What You Need to be a Teaching Assistant
Are you considering a change of career? Does being a teaching assistant sound like something that appeals to you but you don’t know where to get started or what you need to be able to do the role? Allow us to help with our guide to being a TA.
Skills One of the things you will require to be a teaching assistant is the ability to build a comfortable relationship with children. This needs you to have a sensitivity that will allow you to appreciate the requirements of the children, so listening to them is a skill set required for this role. You will also need strong verbal skills that create positivity and motivate the children to want to learn, as well as the ability to actually teach them new things and engage their interest in that subject. A strong skill you need to have is the patience and strength to stay calm under pressure and in delicate situations while creating the best environment for the children to learn and be taught new things.
You need to be a flexible person who gets on well with other people. The position often involves a lot of change and the need to work on other things, so being able to be flexible is quite an important trait.
How to get into it One way of getting into the role of a teaching assistant is to volunteer at a local school. Often schools are working to a tight budget, so the offer of someone volunteering to help out is unlikely to be turned down. Although working voluntarily is not something everyone can do, it could lead to getting the required qualifications so it is something to think about.
Qualifications To get into a TA role you generally need a Diploma in childcare and education as well as a number of GCSEs and the skills mentioned above. Depending on the level of Diploma you want to complete, the number of GCSEs needed will be higher or lower. You can complete a Diploma in childcare, and a number of other courses which could be beneficial in getting a job as a teaching assistant with us. Have a browse through this link for our full range of course options – https://www.alphaacademy.org/courses/