Career roadmap
How to become Teaching Assistants, Preschool, Elementary, Middle, and Secondary School
Median annual wage for Teaching Assistants (25-9040) — BLS OEWS, May 2023. This is the broader SOC group, covering more jobs than this one career.
What you would actually do
The tasks that make up the work of Teaching Assistants, Preschool, Elementary, Middle, and Secondary School, weighted by how central each one is to the job.
- Tutor students who need extra assistance.
- Supervise school or student activities.
- Enforce rules or policies governing student behavior.
- Teach daily living skills or behaviors.
- Teach life skills.
- Teach others to use technology or equipment.
- Collaborate with other teaching professionals to develop educational programs.
- Lead classes or community events.
The skills that actually carry the job
Scored on how much the work depends on each one — not a wishlist, a measurement.
- Active Listening3.8/5
- Social Perceptiveness3.8/5
- Reading Comprehension3.6/5
- Speaking3.6/5
- Coordination3.5/5
- Service Orientation3.5/5
- Writing3.4/5
- Critical Thinking3.4/5
- Learning Strategies3.4/5
- Monitoring3.4/5
Would this suit you?
Every occupation leans on a particular mix of interests. Here is the mix measured for Teaching Assistants, Preschool, Elementary, Middle, and Secondary School — and our free 2-minute Career Match scores you on the same six.
- Social6.4/7
Helping, teaching, caring for and working directly with people
- Conventional4.7/7
Ordering, checking, following a precise procedure accurately
- Realistic2.8/7
Hands-on, practical, working with tools, machines or the body
- Enterprising2.6/7
Persuading, leading, selling, taking commercial risk
- Investigative2.4/7
Investigating, diagnosing, reasoning through problems with evidence
- Artistic2.3/7
Creating, expressing, working without a fixed procedure
Interest profiles from the O*NET 29.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration. Used under CC BY 4.0.
