The Top 8 Traits and Qualities of a Great Teaching Assistant

Just one sleep to go before our favourite day of the year! Tomorrow, schools across the country will join in a big jamboree in tribute to the unsung heroes of their classrooms on National Teaching Assistants’ Day. 

The centrepiece of the annual celebration is our TA of the Year competition. For the last few months, we’ve asked headteachers to nominate the teaching assistants at their schools who they just couldn’t do without; the humble superstars who have kept their classrooms running through hell and high water these past 18 tumultuous months.

We cannot wait to announce our winners tomorrow on the official NTAD website. We’ve received some truly inspirational nominations this year that have left our shortlist looking stronger than ever. 

These submissions paint an interesting and honest picture of a line of work that, too often, goes underappreciated in people’s thoughts about education. 

Ahead of tomorrow’s grand reveal, we’ve read through our shortlist and picked out the traits that schools cherish the most in their TAs. 

Reading over all the submissions, four words kept coming up again and again: ‘going the extra mile’. The most beloved teaching assistants consistently distinguished themselves by their dedication and willingness to give their all, even when they didn’t have to. 

Headteachers praised TAs for giving up evenings, weekends and even holiday time to support pupils, whether through putting on extra Zoom sessions during lockdown, running after-school clubs, or providing hot chocolate and snacks for pupils out of their own pockets. 

The best teaching assistants show “superhuman” commitment to their pupils, regardless of whether their own time is at stake. Another reason to raise a glass to them tomorrow. 

Teaching assistants give children the focused, one-to-one attention that a classroom teacher will normally be unable to provide in lessons of 30 pupils. This personal connection means that TAs can become truly life-changing presences in the lives of some of the most at-risk or disadvantaged pupils. 

Several TAs in our nomination list were commended by headteachers for the transformative effects they achieved for individual children. One teaching assistant was there on GCSE results day to celebrate with a child who had previously severely struggled in lessons, another helped a pupil with an Anxiety Disorder successfully overcome her problems with absenteeism, while an autistic child at one school was able to attend a residential camp because his TA was willing to stay there with him for the week too. 

When nominating their favourite teaching assistants, teachers were prone to tell us about how they simply couldn’t do without them. 

TAs make these teachers’ working lives immeasurably easier by getting through to pupils where other staff members can’t. Our top 2021 TAs have also supported other staff members more directly by covering for them at short notice, letting them know about struggling pupils and even schooling them in the best techniques for minimising behavioural issues. 

This sense of duty to their pupils and their colleagues alike is a quality shared by all the best TAs. 

A great TA’s popularity doesn’t end at the school gates. Our nominators were keen to tell us how their favourite teaching assistants were held in high esteem by parents too. And no wonder, given that these TAs were there at the school gates every day to deliver pupils back into their parents’ arms.  

The keenness of our super TAs to upskill and further their knowledge was a running theme across schools’ submissions. Head teachers were eager to let us know about the courses and projects that their TAs were involved in of their own initiative, including Positive Behaviour Support Training and even a fully-fledged degree. 

This desire to really apply themselves is part and parcel of why teaching assistants are so treasured by their schools. 

Teaching assistants are responsible for so much more than just academic support. A large part of their working day will be dedicated to making sure children are properly looked after. 

The TAs on our shortlist have put their time into ensuring children are properly fed, accompanying pupils with ASD to the playground so that they can participate in games with the other children and generally doing their utmost best to give children a sense of “belonging and worth”. 

A great teaching assistant helps make a school a safe space. We owe them a lot. 

The compassion and diligence of teaching assistants shone through the gloom and misery of our winter lockdowns. A recent UCL study found that teaching assistants were the ‘key’ to keeping schools open for vulnerable and key worker children. 

These findings are certainly reflected in the nominations we received from schools. These TAs delivered food and schoolwork to pupils’ houses, delivered ongoing support in schools each day, and took on new skills to set up remote learning technologies. 

While we’ve all been through a lot, things could have been so much worse without the dedicated work of our brilliant TAs. 

Reading through our nominations, we were struck by how many of them mention the infectious positivity and air of enthusiasm that these TAs carry with them. 

Being a teaching assistant is no picnic; the hours can be almost as long as the list of tasks they’re called upon to perform. So it’s even more impressive to hear that these TAs still manage to “bring joy to everybody” in their working lives. 

Through their enthusiasm and sunny dispositions, TAs bolster morale among staff and students alike. 

One rare silver lining of this last year and all its miseries is that the vital work of teaching assistants has truly been thrown into sharp focus. The qualities and strength of character on display among our nominees can be found in TAs everywhere. It is high time that they are celebrated properly. 

That’s what National Teaching Assistants’ Day exists to do. Whether you’re a teacher, senior leader or teaching assistant yourself, click here to find out how you can join in the fun tomorrow. We hope you enjoy the party!  

If you’re a teaching assistant in search of work, Teaching Personnel is on hand to help you find your next job.