Teaching Assistants, Preschool, Elementary, Middle, and Secondary School, Except Special Education
Assist a preschool, elementary, middle, or secondary school teacher with instructional duties. Serve in a position for which a teacher has primary responsibility for the design and implementation of educational programs and services.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Social Perceptiveness
- Reading Comprehension
- Speaking
- Coordination
- Service Orientation
- Writing
- Critical Thinking
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- Psychology
- Mathematics
- Education and Training
- Public Safety and Security
- Administrative
- Sociology and Anthropology
What the work involves
- Attend staff meetings and serve on committees, as required.
- Clean classrooms.
- Conduct demonstrations to teach skills, such as sports, dancing, and handicrafts.
- Discuss assigned duties with classroom teachers to coordinate instructional efforts.
- Distribute teaching materials, such as textbooks, workbooks, papers, and pencils, to students.
- Enforce administration policies and rules governing students.
- Instruct and monitor students in the use and care of equipment and materials to prevent injuries and damage.
- Laminate teaching materials to increase their durability under repeated use.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Social, Conventional, Enterprising.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (27.1% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (40.9%)
- On-the-job training
- Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month (90.4%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 3: Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Teaching Assistants, Preschool, Elementary, Middle, and Secondary School, Except Special Education is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
- Projection education uses SOC 25-9042 (exact); it may describe a broader group.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0) · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very high | Higher on contact with others than 93% of occupations compared | 92% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Low | Lower on dealing with the public than 61% of occupations compared | — |
| Teamwork | Very high | Higher on teamwork than 84% of occupations compared | 69% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 91% of occupations compared | 36% of surveyed respondents chose “Very little freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very low | Lower on time pressure than 98% of occupations compared | 35% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Conflict situations | High | Higher on conflict situations than 65% of occupations compared | 31% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Moderate | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 51% of occupations compared | 45% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Consequence of error | Low | Lower on consequence of error than 64% of occupations compared | 59% of surveyed respondents chose “Serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very low
- Conflict situations: high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: moderate
- Consequence of error: low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 1.07%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 7.14%
- Constant contact with others: 91.79%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2024
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 7.59%
- Fairly important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Important: 14.85%
- Very important: 2.63%
- Extremely important: 34.16%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2024
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 5.57%
- Very important: 25.27%
- Extremely important: 69.16%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2024
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 36.32%
- Limited freedom: 18.4%
- Some freedom: 15.51%
- A lot of freedom: 29.77%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2024
Time pressure
- Never: 21.28%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 32.71%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 35.24%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 1.45%
- Every day: 9.32%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2024
Conflict situations
- Never: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a year or more but not every month: 21.82%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 21.58%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 5.74%
- Every day: 30.66%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2024
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a year or more but not every month: 44.54%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 3.21%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 7.22%
- Every day: 25.45%
n = 21, Incumbent 08/2024
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 20.73%
- Fairly serious: 7.85%
- Serious: 59.32%
- Very serious: 5.63%
- Extremely serious: 6.47%
n = 22, Incumbent 08/2024
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O*NET-SOC 25-9042.00 · SOC 25-9042 (exact, low confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8