Georgia - Teaching Assistant

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After graduating from her English Literature & History degree at university, Georgia went on to work as a waitress and a national trainer for a popular restaurant chain. However, her passion for education never left her and she knew she wanted to pursue a career in the classroom.

Georgia had volunteered her spare time at university working in a primary school. Reflecting on this inspired her to reach for her career goals and become a qualified Teaching Assistant.

She said: “Throughout my time at university I was volunteering at primary schools as I was thinking about getting into education. I thought this would be a fantastic opportunity to get some hands-on experience working in a school.”
She began searching for a suitable course as she needed something flexible to suit her busy schedule, so it allowed her to continue working whilst she studied. After researching various options, Georgia found The Training Room’s eLearning course gave her the flexibility she was looking for.

We asked Georgia to tell us more about her experience in the primary school: “I was working on a 1-2-1 basis with a 5-year old in a local primary school, the student had additional needs as he suffered with attachment issues. My time with him went so well that the school offered me a fixed term contract on a 3-month basis to continue working with him! I’m really proud of the work I’ve done with him and even prouder of the progress he has made. It’s really rewarding being able to make such a difference in a child’s life!”
 
Georgia began her course and found that she enjoyed the modules about child development the most. She says: “I found the sections about working with attachment issues particularly interesting as it connected directly with my placement.

One key example of this was with transitional objects; for example, I remember a time when the child I was working with accidentally hit his head. He got really upset and didn’t want to go home. To help him, I created a transitional object for him, (it was my umbrella as it was the only thing I had spare at the time I explained to him that it was magical and I needed him to look after it), and as I gave it to him, he associated it with me, which really helped him out. I was thrilled to be able to help!”

It’s no surprise that so many people are retraining for a career in education when you hear such lovely stories like this, it just goes to show how essential the role of a Teaching Assistant is!

After successfully graduating from her Teaching Assistant course, we caught up with Georgia to find out how she had been getting on.

“I was completing my 3-month fixed term with the little boy when a job at the school came up! The headteacher approached me and offered me a role as a Teaching Assistant with the year 6’s thanks, in part, to recently graduating from my course with The Training Room. I jumped at the chance and although it is challenging from time-to-time, I’m really enjoying it!”

She continues by telling us about her long-term plans for her teaching career: “My role as a Teaching Assistant is more of a stepping stone than a forever role.

Ever since I graduated from university, I have toyed with the idea of becoming a fully qualified teacher, and after working as a TA I now know that I want to work as a Primary school teacher.

I want to work with younger children so that’s either KS1 or early development. The course has really helped me with this as before my placement I always thought I would prefer working with KS2 and older primary students, but on my placement, I got to work with children in early development and I loved it, so I knew going forward this was what I wanted to do.”

We’re so thrilled to hear that Georgia has had so much success after graduating her course and is well on her way to achieving her dreams of becoming a teacher!

We asked Georgia is she had any advice for anyone wanting to get into teaching support, and she said: “Volunteer wherever you can! You’ll learn so much working in a classroom. If you choose to do the course, make the most of your placement because you really connect a lot of what you learn in the classroom to the course materials.”

If, like Georgia, you are ready to commit to your future and take the steps towards a career in education, take a look at our Teaching Assistant course: