What is a classroom assistant? (rajni chakra)

As a classroom assistant, you support the teacher with their everyday activities, working
as part of a team; you help to plan learning activities and assist in creating a good learning environment for the pupils in your care. As a classroom assistant part of your job will be to help pupils with reading and number skills, to express themselves through arts and crafts, generate play activities that help children make sense of the world around them. You may have to take care of children who are emotionally upset or who have had an accident in the classroom or
playground. If you love children, you'll love the job of classroom assistant. Most schools now
employ full-time classroom assistants and there are many part-time posts too.

There are opportunities to become a classroom assistant in primary, junior and senior schools.
The obvious benefit is that you will only work during school terms, so if you have children of
your own this is a job that fits around school holidays. Sometimes the best way to get a paid
permanent job of classroom assistant is to accept part-time voluntary (unpaid) work in your
local school. This will give you invaluable experience while you study a suitable classroom
assistant course. Then when a paid post comes available you will stand a very good chance of
being accepted for that job.

Who can enter this career?

A classroom assistant has now become an essential role in most schools with the ratio of
assistants to teachers increasing each year over the last three years. Currently you can become

a classroom assistant without any qualifications but the competition is tough. The best strategy
is to obtain some serious classroom assistant training with an accredited qualification when
you successfully complete the course. There are several respected organisations that offer such
courses most of which can be studied at home either online or through the post. Once you have
the position as a classroom assistant you will probably undergo some form of brief induction
training to settle you into the job. There may be opportunities to progress from the position of
classroom assistant to work help educate children with special educational needs (SEN) or to
progress to the responsibility of a Higher Level Teaching Assistant. Both these posts may need
extra training and further qualifications.

Benefits of study

A teaching assistant course has many benefits as you will explore theories and strategies
that will help you to support children, teachers and parents with various aspects in the
essential process of learning. Most courses also explain how to help children with information
technology which has now become an essential part of life itself. Not only that, skills with
numbers and communication are vital for any adult and so form a much needed part of
education. As a classroom assistant you will be expected to offer support in the subjects too. So
make sure that any teaching assistant course you enroll on has these as part of the syllabus.

Teaching Assistants - Home Study, What is the best way to obtain suitable qualifications? One of the most popular and efficient ways to become a teaching assistant is to gain an accredited qualification through distance learning.It is important to ensure that the classroom assistant has accreditation from a government recognized body thus ensuring its standard of training and qualification creditability.