How to become a learning support assistant

Official title: Learning support assistant

Also called: Early intervention specialist, Special needs teacher aide, Education support worker

Learning support assistants help teachers to educate and support students with learning, emotional or physical disabilities.

Main tasks

• Help teachers plan and teach
• Support students with disabilities
• Modify teaching materials for student needs
• Set up and tidy learning areas
• Encourage students
• Create technology-based learning materials
• Help develop learning programmes
• Find and create learning resources

How to become one

You usually need experience to become a learning support assistant and a qualification may be useful. You usually need NCEA Level 3 to do the study or training for this job. Required: to pass a police check. Other requirements: experience in similar work; a relevant tertiary qualification.

See the full Tahatū profile

Pay · Past change · AI and this job

• Median pay: $50,000 a year or less, a TEC estimate before tax.
• Upper: $69,000 a year
• TEC's pay figures are estimates only. TEC says they must not be used to set pay, in pay negotiations or in visa applications.
• Change in the number of people doing this job between the 2018 and 2023 Censuses: Steady (TEC). This is past change, not a forecast.
• People employed in the group Education Aides: 18,615 at the 2018 Census and 22,560 at the 2023 Census (+21.2%). Past change, not a forecast.
• Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Who does this work

• About 1,500 people did this job at the 2023 Census (TEC).
• In the group Education Aides, 85% of workers are female (sex at birth, 2023 Census).
• Where people in the group Education Aides work (2023 Census): Auckland 30.1%, Canterbury 11.1%, and Waikato 10.7%.

Related jobs

• Teacher aide
• Private teacher
• Māori medium teacher
• Kaupapa Māori researcher
• Early childhood education manager
• School principal

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Questions people ask

How do I become a learning support assistant?

You usually need experience to become a learning support assistant and a qualification may be useful. You usually need NCEA Level 3 to do the study or training for this job. Required: to pass a police check. Other requirements: experience in similar work; a relevant tertiary qualification.

How much does a learning support assistant earn in New Zealand?

The Tertiary Education Commission estimates median pay at $50,000 a year or less, before tax.

Has the number of people working as a learning support assistant grown in New Zealand?

It has held steady: TEC records the number of people doing this job as steady between the 2018 and 2023 Censuses. This is past change, not a forecast.

Will AI change the work of a learning support assistant?

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

• Tertiary Education Commission (Tahatu Career Navigator): Tahatu career ideas: descriptions, tasks, pay estimates, people employed, employment change 2018 to 2023, entry requirements, registration, interest scores (Site scrape 2026-10 (816 career ideas, sitemap lastmod 2026-10-01)), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
• Stats NZ (via Figure.NZ): Census totals by topic for individuals 2013, 2018, 2023 (CEN23_TBT_004): employed by occupation, ANZSCO V1.3, summed to unit group (2023 Census (CEN23_TBT_004)), CC BY 4.0 (Stats NZ), CC BY 3.0 NZ (Figure.NZ), retrieved 4 October 2026
• Stats NZ (via Figure.NZ): Census 2023: employed by regional council, occupation (ANZSCO V1.3 unit group) and sex at birth (2023 Census), CC BY 4.0 (Stats NZ), CC BY 3.0 NZ (Figure.NZ), retrieved 4 October 2026
• International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026

This content is sourced from the Tertiary Education Commission through the Tahatū Career Navigator website (www.tahatu.govt.nz) and used under the CC BY 4.0 licence. All or some of the information has been modified by Peernovo. TEC has not approved, endorsed or tested these modifications. TEC will not be held accountable for any errors within this content.

Qualification information from NZQA, used under CC BY 3.0 NZ.

This work is based on/includes Stats NZ's data which are licensed by Stats NZ for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. Census data via Figure.NZ.

Includes information from O*NET OnLine by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

Sources: Tertiary Education Commission, Tahatū Career Navigator (career ideas, pay estimates, entry requirements and study options, CC BY 4.0, modified by Peernovo); Stats NZ, 2023 Census (via Figure.NZ) and the National Occupation List (CC BY 4.0); NZQA qualification information (CC BY 3.0 NZ); O*NET interest scores (CC BY 4.0); ILO global generative AI exposure index (CC BY 4.0). Links between career ideas and ANZSCO groups, degree fields and broad job groups are Peernovo's.

These results are not official statistics. They have been created for research purposes from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), which is carefully managed by Stats NZ.

Graduate outcomes: these results are not official statistics. They have been created for research purposes from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), which is carefully managed by Stats NZ.

Updated 4 October 2026