Teaching Assistant Review

I did work experience in a primary school so my role was basically act as a teaching assistant. I worked in a number of different year groups in my time there and had different responsibilities for each class. With the younger year groups I had to spend more time playing games with the children, and in all the year groups I assisted the children with classroom activities. In one class I was required to lead a phonics group of around 5 children.

One skill that I think I have developed most would be patience. I would describe myself as a fairly impatient person but in this role I was forced to become much more patient and better at motivating and encouraging the children. Another skill I developed was my confidence, as I had to have the confidence to lead groups of children.

I really enjoyed my programme, I liked to spend time doing the classroom activities with the children, and helping them with their work. The kids also seemed to enjoy having someone new in the classroom and would often ask for me to go outside at playtime with them, which was very cute!

I felt quite valued, as the staff there often thanked me for my time, and were grateful to have someone else on hand to help with the jobs that needed doing like marking work. Although, I would have felt more valued if I was able to lead more classes/groups as I think I was capable of doing this.

I found that with it only being work experience and with it being at a school, it was not really that structured, it tended to be more of just doing what was needed at the time, as the lessons changed week by week.

I didn't really receive that much support from my training provider, I mostly just observed what they were doing and tried to take ideas from them as to how I should act with the children.

This is not relevant as I was in school at the time so I didn't have an employer.

I didn't have a salary at the time and didn't pay anything to take part in the work experience, but overall the time I spent there was valuable as I gained skills and experience in a job area I would like to go into.

I didn't find that this work experience really opened up any opportunities straight away, but it gave me something more interesting and relevant to write on my CV, which led to me getting a job as a tutor at Explore Learning. In future I think this experience will come in useful when applying for a teacher training course and then a job as a teacher.

Yes

I really enjoyed my time in the school, I thought that (most of the time!) the kids were quite friendly and we're fun to talk to and be around. I also discovered that I wanted to be a teacher during my time there, so if you are unsure of what you want to do when you're older, give it a go and you might like it! If not at least you can rule it out as an option!

I would say go in and talk to the staff at the school, this shows them that you have initiative and that you are really interested in the position. They will also probably show you around so you can get a feel for the school and decide if it is somewhere that you would like experience in.