How to become a higher level teaching assistant
Official title: Higher level teaching assistants
Also called: Teaching assistant, Advanced teaching assistant, High level teaching assistant, Higher level teaching assistant, Sen hlta, Learning support practitioner
Higher level teaching assistants (HLTA’s) assist teachers with their day-to-day classroom work, the provision and planning of and the creation of lesson materials. HLTA’s teach classes on their own and may be trained in relevant learning strategies such as literacy. They may support students with special/additional needs and work in special and additional needs schools.
Main tasks
- Assists with development of lesson plans and materials
- Assists teacher with preparation or clearing up of classroom
- Gives lessons to classes and individual students independently of the teacher
- Assess, record and report on pupils' progress
- Manages and supports other teaching assistants
- Listens to children read, reads to them or tells stories
- Assists children with washing or dressing for outdoor and similar activities
- Makes simple teaching aids and constructs thematic displays of educational material or children’s work
How to become one
Entrants must achieve Higher level Teaching Assistant status. Academic qualifications may be required by some employers and significant relevant experience is usually necessary. NVQs at level 4 are available. A DBS check is mandatory.
Ways in
- University: Education & Teaching degrees, Offered by 25 universities in the UK
Pay · Outlook
- Median full-time pay: £25,434 a year The middle half earn £22,407 to £29,342.
- About 44,300 people work in this job now, and about 48,700 are projected by 2035. (+10%)
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Questions people ask
How do I become a higher level teaching assistant?
Entrants must achieve Higher level Teaching Assistant status. Academic qualifications may be required by some employers and significant relevant experience is usually necessary. NVQs at level 4 are available. A DBS check is mandatory.
How much does a higher level teaching assistant earn in the UK?
Median full-time pay is £25,434 a year (Office for National Statistics). The middle half earn £22,407 to £29,342.
Is a higher level teaching assistant a growing career in the UK?
Yes. Employment is projected to grow 10% by 2035, from about 44,300 to about 48,700 people (Department for Education).
Do you need a degree to become a higher level teaching assistant?
Not always. 41% of people in this job hold a bachelor's degree or higher. Ways in include: Education & Teaching degrees.
Sources
- Office for National Statistics: Annual Population Survey: employment by occupation (April 2025 to March 2026), OGL v3.0, retrieved 2026-10-03
- Office for National Statistics: SOC 2020 Volume 1: structure and descriptions (2026-08-27 edition), OGL v3.0, retrieved 2026-10-03
- Department for Education: Skills Imperative 2035: employment projections by occupation (2021 to 2035 (Warwick IER / Cambridge Econometrics)), OGL v3.0, retrieved 2026-10-03
- Office for National Statistics: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14 (2025 provisional), OGL v3.0, retrieved 2026-10-03
Updated 2026-10-03
Graduate outcomes: Discover Uni dataset, HESA (www.hesa.ac.uk), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0). Aggregated by subject and adapted by Peernovo.