A teaching assistant is a person whose work is to assist a teacher with responsibilities while the teacher concentrates on teaching. Teaching assistants can be graduate students, undergraduate students or secondary/high school students. Teaching assistants normally help in the class responsibilities; however they also can be instructors for one or several classes. Most schools offer the teaching assistants a fixed salary that is dependent on their contract; however some teaching assistants are not paid but may receive course credits if they are still studying.

The duties of a teaching assistant are varied depending on the level they are working at. Generally some of the duties include;

Preparing the classroom; teaching assistants are tasked with setting a class up and preparing it for a lesson. This is done by ensuring that the chairs and desks are arranged in orderly manner, the blackboard is clean, availability of chalk or felt pens, availability of necessary charts among many others.

A teaching assistant helps younger students in reading and also reads for them tales and stories.

In classes where there may be slower learners, teaching assistant helps them and works together with them to complete their tasks. Teaching assistants offer more one-to-one with learners and address their individual needs.

Teaching assistants help the teacher in coming with classroom activities such as preparation of classroom charts that the teacher can use for elaboration or emphasis of topics. It is also the duty of teaching assistant to help the teacher keep classroom records such as the attendance list, exam marks and other necessary records Supervision of group work; a teaching assistant moves from group to group when the students/pupils are involved in group activities to ensure that they are doing the right thing.

Accidents are inevitable in a learning environment and therefore in the unfortunate eventuality of an accident among the learners, the teaching assistant is expected to take care of any learner who is hurt by either administering first aid or even accompanying them to the school nurse if it is necessary. Teaching assistants also motivate the learners by way of general talk. They also give them guidance on their areas of difficulty.

Teaching assistants also supervise learners outside the classroom setting, maybe during sporting activities, at the cafeteria, during field trips among many others. Teaching assistants will sometimes assist in supervising the learners during exam time, mark the exams and grade the learners. The above are not the only duties but are among those that teaching assistants are majorly involved in on a day to day basis.

To be a teaching assistant one may only require a diploma from high school and gain experience while on the job; however this depends on the level of the institution one is working in. To be a teaching assistant in a high school or university or even beyond that, one will need higher qualifications such as a college or undergraduate degree. There are colleges that offer degrees or certificates that prepare graduates to work as teacher assistants.