In this feature we focus on career skills for psychologist careers.
Psychologist careers and Teaching careers
Teaching Assistant career
Welcome to our Teaching Assistant Career feature with specialist contributions from School entrance tests .
We hope you find our teaching assistant career guide useful. You can also use our ‘How to find teaching assistant jobs’ search below
Teaching Assistant Career Guide
(1) Entry-level requirements
Teaching assistants (TA) require basic numeracy and literacy skills that are usually GCSE or qualifications equivalent to National 4 or 5 in English or maths along with experience in teaching children. Working with children in primary, and secondary levels or in special schools required them to qualify for Level 2 and 3 courses. Level 3 Award in Learning and Supporting Teaching in schools is also required in some schools.
(2) Day-in-the-life
Teaching assistants depending on the training and experience and the TA the status ensure that the children are supported in their learning and can be engaged during activities in class. Depending on the requirement of the class, they also carry out many administrative duties such as preparation in the classroom and management of extracurricular activities. They are also given lunchtime and playtime duties at the primary level. At Higher levels, they deliver teaching activities on a one-on-one basis or in groups and also coordinate teaching support.
(3) Career path
As TA, one can progress to different grades ranging from the entry-level to the HLTA based on experience and training. At the HLTA level, TA is also engaged in planning lessons and developing support materials for delivering lessons in an unsupervised manner. There is also scope for coordination of activities in particular areas of learning such as IT or SEN.
(4) Job opportunities
Many online platforms post advertisements about TAs such as Guardian Jobs, National Careers Service, Indeed, Reed. For the demand for online teaching assistant jobs, there are also job advertisements on eTeach.
(5) Where to find more information
The recognised organisations where all the necessary information regarding the job requirements, skills, salary, and career opportunities of teaching assistants can be found are Prospects.ac.uk, UCAS and other such platforms.
Example SEN accommodation (for Progress Test)
Paper and Pencil Test
The following test accommodations are offered by GL Assessment:
- Scribe/transcribe
- Prompt (prompting students to keep them on track)
- Coloured overlay
GL Assessment also advise the following:
- Reader (questions/instructions cannot be rephrased, support cannot be given for mathematical content such as numbers or symbols)
- Additional time (Alternatively the test can be easily split into two sections and delivered over 2 sittings within a week, it is advised that Mental Maths aspects of the test are administered separately)
- Rest break (not advised for Mental Maths subtest)
- Enlargement (be aware of questions which require diagrams to be to scale)
Digital Test
The following test accommodations CAN be used with PTM Digital:
- Prompt (prompting students to keep them on track)
- Coloured overlay
The following test accommodations CANNOT be used with PTM Digital:
- Reader (audio is provided for all relevant instructions. For students with a hearing impairment we recommend using the paper test where a Reader can be used)
- Practical assistant (you may wish to consider using the paper version instead)
- Enlargement (we recommend using the paper version for students who require enlargement)
The following test accommodations MIGHT be acceptable for use with PTM digital, please contact us for further details:
- Additional time (Alternatively the test can be easily split into two sections and delivered over 2 sittings within a week. It is advised that Mental Maths aspects of the test are administered separately. Student’s work will only be saved once the ‘End Test’ button has been selected so please consider this when planning timings)
- Rest break (student’s work will only be saved once the ‘End Test’ button has been selected so please consider this when planning timings)
Timings
Students should be given as long as they need to complete it (apart from Mental Maths sections).
If there is anything about the tests that students don’t understand, they should ask. Teachers may give additional information on procedure and assist students in completing the front cover of their answer booklets.
Testing the cohort
The test should be given to all students in the relevant age group or class. However, if the test will cause distress to a student, or you are certain that a student will score no marks at all, then it is not necessary to include such students. Similarly, students should be encouraged to work through all of the test, but where you judge that it would be inappropriate for a student to continue, it is permissible for that student to stop.
Students who are absent on the day of testing may be tested later, if this is convenient for the school.