Career, General

Teaching Assistant (TA) Courses – Which should I choose?

May 5, 2025

Jessica Bailey

Teaching Assistant Courses (TA) – Which should I choose? You might have explored the option of a Teaching Assistant course or career but unsure of how to achieve this. First, let’s look at the role of the teaching assistant and why they are important for schools, other teachers and pupils.

The Teaching Assistant Role

The role of a teaching assistant (TA) is a significant part of any modern-day classroom, providing support to both pupils and teachers. This role provides a unique opportunity to impact children’s development and learning. To put it briefly, teaching assistants take on roles such as:

Helping individual learners become more independent by supporting their needs during a lesson or activity. This can include pupils with SEND or have other barriers to learning.
Delivering interventions for pupils with additional needs (including SEND).
Help with children’s social and personal development such as making new friends and dealing with social situations.
Supporting the teacher to help manage behaviour within the classroom and promote positive behaviour.
Monitor progress for learners and report to the teacher with any issues.
Keeping on top of classroom equipment ensuring it is tidy and ready for the next lesson.
Create resources for lessons.
Support outside of the classroom which can include lunch clubs, exams, open evenings and school trips.
Providing medical support to pupils within the school.

What value do teaching assistants offer?

You might be wondering why this role isn’t included in the teacher’s job description instead. Years ago there were no teaching assistants so why do we need them now?

It is much like the health care system (NHS) who again are under a considerable amount of financial pressure. If you look at the role of the health-care assistant and the restructure of traditional occupations. Health-care assistants now take on more roles under the supervision of a registered nurse. This can include taking observations, assisting with mobility/physical discomfort and obtaining measurements such as a patient’s height and weight.

The health-care assistant takes a large amount of pressure off the registered nurse and this would work out more cost-effective for the hospital.

So how do teaching assistants provide value? First, let’s look at the pressure teachers are under with their workloads. Quite frequently in the news we hear teachers requesting pay increases due to their jobs not being sustainable. They feel that there is not a lot of job satisfaction and the levels of stress teaching provides, is not worth it. Teaching assistants can help teachers with all these things and take the pressure off slightly.

For pupils, they also provide value. This can be in relation to learning or behaviour and providing positive approaches to learning helping learners succeed in English, Maths and Science.

SEND and EHC plans

Another area to consider is pupils with SEND. Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) can affect a young person’s ability to learn. In turn, this can affect behaviour and the child’s ability to socialise. For example, a child with autism and speech delay may struggle to communicate their feelings and in a conventional classroom may fall behind or show behavioural problems.

The number of pupils with SEND has been increasing, as has the number of EHC plans. An Education, health and care (EHC) plan is for children and young people under the age of 25 years old. It allows schools to arrange further support than what is normally given through SEN support in a mainstream nursery, school or college.

Between 2018 and 2022, new EHC plans increased by 36% with the largest increases for children aged aged 0 to 4 (46%) and 11 to 15 (40%) years.

If you are considering the teaching assistant role, pupils with SEND could be something to consider as the demand is high for this job role currently. Teaching assistant courses should include at least one module on this area.

Finally, teaching assistants can provide value to parents. If teachers are able get on with what they do best and have the support needed from teaching assistants, parents should be happy knowing that their children are getting the support required.

Is there a downside to this job role?

If we look at the health care sector again and consider the roles health-care assistants are taking on under registered nurses, it all comes down to the individual, training and support offered. The individual would need to be caring and want to look after people providing their best care possible. If they are just doing the job for the money, this is where patients will suffer.

Also, hospitals and other health care employers needs to be providing adequate training. This would include training in patient care such as empathy, handling patients in a gentle way whether this is physical or mentally and ensuring the patients needs are their priority.

Finally, employers need to support their staff so that they can be happy within their working environment.

With teaching assistants, similar problems can arise but in turn this will affect the teachers, pupils and parents.

In order to become a teaching assistant, you must have a genuine interest in children. All children are different but have individual needs that must be met. Some children can be more challenging than others. Not because they are naughty but because they have different learning styles and respond differently to the classroom environment than other students. A teaching assistant course can help you explore different areas of the job role.

Adequate training must be provided by the school to ensure that teaching assistants are able to deal with most obstacles. TAs will need to understand different types of learning and behaviour.

Teaching assistants must also have the support of the school and teachers. They are not paid as much as teachers and sometimes feel that they have to take on too much. Whilst schools face financial pressure, they must be mindful of the workload placed on teaching assistants.

Teaching Assistant Salary

The salary for a TA will vary depending on the school but as a rough guide, starting salaries are around £22,000. The salary will also rise depending on your experience and increased responsibility. Higher Level Teaching Assistants (HLTAs) and those with SEN responsibilities may earn up to £29,000.

In schools, most TAs are employed part-time or term-time only. This is something to consider as the salary would then be much lower due to less hours.

Teaching Assistant Requirements

There are several routes to becoming a teaching assistant. This includes online or in-person college courses that can be completed to achieve a T level in education and early-years, a qualification in childcare and education or supporting teaching and learning in schools, or the level 3 teaching assistant diploma. Most schools would want you to have basic literacy and numeracy skills. These can include:

Although it is not essential to have any other qualifications or certificates, the following teaching assistant courses can provide useful to show your understanding of knowledge in the area.

The above courses do not provide a work placement and can be completed before applying to work within a school setting. If you are already volunteering or working within an education setting, you may want to opt for the following courses:

Teaching Assistant Apprenticeship

Alternatively, there is opportunity to complete an apprenticeship to become a TA, which require 5 GCSEs or IGCSEs at grades 9-4. With these grades, you may also apply to schools directly who may offer to put you through relevant training subject to funding availability.

Whichever option you choose, there is great flexibility to ensure that you can fit your studies around your everyday life and achieve your goals.

For more information, you can visit the National Careers Service, who provide useful advice and case studies.

What practical training can I do to become a teaching assistant?

Volunteering in a local school is a great way to obtain hands-on experience. It demonstrates to potential employers that you have experience working with children in a school-setting.

If you embark on a college or online course, you may require a work-placement as part of the curriculum, this will give you valuable experience in a workplace setting.

Other options to gain experience could consist of volunteering in nurseries, sports camps, after-school clubs or youth groups and would be useful to include on your CV.

Possibly, you may want to complete various short courses to make your CV stand out and although this is not essential it all helps. These may include:

Safeguarding Level 1
Behaviour Management
SEND
Child Mental Health

Advancing to a Higher Level Teaching Assistant (HLTA)

A HLTA takes on a more senior role. They can plan and deliver lessons to classes when Teachers are absent. They can also provide more in-depth, targeted support to pupils as well as mentor other TAs.

HLTA status is a widely recognised qualification at either Level 2 or Level 3. Typically, schools where you may already work as a TA will pay for you to complete relevant qualifications to become a HLTA. These courses typically have a duration of 4-6 months. Additionally, you will need to meet a specific set of standards to become a HLTA, which can be done through collecting a portfolio of evidence and formal assessment.

There are many courses available that will give you the initial understanding of what is expected of a HLTA, together with useful training to prepare you for this career. With hard work and dedication, you can easily advance to this level. Take a look at our Level 4 Higher Level Teaching Assistant RQF Course.

Preparing for your interview

Interviewing for a TA position is a great opportunity to showcase your skills. Ensure that you complete research prior to the interview both on the role and responsibilities of a TA, and the school you are interviewing at. You should be familiar with their ethos and vision, as well as the key figures within the school (e.g. the safeguarding lead). Moreover, you should prepare for questions. Use specific examples from past jobs or experience to make your answers more impactful. Make sure that you also prepare questions to ask for yourself to show that you have taken an interest in the position. This may be about the behaviour policy, what a typical daily routine is or opportunities for professional development. You should also make sure that you collect and bring relevant documents such as your DBS, qualifications certificates and ID.

Conclusion

You might like the idea of becoming a teaching assistant because of the education environment and always wanting to work with children. On the other hand, you may have a child with SEND and want to help others with your knowledge and experience. Whatever the background, TAs are in great demand within the education sector and can really make a difference. If you are looking to take a course, each one will help broaden your knowledge and there is room for progression within schools too. Some Teaching Assistants progress onto teaching with further courses and training. Others move onto HLTA status. There are definitely options within this sector.