Teaching and support staff roles

Understand the rules around employing unqualified teachers in maintained schools and academies, including who’s eligible and what work they can do.

Learn what qualification requirements you should use when hiring an HLTA, and how you can support a TA to step up into the role.

Understand the legal requirements for HLTAs delivering lessons and covering absence, and read advice on when and for how long your HLTAs should be deployed in this way.

Schools must make reasonable adjustments for pupils who are not yet toilet trained, under the Equality Act 2010. Understand who should change nappies in school, how to work with parents/carers and how to make sure staff are equipped to support these pupils.

Get an overview of the leading practitioner post, including the main responsibilities and how to set the individual pay range.

Be clear on the areas your staff need training in and how often it needs updating. Download our template to keep track of any training that staff members complete, or use Training Hub to assign training, record completed tasks and automatically give staff a nudge.

Unqualified teachers and support staff can lead PE lessons as long as other requirements are met. Read expert advice covering insurance, after-school clubs, and meeting staffing ratios.

Understand the typical duties of TAs at levels 1 to 4, based on guidance from the National Joint Council (NJC) for local government services.

Understand the regulations around teaching assistant (TA) roles and responsibilities, including 'specified work'. Find guidance on developing and deploying TAs, and download our model job description and person specification for a TA, to adapt to your school's needs.

Find out about your requirements when teachers on the upper pay range (UPR) take on additional responsibilities, including rules around payments.