Teacher Assistant

A teaching assistant (often advertised as "teacher assistant", "TA" or "classroom assistant") works alongside a qualified teacher in a primary, secondary or special school, helping pupils access the lesson and keeping the classroom running. The work ranges from supporting a small group who are behind in reading, to working one-to-one with a named child who has special educational needs, to preparing resources and supervising at break. You're employed by the school, an academy trust, the local authority, or sometimes an education recruitment agency that places you in schools day by day.

Starting salary: £18k–£24k
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Main way in: Direct application to individual schools or academy trusts
They usually ask for: A degree is not required for most TA posts

Approximate graduate salary

Broadly in the region of £18,000–£24,000 on a full-time-equivalent basis, though this varies widely and the figure you actually receive is often lower because many TA contracts are term-time only and paid pro rata. London and SEN-specialist posts tend to sit at the higher end; agency work is usually a daily rate with no pay during holidays.

What you'd actually do

Sitting with a group of pupils during a lesson and re-explaining the task in a different way, prompting them to start, and keeping them on track while the teacher works with the rest of the class
Supporting a specific pupil with an EHCP (Education, Health and Care Plan - a legal document setting out a child's special educational needs and the support the council must fund), which can mean anything from scribing for them to helping with toileting, feeding or personal care depending on the child
Running short, structured intervention sessions outside the classroom - things like phonics catch-up, reading comprehension, or a numeracy programme the school has bought in - and recording how each pupil did
Preparing and laminating resources, setting out equipment, photocopying differentiated worksheets, and tidying and resetting the room between lessons

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Managing behaviour in small ways all day: redirecting a pupil who's distracted, de-escalating a child who's becoming distressed, logging incidents on the school's system
Covering duties outside lesson time - playground supervision, lunch duty, walking classes between rooms, running a breakfast or after-school club
Feeding back to the class teacher or SENCO (Special Educational Needs Coordinator) on how pupils coped, and occasionally speaking to parents at pick-up or in review meetings

How graduates get in

Direct application to individual schools or academy trusts - the most common route. Vacancies are posted on school websites, council jobs pages and education job boards, often with short notice and a start date tied to a term boundary.
Through an education supply agency, which places you in different schools on a daily or weekly basis. Very common for graduates who want flexibility or are testing whether teaching suits them; pay is usually a daily rate and work can be inconsistent.
As a deliberate pre-teaching step: many graduates spend a year as a TA to build classroom experience before applying for teacher training (PGCE or School Direct). Some schools will then support you onto a training route from within.
Volunteering or a school placement first - a term of regular volunteering in a school, a paid internship, or experience through a scheme aimed at getting graduates into schools, which often converts into a paid TA post.

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From a related background rather than straight from university - youth work, childcare, sports coaching, care work, or as a parent-helper who moved into a paid role. This is a very common route and means graduate TAs work alongside colleagues with no degree.
Specialist SEN (special educational needs) settings sometimes recruit psychology, speech and language or sports science graduates directly for roles supporting pupils with complex needs, autism or communication difficulties.

What employers ask for

A degree is not required for most TA posts - GCSE English and maths at grade 4/C or above is the usual baseline. Graduates are welcome but you are not applying for a graduate-level job, and the pay reflects that.
Degree subject rarely matters. Where it does help: psychology, education, a core subject for secondary cover, or sports/drama/music if the school wants you to run enrichment alongside.
An enhanced DBS check (Disclosure and Barring Service - a criminal record check) is mandatory and the school will arrange it. You cannot start unsupervised work without it.
Some employers ask for a Level 2 or Level 3 Teaching Assistant qualification, or will fund you to do one once in post. This varies a lot - many schools hire with no qualification and train you on the job.

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Evidence of experience with children or young people of the relevant age: school volunteering, tutoring, Scouts/Guides, sports coaching, summer camps, care work. Schools weigh this more heavily than academic results.
For SEN roles, employers often want or will train you in specific things - Makaton or sign-supported communication, team-teach style physical intervention, moving and handling, or epilepsy and medication awareness.

Skills that matter

Explaining the same idea several different ways

Your whole job is often getting through to the pupils who didn't understand the teacher's first explanation, so you need alternatives ready on the spot.

Knowing when to step back

The classic TA failure is doing the work for the child; good TAs use prompts and questions so the pupil produces the answer themselves and genuinely progresses.

Calm behaviour management and de-escalation

You will be the person noticing a pupil escalating before the teacher does, and the one who has to stay level when a child shouts, refuses or walks out.

Taking direction quickly and adapting mid-lesson

Teachers often brief you in thirty seconds at the classroom door, and the plan changes once the lesson starts.

Accurate, unemotional record-keeping

Intervention logs, behaviour records and EHCP evidence feed into statutory reviews and funding decisions, so what you write actually has consequences for the child.

Safeguarding awareness

TAs are often the adult a child discloses something to, and you must know what to report, to whom, and that you never promise to keep it secret.

Putting these on a CV? We counted which skills 12,914 live graduate adverts ask for, and what to do with the answer — part of our application advice.

Where it leads

Higher Level Teaching Assistant (HLTA) status, which lets you take whole classes under agreed arrangements and usually comes with better pay. Typically needs a couple of years' experience plus an assessment of your practice.
Specialist routes within support staff: SEN/inclusion TA, pastoral or learning mentor, cover supervisor, intervention lead, or in time an assistant SENCO or family liaison role. Pay improves but stays well below teacher scales.
Teacher training - the most common onward move for graduates. A PGCE with QTS (Qualified Teacher Status), a School Direct place, or a salaried teaching apprenticeship. A year as a TA strengthens your application a lot; some schools will sponsor an existing TA onto a salaried route.
Sideways into adjacent professions where school experience counts: educational psychology (which needs a psychology degree plus a doctorate), speech and language therapy, social work, youth offending or local authority inclusion teams.
Timelines vary enormously. Some graduates use a single academic year as a stepping stone to a PGCE; others build a long career in support staff and reach HLTA or pastoral leadership over many years. There is no standard ladder.

What people get wrong

“It's a graduate job with a graduate salary.”

TA posts are support-staff roles paid on local authority or trust support-staff scales, usually below typical graduate starting pay - and often paid term-time only, which reduces the actual annual figure further.

“You spend the day quietly helping one child with their reading.”

A large share of TA posts are SEN-focused and can involve personal care, physical intervention training, managing distressed or aggressive behaviour, and emotionally heavy safeguarding situations.

“It's an easy, low-pressure option while you decide what to do.”

It's physically tiring, you're on your feet and talking all day, and you have little control over your own schedule - but it is genuinely one of the best ways to find out whether teaching suits you before committing to a PGCE.

“TAs just follow the teacher's instructions.”

In practice many TAs plan and run their own intervention groups, keep the evidence that supports a child's EHCP review, and are the main point of contact for a particular pupil - a lot of independent judgement with limited formal authority.

Where this varies

The job differs sharply by setting. In a primary school you're likely attached to one class and involved in everything from phonics to lunch duty; in a secondary you may move between subjects and year groups, or be assigned to named pupils across their timetable. Special schools and SEN units are a different job again - smaller groups, higher needs, more personal care and more specialist training, and usually better pay. Employment terms also vary: directly employed school or trust staff get contracts, pension access and term-time pay, while agency TAs get flexibility but no guaranteed hours and no holiday pay. Local authority pay scales mean the same job title pays noticeably differently between regions, with London weighting at the top end.

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General guidance about the role across the UK market, not about any specific employer. Entry routes and requirements vary — always check the individual job advert.