Becoming a TA

I'm graduating from university this summer with a Bachelor's in Biomedical Science and I want to do teacher training afterwards. But, I'm not sure I'm fully ready for the training yet and I'd like to be a TA for a year of two before I go into proper training. I've been told that this is a good idea as it will help me gain experience and decide if teaching is the right career for me (I'm 99% sure it is but I still don't want to go straight into training).

The problem is, I have no idea how to get into it. Do schools usually advertise that they are looking for TAs, or do I have to contact schools myself and ask? Also when do they usually look for TAs? I would assume it would either be before the school ends for the summer break or during the summer break before the next school year starts. I have looked at some job websites to see if there are any current vacancies but I haven't been able to find any, but then again I don't know if this is a good way of searching for them.

Reply 1

National Careers Service

Original post by Sheisun

Hi there,

Working as a TA is certainly a good way of getting a feel for what it's like to work in a school and a sensible idea before committing to teacher training, it will also look really good on your CV and help with applications to training programmes.

To prepare for the role, you might want to do a short course like the Level 2 Certificate in Supporting Teaching and Learning in Schools - this is a short, part-time courses that you can study online or at a local college that gives you the basic knowledge you'll need to work as a TA - it'll massively boost your chances of being offered a job and many schools will set it as a minimum requirement.

It's unlikely that many schools are going to be looking for TAs at the moment, which probably explains why you can't see many vacancies. Most likely they'll be advertising in summer for September starts and then throughout the rest of the year if they have unfilled spaces. Normal job sites like Indeed and Monster should be fine but schools also regularly post jobs on the local council website, whoever that is for your area, and on the Gov.uk find a job page here: findajob.dwp.gov.uk

Hope this helps, best of luck - Mark