, safeguarding, equality, diversity and inclusion policies
• Ensure you're up-to-date on your knowledge of local service provision for appropriate signposting and referrals
• Support students on 1:1, adapting your approach on a case by case basis in order to engage students effectively
• Help children with learning and development
• Coach, mentor and motivate children to understand the benefits of relevant activities

Pay & Working Hours

Casual, sessional or relief teaching assistants are typically paid between £9.50 and £11.50 per hour. Income figures are intended as a guide only. Full-time Teaching Assistants usually work 35 hours per week. There are also part-time, casual and job share options available.

Qualifications

Typically, employers seek a minimum of a A-C GCSE's (or equivalent) in Maths & English or a level 2 in one of the following:

• Childcare
• Community work
• Education
• Health & social care
• Youth work

Employers will also usually expect experience and knowledge of safeguarding practices and procedures. We offer a free course in safeguarding awareness to support your application

Skills

You'll need to show:

• Good communication and listening skills
• The ability to build and maintain rapport with children
• Calmness under pressure and when dealing with challenging or confrontational behaviour
• Flexibility and adaptability
• A good understanding of the challenges faced by the children you help
• Organisation and problem-solving skills
• Resilience and the ability to cope with emotionally-draining and traumatic situations
• Commitment to making a positive difference to the lives of the students
• A positive, non-judgemental, empathetic and sensitive approach