- sensitivity and understanding for building good relationships with children
- excellent verbal communication skills for motivating children to learn
- active listening skills to understand the childrens' needs
- patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
- to be flexible and open to change for working on different activities
- to enjoy working with other people
- the ability to teach pupils how to do something
- the ability to create the best conditions for learning or teaching new things
- thinking and reasoning skills
- to be able to carry out basic tasks on a computer or hand-held device
In this role you could:
- help teachers prepare lesson materials and equipment
- get the classroom ready for lessons and clear away afterwards
- work with groups and individual pupils to make sure they understand their work and stay focussed
- watch, record and report pupils' progress to teachers
- supervise group activities, including outings and sports events
- provide a safe and healthy environment and follow safeguarding procedures
- help teachers manage class behaviour
- look after children who are upset or unwell
- lead classes with help from the teacher
You could work at a school or at a special needs school.
Your working environment may be physically and emotionally demanding.
With experience, you could become a senior assistant, apply for a higher level teaching assistant role or train to become an early years teacher.
You can find more on working as a teaching assistant from Skills for Schools.
You can also search for jobs through the Teaching Vacancies service.
