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This Friday, state and federal education ministers\u00a0will meet<\/a>\u00a0for the first time since the federal election.<\/p>\n The stakes are high. Ministers meet as\u00a0teacher shortages<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0workload pressures<\/a>\u00a0are dominating education headlines and\u00a0severely stressing schools<\/a>. We need to address teacher supply concerns and better support the teachers who are already in schools.<\/p>\n But as our new research shows, we can\u2019t just focus on teachers. We also need to look at teaching assistants, who often fly under the radar, but represent a significant part of the workforce.<\/p>\n Teaching assistants work across all school sectors \u2013 government, independent and Catholic.<\/p>\n They can do a variety of tasks, from helping teachers prepare lessons and delivering targeted literacy and numeracy support to maintaining student records and supporting students with additional intellectual, physical or behavioural needs.<\/p>\n Teaching assistants are generally required to have a\u00a0certificate III or IV<\/a>\u00a0in school-based education support (or similar), which takes between six to 12 months to complete and can be done at TAFE or other registered training organisations. Their titles vary by state and territory and include education aides, integration aides, school learning support officers or school services officers.<\/p>\nWho are teaching assistants?<\/strong><\/h4>\n