Teaching Assistants

[the millster]

Hi, are there any teaching assistants out there who could tell me a little bit about their work, what you do each day (i know it must vary), how you got into the job and if there are any real selling points in cv's or interviews that would give someone a good chance at a teaching assistant vacancy. I myself have no qualifications but am very happy to take courses of any kind once in a job as money is an issue at the moment. If anyone could give me pointers I would be greatful, even if its just interview tips. As I'm young I have limited experience and everyone with experience always gets the job, how can I show that I can be just as good given the opportunity? Thanks in advance!

[wee-janine]

It depends on the age group of the children and whether you are in a special needs or main stream school. I work in a secondary school and my job is almost 100% contact with the kids. In primary schools there is more admin(doing displays,photocopying) non-contact time.

[kags]

One of the essentials will be to have already spent some time working with children of the appropriate age group - if you could get some experience doing voluntary work at a local school it would greatly improve your chances. Funnily enough I had this same conversation with a teacher today, who had been checking applications for teaching assistants jobs all weekend. She said she discarded any where the applicant had had no experience of working with chidlren at all.
You will also need maths and English GCSE or equivalent.

[kags]

As wee-janine says, the job can vary greatly. In Primary school you may be attached to a form teacher and therefore get involved in the classroom administration and preparing lesson resources as well as working with individual or groups of children as required by the teacher. Or you may work across the school, perhaps taking groups of children for maths and literacy, again under instructions from teachers. Some Teaching Assistants will work only with one child who has special needs.
Check out your local FE college - there are a number of different courses you can do, but you will still need to get some experience in a school setting.
One key area that you will need to be able to discuss in an interview is behaviour management.