Teaching assistant

[purpleme12]

Do you need qualifications to be a teaching assistant?
I thought you did but looking at some adverts around here they haven't mentioned qualifications...

There are a number of qualifications that would be desirable such as level 2 and 3 supporting teaching in schools which most applicants would have. The only essential qualifications though are gcses maths and English at grade c or above.

Well considering my sister in law is a “teacher” with no actual teaching qualifications, I should imagine schools aren’t too fussy about TA qualifications either.

None of the Teaching Assistants in our school have a TA qualification. Most schools in our area don’t ask for them but I know a couple of schools do.

All of our TAs either have, or are working towards their level 3 qualifications. It would be very rare to employ someone without, the only exception I can think of was someone without qualifications but lots of experience with a specific special need . They were encouraged to study after we employed but it wasn't a necessity.

All my part-time TA friends, are graduates with previous professional backgrounds. My daughter’s junior school TA was a doctor. Most schools around here seem to only want graduates...perhaps it’s different elsewhere?

@Schoolmummmy

Oh it sure is. My sister in law is a primary school unqualified teacher with her own class. No degree, just a level 2 TA qualification. It’s an academy though so win win for the head. She’s on peanuts and personally must be stark raving mad to do all that work, and not even get the benefit of a teachers salary.

I managed to get a TA job with zero TA qualifications and not even a level 2 in maths.

@Chillychangchoo - wow, that’s quite a contrast. I always thought you needed NQT to teach in state schools, so that is really surprising. Surely for the profession to be better regarded, it needs to ensure an element of academic standard? Not saying it is everything of course!

It's academies I believe that can employ without qualifications if they want to

This is interesting reading the replies
Seems to be a variation
Of course convincing anyone to employ me anyway is another matter!

@Schoolmummmy

I agree. Completely downgrades the profession and if people are willing to do the job for a lot less pay, then the expensive more experienced teachers get pushed aside. Such is the state of some academies.

It depends on schools in your area. It isn't required but some do want level 2 or 3.

I'm a TA and have a BA and MA in an unrelated field. No TA qualifications at all, but I did have extensive experience working with children.

I do think it's a little cheeky asking for qualifications for a job that pays like £12k, but obviously many disagree on that!

Varies hugely, LA to LA and also school to school.

Exactly as BackforGood says - it varies. I have worked as a TA in 3 different schools and don't have a TA-specific qualification (have GCSE Maths and English). It's rare round here for a school to ask for a TA qualification, but I believe in some areas it is required by most schools.

Seen plenty of ads asking for qualifications or C grade in Maths and English. Majority of people who I know who are TAs are either qualified teachers (me included) or parents or connected to the school so ‘fell into’ the job then qualified. I would never encourage someone to get the qualification before getting a job as a TA. They’d be better off volunteering or simply applying.

@Goldensyrupissticky

Seen plenty of ads asking for qualifications or C grade in Maths and English. Majority of people who I know who are TAs are either qualified teachers (me included) or parents or connected to the school so ‘fell into’ the job then qualified. I would never encourage someone to get the qualification before getting a job as a TA. They’d be better off volunteering or simply applying.

Agreed. I had no connection to my school but made a good impression on my pre application visit (the senco mentioned she would note how nice a talk we had to the head), and then got the job. I had probably applied to 2 or 3 dozen positions before getting an interview; if they were all doing visits (they weren't because of covid) I am pretty sure I could have gotten in somewhere quicker. I really don't think the lack of TA qualifications came into most applications at all, all of my feedback for unsuccessful posts was that they had a great number of applications.

This is really interesting reading all these replies

It’s not so much the requirement for TA specific qualifications, moreso the requirement to be educated to a certain acceptable standard. And in that sense, graduates are preferred in most schools around here - often mature career changers like myself, who are graduates with other post grad or professional qualifications. The concept of a TA who is purely there to support a class teacher with mundane activities such as photocopying & preparation of classroom resources...is far removed and beyond in many schools. It is now often more learning support focussed, and often requires supporting groups of children with intervention lessons, and often standing in for the class teacher and delivering lessons themselves, particularly for Higher level TAs. It seems reasonable to expect a minimum level of education in that regard. There are obvious concerns regarding the academic support that could potentially be provided, by teaching staff who might barely scrape a C at gcse. Isn’t it surely better for children to be surrounded by well educated, knowledgeable role models, both at home and in school? Or perhaps that’s a pipe dream notion too far...

Whereas I've been out of that school for some 10 years + now, so things could have changed, last time we advertised a TA position, the 'Essential' was Level 2 childcare and 'Desirable' was Level 3. There were 145 applicants. You wouldn't have stood a chance without qualifications and experience. I remember reading on MN before about the massive difference between LAs and their perception of what a TA does. The pay is vastly different too. This is even before you throw academies and the like into the mix. This was at a time when most schools were maintained by the LA. T&Cs generally (in our LA anyway) are worse in academies.

I have a degree but no TA qualifications and didn't have vast amounts of experience when I was offered the job. I really just fell into it! Saying that, when our latest vacancies were advertised most shortlisted candidates were qualified teachers so I probably wouldn't have stood a chance against them.

I totally agree with previous posters about the perception of the job; lots of people assume I wash up paint pots and wipe noses. I think last week was the first time in 2 years that I actually did any washing up.

It varies a lot then!

Interesting that there's qualified teachers going for these roles

@purpleme12

Varies hugely because academies can do whatever the hell they like. I still got a TA job despite (I shit you not) not knowing the difference between a verb and a noun, and failing miserably at the maths sats test which was given to me as part
of my interview. I was completely transparent in my interview about my lack of maths skills etc. Still got the job. First week in and I was asked to sit with a year six and go over fractions. Never had a clue. Second week in and I was asked to cover a whole year 6 class for a WHOLE day. Left the week after.

I was completely under qualified, but I did have a pulse.

I have a new job now in social care. It seems wiping arses leaves me a lot better off financially (around 300-400 pounds more to be precise).

Plus I actually love my new job.

Hats off to all TAs I say.