Teaching assistants: professional standards

Get to grips with the non-statutory professional standards for TAs and how you, your SLT and teachers might choose to use them.

Last reviewed on 14 June 2021
School types: All · School phases: All
Ref: 2300
Contents
  1. The standards follow 4 themes
  2. What are they for? 
  3. What are they not for? 
  4. Who can use them, and how? 

The standards follow 4 themes

The professional standards for teaching assistants are not statutory.

They set out what TAs might be expected to do under 4 themes:

  • Personal and professional conduct
  • Knowledge and understanding
  • Teaching and learning
  • Working with others

See pages 6-8 of the standards for more detail on what TAs are expected to do in relation to each of the themes. 

The standards were published by the National Education Union (NEU), UNISON, the National Education Trust (NET), and Maximising the Impact of Teaching Assistants in 2016.

What are they for? 

They’re to help teachers and the senior leadership team (SLT) manage TAs’ work. They can also help you and your governors when recruiting support staff and defining TAs’ job roles.

They complement the higher-level teaching assistant (HLTA)