Teaching assistants are an increasingly integral part of any classroom and their role within schools has expanded in recent years. With each student having different needs to their neighbour, more complex and individualised support is expected of schools. This means teachers need greater reinforcement to enhance learning outcomes.
Alongside administrative tasks, behaviour management, and other key skills, teaching assistants need to have the right soft skills and traits to offer the best support. We explore the key soft skills, why these are important and how to look out for them during the hiring process.
Q: What are the top five soft skills teaching assistants should have?
A: Flexibility
In terms of soft skills that I would look out for when recruiting a member of support staff, flexibility is probably one of the first ones I'd look out for. With school budgets becoming tighter and tighter every year, and the additional needs of children within schools also growing each year, it's just becoming more and more difficult to have members of staff specifically for every child and within each classroom.
Teaching assistants now really need to be able to not just be a teaching assistant for year four or year five, they need to be able to maybe go into key stage one. If you're a mainstream teaching assistant focused on the academic side, there will probably also be times you're going to need to support children with autism or with other complex needs within school at various times throughout the day and the school year.
So, by asking members of staff that you're interviewing, 'How would you feel if you are working in this year four class but we need to pull you out for an afternoon to support a couple of children with complex needs for the day – would that be okay?', and their response in terms of not only the physical words they say but the ease of which it rolls off the tongue, you'll get a really good feel for the flexibility of that person. It could be a bit of a sticking point down the line, or it will highlight if that person then is going to be someone that you're going to be able to trust, and be a really valuable person that can cover a variety of different classes for you.
Personality
A second soft skill that I would always look for is personality. There's a lot of relationships that need building, especially when somebody's new in school with parents, staff, pupils, other outside agencies. You've really got to think, 'Is this person someone that would fit in into the team and also be somebody that would fit in with the pupils within that class?’.
Passions that the teaching assistants have can really add value to a school as well. So, if somebody is really keen on art or has been trained in a musical instrument or something similar – if you were looking to introduce music into school for a particular day or afternoon, they could add real value there that another teaching assistant might not be able to.
And as I mentioned before, with budgets being like they are, any little bit that you can get out of staff to mean that you've got more and more options at your disposal, just makes everything better.
Resilience
The third soft skill I would speak about is resilience. Now, this is often quite a difficult one to test. It's a lot easier when you can see it in the flesh, but building relationships with pupils obviously takes time, especially those children that come from challenging backgrounds and might exhibit challenging behaviour.
Resilience is key to show that students have got people in their lives that are going to stay there for them, turn up day after day after day to teach them the right ways to both learn and behave. Once people become part of a team and have built those relationships, with children and staff in schools, that's when that person becomes a really valuable member of staff.
Communication
Soft skill number four I would look out for is communication. This is obviously integral for interacting with staff members in schools, outside agencies, pupils and obviously parents at the school gates.
You need to have someone that will be a clear communicator - if they see any issues that need raising within school, you've got to be confident that that person knows the channels to raise them and will do that. It's really a good one to test for at the end of an interview, by asking if they've got any additional questions.
Usually, candidates that come across well are the ones that, at the end of an interview, have already got questions that they're either pre-prepared, or even better, if they've thought of a question from within the interview since they've been speaking with you. That shows that they're not afraid to ask questions, they think on their feet, and they're not afraid to ask a question that they've got and keep things bottled up.
Reliability
Soft skill number five I would look for is reliability, which is often a difficult one to test for. Now, obviously someone being five minutes late to class on a regular basis can cause real issues on a morning with getting the children into the classroom safely. It can have a knock-on effect for other staff. Students with EHC plans, being supported, will quite often get dysregulated if their one-to-one is not in school, which again has a knock-on effect for the other staff within school.
Now, while it is difficult to test for this one, I would always make sure to keep a look out for what time people are turning up to an interview, because short of referencing, you can only really judge them on what you see. And if you've got someone that's turning up 20 minutes before their interview starts looking prepared that's the first thing that they could do to make themselves look like a reliable candidate.
If you've got someone turning up 15 minutes late, who's not rung to give you any warning in advance – that's potentially a little bit of a warning sign.
Q: What other soft skills are important and how would you spot them?
A: If I was interviewing for my specific school, I would be impressed by somebody that had taken the time to maybe go and look at the school website. Maybe looked at a behaviour policy. If somebody comes in and can relate your behaviour policy to how their current school operates, and give some opinions on that, that shows that the person's taken a real interest in your specific school and your specific role.
Somebody that is just doing over and above before they come into interview, that typically is a sign of things to come when they start employment.
Q: Why is it important to look for soft skills in teaching assistants?
A: Soft skills are so important because it really helps you decide – if you're close, with a couple of candidates for a position – which one's going to be able to add the most value for a school. Soft skills are also the thing that can help set apart a teaching assistant that's maybe been working for two or three years versus somebody that's been working for 25 years.
Someone that's been only working for two or three years may have less experience directly in school, but they could be somebody that's going to be the first one in the building, and the last one out. They might be brilliant and have done the Christmas fair at the last two schools they've been to. They could be good working with children with additional needs, have worked across all year groups. Those soft skills are something that could really add value to your school.
Reed’s education specialists can help you find a professional with the right skills for your role, or a new school to share your skills with – contact your nearest Reed office now to find out more.
