I’ll admit to being surprised to see how many teacher assistants there were: 1.3 million according to the BLS. Obviously things have changed in the 30 years since I left the educational system.

To those slightly more in touch with the modern world the job will be familiar. Supervising things like meal times and breaks, as well as helping those who need it in the classroom. There’s also a certain amount of setting up of equipment and the like, along with the grading of tests.

The educational requirements can vary from simply a high school diploma to a two year college degree for those doing more teaching. As with so many other careers, those with the higher qualifications, that two year college degree (or even just two years of college) are going to be in greater demand. This might also be a good way into teaching for some. You can find out whether you actually like teaching children or not plus many school districts will then pay tuition for you to get your full college degree and thus become a teacher, along with the time necessary to do the studying.

As for our EQSQ personality tests, this is really rather simple to place along the spectrum I think. A lot of the work will be with special needs children, as the schools become ever more inclusive, and so there is an element of this job which is akin to nursing. This is definitely an empathic job, one for the female brain types. One further thing: there is a definite hunger to get men who have the necessary empathy to go into the career, as there is such a shortage of male role models in the education system.