teacher assistants

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Home : 2003 : October : 23

teacher assistants
By Cathy-Dee

I'm a teacher myself, but I will give you what general information I know at least about my school district.

My district is a smaller one in a more remote area in Alberta so our teacher assistants do not have to have training
to become TA's. We do ask for a minimum of grade 12, but we have at times hired someone without grade 12.
If someone comes into our communities with a certificate in teaching-assistance, they would more likely have a better chance at getting a position.
Positions vary as does the range of duties. Some TA's are hired for one specific child. In this case they are usually responsible

for the day to day care of the child and the day to day planning for the child. The teacher and most likely the special ed teacher would oversee the broad spectrum of learning and planning, but would leave little things like preparing materials, planning the day (somewhat), etc., for the TA to do.

Some TA's are hired to assist in a classroom with a number of students. In this case the TA would get direction from the classroom teacher. He or she might work with small groups, assist with marking and other prep work, do testing, etc.,

And sometimes a TA will be hired for a specific purpose. For example we have two TA's in our school that run our early literacy program and they work with individual students throughout the day from various classrooms. They receive extra training in the program they are using as well.

There is a conference offered every year for TA's and most of our TA's do take workshops or courses throughout the year.

I think the main thing is that TA's are not to be responsible for the main planning for a child's educational program. They are hired to support what the school or teacher has in place for that child. Sometimes the lines can be very hard to see thus it is important for both the TA as well as the classroom teacher to be made well aware of what each others roles truly are.

In larger centers I would think most TA's do have to have outside training and have a TA degree. I'm not sure how long it would take to get a degree but for some reason I have it in my head that it is a 2 year program.

I hope some of this helps