Case studies : Primary school teaching assistant: Matt Pennington

Matt graduated with a BA Media in 2004 and currently works as a primary school teaching assistant.

I currently work as a level 2 teaching assistant at a busy inner-city primary school, supporting qualified teachers in three Y4 (year four) classes. Each class has between 28 and 30 pupils and the main subject lessons are maths and English.

In order to get my current job I had to first undertake some voluntary work as I had no prior teaching experience. I could then apply for teaching assistant posts and the second interview I attended resulted in the job I am in now.

The subject of my degree was not relevant to my securing this job and it is not necessary to have a degree for this position. Having said that, quite a few teaching assistants (TAs) are degree qualified, because they often work as TAs for a while prior to completing a PGCE application. Also, because entry to the education sector is generally quite competitive, it can certainly help your application to have a degree.

A typical working day involves getting to work for 8.45am and spending the morning split between the three classes supporting the teachers as they deliver the mandatory maths and English curriculum. Much of dinner time is spent preparing resources for future lessons and then afternoons are a mixture of further preparatory study and interventions with small groups. These interventions are designed to assist pupils who need additional support to the classroom-based teaching. One of the advantages of being an assistant is that you can often leave just after the children at 3.15pm although I often now work until 6pm in the after school club provided by the school as part of the Extended Schools initiative.

In the two years I have been working as a teaching assistant, I have become sure of what I am doing and am clear about my contribution in the classroom. I am lucky in that I am allowed quite a lot of freedom in my work and am able to decide how the tasks are to be completed.

With regard to my longer-term career aspirations I am not really sure yet which direction I want to go in. Becoming a fully qualified teacher is not necessarily going to be the right route for me, but either way, I enjoy working as a TA and feel the experience I am gaining is useful.

The thing I enjoy the most in this role is the interaction with the children. It’s definitely the most rewarding aspect of the job. The teaching assistant role itself is not very demanding mentally as the qualified teacher is ultimately responsible for the class but there is always plenty to do and rarely does a moment arrive where you can feel as if everything has been done.

One of the positive aspects of working in the education sector is the job security. Also, the possibilities for professional development tend to be very good should you wish to pursue that route.

If you have relevant experience you shouldn’t find it too much of a problem getting into this career provided you can demonstrate a genuine ability to work with children. Being able to build a good rapport with the children is absolutely vital so unless you are prepared to put the time in to achieve this you would probably be best giving this career path a wide berth.

If, like me you don’t have any experience, the route of voluntary work will be your best way in.