The importance of teaching assistants (TAs) within education is well recognised, as they provide valuable support for teachers in and out of the classroom. From primary and secondary schools to SEND schools and alternative provision settings, thousands of TAs help pupils to maximise their potential every day.
To achieve this, TAs require a highly varied skill set, and they’ll often need to have strengths in several core areas:
Relationship building
Alongside developing working relationships with other school staff members, TAs need to build trusting relationships with the pupils they support.
This helps to keep pupils engaged in lessons and increases the likelihood of them raising any issues if they’re struggling to understand elements of the curriculum.
Communication
It might sound obvious, but much of the teaching assistant role in schools revolves around communication – from planning lessons with teachers to discussing topics with pupils.
TAs will need to speak clearly and concisely with pupils as this helps to limit confusion. Clear communication can benefit pupils when they feel overwhelmed or don't understand their work, as helping them to simplify tasks can make classwork more accessible.
Understanding learning
Any TA needs to know how children learn, and this involves having a clear understanding of the key theories involved in education, development, and learning.
This knowledge enables a teaching assistant to adopt different approaches with different pupils, making it possible to provide the best learning environment for them.
Resilience
Working as a TA can mean individuals deal with a wide range of different situations, and not all of them will be straightforward to manage.
A teaching assistant will need to quickly assess a situation and act accordingly in line with any school rules and procedures, making resilience a key strength.
Patience
All pupils learn at different rates and will understand topics differently, meaning a TA will require patience to help them through the learning process.
They'll need to be calm and composed in any given situation and recognise that there won’t necessarily be a quick fix to a problem.
Passion
Passion and enthusiasm often shine through in many different job roles, but this is especially the case with teaching assistants.
This passion reflects well on an individual and helps to boost engagement too, as pupils can tell when a TA has a genuine interest in helping them to succeed.
Other things to consider
If you’re considering a role as a TA, you’ll also want to showcase additional skills and knowledge at the interview, including any relevant qualifications you might have.
Experience in care and school settings is often also considered relevant for teaching assistant roles, as many key soft skills are easily transferable between these sectors.
Lastly, remember that while TAs will have a range of strengths, there are many opportunities for personal development to overcome any weaknesses that might exist too, so you don’t have to be the finished article right now.
Find your next Teaching Assistant job with Tradewind
As one of the leading teaching assistant recruitment agencies in the UK, you can trust us to help you find your next role. Whether you're looking for a part-time TA role to fit around your other commitments, a SEN teaching assistant job where you can have a big impact, or you're looking to find your first TA role after your studies, we can help.
Check out all teaching assistant vacancies or get in touch if you need some help finding a role that's suited to you.
Found the role you were looking for? Brush up on your interview techniques by familiarising yourself with commonly asked TA interview questions.
