Category Archives: Teaching

4 skills you need to be a great teaching assistant

To be a great teaching assistant, you need the following skills.

Patience

Getting used to a new teacher can take some time, so whoever you’re assisting on a particular day, give them the time to put their stamp on the classroom and try to get to know them as best you can.

Kindness

The children should be able to come to you when they’re in need and you should always be willing to listen to the children when they have a problem.

Discipline

The classroom needs to remain orderly and this is of course part of the TA’s (teaching assistant) job. You need to be vocal and know how to be confident enough to handle a situation independent.

Organisation

You can argue that the teacher needs to be organised, which they do, but it’s just as much the job of the TA as it is the teacher. You have to help plan lessons, ensure a good level of education is being delivered whilst ensuring the children leave on time too.

Make the recruitment process easier by using a recruitment agency

It is not exactly difficult to Interview candidates for a role you know so much about, however, recruiting the right individual can be somewhat demanding.

This applies to placing vacancy ads on newspapers or social media. When applicants are vast in numbers, which they usually are nowadays, then employers are facing difficulties in selecting the most reliable applicants to be interviewed. No wonder, big companies need to make the recruitment process easier by using a recruitment agency.

The main job of a recruitment agency is becoming the representative of employers who trust in its service. The agency knows well about the right media to place ads, so they can only get targeted job seekers. Experienced recruitment staff from the agency determines the best candidates to save much time of employers. The question is: Is hiring a recruitment agency worth the employers’ budget?

The main advantage of hiring a recruitment agency is its reliable expertise. The agency understands the right test for each applicant; based on his or her qualification, work experience, and personality. It is true that some companies may already have their own human resources staff. Yet, the decision of hiring an employee can be very subjective. Any company can put its trust in the recruitment agency, as it has no personal interest in choosing the right applicant.

Hiring a recruitment agency can help any companies to reduce the cost of employing too many staff for its human resources department. Highly reliable recruitment agencies link to job fairs, job ads on local and national newspapers, job forums, social media accounts that link to job finders. That said, there are different types of agencies, some will want a percentage or cut from the salary of the individual they approve who goes on to land the role, whilst a more cost effective route is fixed recruitment. With a fixed recruitment agency they simply charge you per advert, and some costs can be as low as £200 for an advert to be placed on all job boards and social media sites.

This can therefore be 70 to 80 percent cheaper than using a traditional agency; however, you also need to factor in the many skills that a traditional agency provide. They may interview the first batch of candidates for you using your brief to make sure any individuals you see will be very close to if not perfect for the role. They will also take phone calls from the job seekers and respond to emails so they are kept in the loop. This will save you a considerable amount of time and money. Following this, they’ll check in with you and keep you in the loop so you know when you have a meeting or interview coming up.

No matter what type of agency you choose, the effectiveness in the recruitment process is what all companies benefit from hiring a recruitment agency. Not only can they save money and time, but also get the right employees with the best qualification, which meet their needs. Besides, most companies don’t hire employees regularly, in which they only need the help of a recruitment agency when they really need it.

Teaching: Can it lead to a career in politics?

Many teachers become councilors in their local area, possibly because they’ve seen changes are desperately needed in schools that they’ve worked in, and they feel they can make a difference. It’s actually quite a natural career move, if you have the passion for politics, and there have been many MPs who were previously teachers. The role of a teacher varies and now it’s not just about teaching students new skills, it’s also about nurturing them and their wellbeing. If you’re a teacher who loves politics, perhaps you’re already paving your way into a more political career choice, and there are many people you’ll be following in the footsteps of, such as Gordon Brown, Tristram Hunt and David Warburton. Are you fed up of funding cuts? Why not look into a career as a politician; it could be just the ticket. Or, take the time to teach Politics as a subject and branch out your tutoring skills.

Going from a TA to a teacher

If you’re current a teaching assistant but you have aspirations of your own to become a teacher and lead the classroom, then there are a few things you need to know.

Firstly, you need to know that workload increases significantly and that’s why the pay is so much higher. You may not finish on time like you did as a teaching assistant whilst there will be lots of marking to do in your free time and this can take over your life if you do not manage your time correctly. Just because you’ve seen a teacher do their job well, does not mean you know it inside out, and you do need to make sure you’re ready to take the big jump before you decide teaching is definitely the correct route for you. Just remember there are a lot of big differences between the two roles, so be sure to really familiariseyourself with the daily work of a teacher.

Which teacher training route is best for you?

There is no right or wrong way to become a qualified teacher, however there are two main routes that you can take to pursue this career. The two ways to become a qualified teacher or either university based or school based, each having its own style of learning and pros and cons too.

University based training involves academic lectures involving research essays and takes on a more academic approach to learning. You will still have a set amount of hours that you will need to complete in a school setting, including planning and leading your own class.

School based learning has a more apprenticeship feel to the learning. This style is certainly a more hands on approach as you are based in a school and will usually be assigned your own class during training. Your hours may be shortened to allow for the academic requirements of the course to be complete.

University is seen as the more traditional route, however there has been an increase in school based learning. For those looking to complete their PGCE, will need to undertake a research project which will require university attendance.