What does optical assistant do?

What qualifications do i need to be a teaching assistant/after school classes?

• i'm 20, done my gcses, and then went college to do a btec in art and design specializing in fashion and textiles, i was gonna go uni and do a fashion course but changed my mind as it wasnt what i wanted to do anymore basically i would like to become like a teaching assistant but i don't want to go to university, i don't want to be a teacher, just like a helper but also i would like to do after school classes, as i'm good at art and making jewellery, also fitness, how would i go about doing this? for a teaching assistant i would like to work with younger kids say about 5-6 yrs, and classes any ages ive heard of an access course but i dont want to go uni, would prefer a one year or less course, like fast track, or what qualification would i need to become a teaching assistant? also what websites have teaching assistant jobs? one more thing, i live in england, uk. but would like to travel so how hard would it be to get other teaching assistant jobs in different countries like australia, america and canada?

• Answer:

  Hiyah We have two teaching assistants at our school. One has a degree and a masters (which is higher than a degree) and we had 150 applicants for her job when she applied! The other lady has been a teaching assistant for a long time and has a TA qualification BUT the good news is you don't need one to start. Here is a leaflet with all the information on it: http://www.skills4schools.org.uk/downloaddoc.asp?id=199