Why Becoming a Teaching Assistant Is Ideal for Your Career Progression

Making a career change to become a teaching assistant has become so much easier with teaching assistant courses available from NCC Home Learning. If you’ve been thinking about taking a teaching assistant course for a while, but have been feeling apprehensive, now is the time to do it. Here’s why:

Become a Teacher in the Future

Every application is difficult in the world we live in today. Whether It’s a graduate job, or a career change, the fact of the matter is that each candidate needs an upper hand. If teaching is something you think you’ll be interested in in the future, you’re going to need to gain some experience today.

Becoming a teaching assistant will help you get into the teaching industry. You’ll learn about the UK education system, how schools run and how to handle students from various backgrounds. It really is one of the best way to gain experience and break yourself into the world of teaching.

Becoming a teaching assistant will help you to decide if you could handle being a teacher. If it’s not for you, you won’t feel stuck after years of studying to qualify as a teacher full time.

Although many who train to become teaching assistants become teachers, this is not always the case. There are many other ways to progress your career through becoming a teaching assistant, whether that be through skills gained, or through moving onto other positions.

Higher Level Teaching Assistant

Once you’ve qualified as a teaching assistant, you’ll have the opportunity to take your career further and become a higher level teaching assistant. This is a popular option for those wanting to be a teaching assistant long term and is a great way to increase pay.

As well as the regular teaching assistant duties, higher level teaching assistants have more responsibility. This includes, but is not limited to: liaising with parents and guardians, running classes, doing administrative tasks and taking care of reports.

You’ll Never Be Bored in Your Job Again

How many of you wake up in the morning and groan because your job is tedious, and it’s become a huge chore instead of something you enjoy? This is a great incentive for you to finally do your teaching assistant course. Once qualified, your job will become exciting again and you’ll constantly be doing new things.

You’ll Make a Change

As a teaching assistant, your work really means something. You’ll have a huge role in preparing children for the rest of their lives. It’s a career worth thinking about if you want to give something worthy to the next generation.

Other Areas of Work to Consider

Experience in the classroom will open up many opportunities for you. After gaining experience as a teaching assistant, you may decide to change careers. Some possible opportunities include: tutoring, youth work, childcare and working in a nursery. The education and youth work industry can be quite competitive, and parents want the best for their children, that’s why experience is essential and if you’re serious about pursuing a career in these fields. You’ll have a higher chance if you’ve gained valuable experience.

The Transferable Skills You’ll Gain

You may not be sure what you actually want to do in the long-term future, but fancy becoming a teaching assistant for now. There is nothing wrong with that because you’ll still gain some beneficial experience for future careers and jobs. These Include:

Patience

Patience is a valuable asset in any company. If you can prove to keep your cool whilst under pressure (something you’ll have to do a lot of as a teaching assistant), you’ll be seen as a good employee.
Time Keeping, Management and Administration

Schools need reliable staff; when you work as a teaching assistant, you’ll have various tasks to do all at once. If you’re late, it will reflect badly on the school. Therefore, you’ll become a very organised employee. These are great transferable skills that can be applied to every job out there.

Oral and Written Communication

Being able to communicate orally and through writing is a skill that is so important in the workplace, yet it is often difficult to find employees who can do it well. If you can prove to your employer that your communication skills are top notch from your experience as a teaching assistant, you’ll more than likely be placed above your peers.

There are many skills you can gain as a teaching assistant, and as a result of these skills, your career opportunities will increase greatly. However you decide to choose your career path, remember to never sell yourself short.

Don’t put off studying for your qualification, have a look at these NCC Home Learning courses for some great options.