Should Teaching Assistants Teach a Class?

When you see a teaching assistant walking into a classroom with a lesson plan in hand, it’s natural to wonder: are they supposed to be teaching? Or are they just there to help the teacher? The line between supporting and leading a class is blurry-and it’s causing real confusion in schools right now.

What Does a Teaching Assistant Actually Do?

Teaching assistants (TAs) aren’t trained teachers. They don’t hold Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), and they’re not certified to design curriculum or set assessments. Their core job is to support learning-not replace the teacher. That means helping students who struggle with reading, managing behavior during group work, preparing materials, or giving one-on-one help to kids with special needs.

In a typical primary school in England, a TA might spend 70% of their time working with small groups or individual students under the teacher’s direction. The teacher plans the lesson, delivers the main instruction, and assesses progress. The TA steps in where the teacher can’t be everywhere at once.

When Do Teaching Assistants Take Over the Class?

There are moments when TAs end up teaching a full lesson-even if it wasn’t planned. Maybe the teacher is at a meeting. Or sick. Or covering another class. In those cases, the TA becomes the de facto instructor.

It’s not illegal. Schools often rely on experienced TAs to hold the line in emergencies. But it’s not the same as being in charge. A TA stepping in for 20 minutes to run a reading group is one thing. Running a full hour-long math lesson without the teacher’s input is another.

Some schools have formalized this. In Bristol, a few primary schools now allow senior TAs with five or more years of experience to lead short, pre-planned lessons under supervision. These are called ‘TA-led sessions’-and they’re always based on the teacher’s lesson plan. No improvising. No new content. Just reinforcement.

Why Schools Are Pushing TAs Into Teaching Roles

There’s a staffing crisis in education. Since 2020, teacher vacancies in England have risen by 32%. In some areas, schools are struggling to find even one qualified teacher per year group. That’s led to creative solutions-and one of them is asking TAs to do more.

According to a 2024 survey by the National Association of Head Teachers, 61% of schools now regularly ask TAs to lead small-group instruction without a teacher present. In rural areas and inner-city schools with high student turnover, that number jumps to 78%.

It’s not because TAs are being pushed out of support roles. It’s because there’s no one else to fill the gap. Parents expect learning to continue, even when the teacher is absent. And TAs are often the only adults in the room who know the kids, the routine, and the lesson objectives.

The Risks of Letting TAs Teach

Just because TAs can hold a class doesn’t mean they should. There are real risks.

• Consistency suffers. TAs don’t have the training to adapt lessons on the fly. If a concept doesn’t click, they might repeat it the same way instead of finding a new approach.
• Assessment gaps. Without formal training, TAs often miss subtle signs of misunderstanding. A child who’s quiet might be confused-not lazy.
• Professional boundaries blur. Students start seeing TAs as ‘the teacher.’ That undermines the authority of the qualified teacher and creates confusion about who’s in charge.
• Legal gray areas. If a child is injured during a TA-led activity, liability becomes messy. Schools aren’t always clear on whether TAs are covered under the same insurance as teachers.

One school in Gloucestershire had to revise its policy after a parent complained that their child’s reading progress stalled because a TA had been teaching phonics for six weeks using outdated methods. The teacher hadn’t reviewed the lessons. The TA didn’t know the curriculum changes.

When It Works: The Right Conditions

There are cases where TAs teaching a class makes sense-and works well.

Take a school in Bristol that runs a weekly ‘Literacy Boost’ session. Every Thursday, a senior TA leads a 30-minute reading group for Year 3 students who need extra help. The lesson is fully scripted by the class teacher. The TA follows a checklist: vocabulary words, reading passage, comprehension questions, feedback form. There’s no creativity. No deviation. Just consistency.

After six months, those students improved their reading scores by 22%. Why? Because they got daily, focused attention. The teacher couldn’t give that alone.

The key? Structure. Training. Supervision.

These TAs don’t just wing it. They go through a 12-hour training module on lesson delivery, behavior management, and assessment basics. They meet weekly with the teacher to review what worked and what didn’t. And they never teach a new topic-only reinforce what’s already been taught.

What Should Schools Do Instead?

Instead of asking TAs to become teachers, schools should give them better tools to support learning.

• Use TAs for targeted intervention-not whole-class instruction.
• Train them in evidence-based support methods, like retrieval practice and spaced repetition.
• Give them access to lesson plans and data on student progress.
• Let them co-teach. Stand next to the teacher. Model how to explain a concept.
• Pay them more for extra responsibility. In some schools, senior TAs now earn £3,000-£5,000 more per year for leading small-group sessions.

The goal isn’t to replace teachers. It’s to make teachers more effective.

What About the Future?

Some countries are formalizing the role. In Scotland, there’s a new ‘Supporting Teacher’ qualification-a level 5 award that lets experienced TAs lead planned lessons under supervision. It’s not teaching. It’s advanced support.

England might follow. The Department for Education is currently reviewing whether to create a new category: ‘Classroom Support Practitioner.’ That role would allow trained TAs to lead short, supervised sessions-but still not design curriculum or assess students.

For now, the rule should be simple: TAs can help teach. But they shouldn’t be the teacher.

Final Thought

Teaching assistants are the backbone of many classrooms. They know the kids better than anyone. They show up early, stay late, and often do the work no one else wants to do.

But asking them to teach is like asking a mechanic to fly a plane because they know how to fix the engine. They’re skilled. They’re essential. But they’re not trained for the job.

Instead of shifting responsibility, invest in better support systems. Give TAs the training, tools, and respect they deserve. Then, let them do what they do best: make learning possible for every child.