Teaching assistant CV with no experience
You can apply for teaching assistant jobs without paid classroom experience. Each school sets its own entry requirements, and GCSE English and maths at grades 9 to 4 are usually expected. Put your time with children first, even if it was unpaid, then show the habits a classroom needs from your other work: patience, clear explanations and careful records.
Already worked in a classroom? See the example built around school roles.
Read the example as text
Profile
Customer service supervisor moving into a teaching assistant role. Volunteers each week as a reading helper in a primary school, listening to Year 2 pupils read and noting their progress for the class teacher. Coaches an under-9s football team. Studying for a Level 2 Certificate in Supporting Teaching and Learning, due to finish in March 2027. Looking for a term-time post in Key Stage 1 or 2.
Experience with children
Volunteer Reading Helper | Harnwood Primary School, Bristol | September 2025–present
Listen to six Year 2 pupils read every Tuesday morning, using the prompts the class teacher gives.
Note what each child read and the words they found hard in their reading record.
Follow the school's volunteer safeguarding procedure and pass any concern to the designated safeguarding lead.
Volunteer Assistant Coach | Bramblefield Juniors FC, Bristol | 2024–present
Help run weekly training for 12 children, setting up drills and making sure everyone gets a turn.
Calm children who are upset after a match and hand each child back to a named parent at collection.
Employment
Customer Service Supervisor | Greenway Supermarket, Bristol | 2019–present
Train new staff one step at a time and check each task before they work alone.
Deal with complaints calmly and agree a fix the customer accepts.
Keep accurate till and stock records and leave clear notes for the next shift.
Retail Assistant | Greenway Supermarket, Bristol | 2016–2019
Qualifications and training
Level 2 Certificate in Supporting Teaching and Learning, in progress (finishing March 2027)
Emergency First Aid at Work (2025)
Safeguarding training for volunteers, Harnwood Primary School (2025)
GCSEs including English (C) and Mathematics (C), Fairmead School, Bristol (2014)
Skills
Explaining a task one step at a time and checking it has been understood
Staying calm with upset or frustrated people
Accurate records and handover notes
Microsoft Word, Excel and Google Workspace
Additional information
Enhanced DBS check completed in 2025 for the volunteer reading role. Available for term-time work, Monday to Friday.
Fictional example for a teaching assistant. Every person and employer in it is invented. Replace every detail with your own.
What schools look for, and where this CV shows it
| The job asks you to | Where this CV shows it |
|---|---|
| Experience of working with children | Weekly reading volunteering and youth football coaching, listed above paid work |
| Watch, record and report the progress pupils make | Reading-record notes for the class teacher and handover notes at work |
| Patience and staying calm in stressful situations | Settling upset children after matches and handling complaints |
| Teach someone how to do something | Training new staff one step at a time and checking each task |
| Keep pupils safe | Volunteer safeguarding training and the school’s procedure followed |
| GCSE English and maths at grades 9 to 4 | Both grades listed as awarded, C under the old letter grades |
The left column follows the National Careers Service job profile for a teaching assistant. Where the advert you are answering words a duty differently, use the advert’s words.
- Profile · 67 words
- Experience with children · 109 words
- Employment · 61 words
- Qualifications and training · 42 words
- Skills · 36 words
- Additional information · 18 words
How to write yours
Put children before your job title
School volunteering, coaching, Scouts or Guides, holiday clubs and childminding go under “Experience with children”, above your paid work, where a school reads first.
Turn your job into classroom tasks
Training a new colleague is close to helping a pupil learn a task. Handling a complaint calmly is close to settling an upset child. Write each bullet so the link is plain.
If you are a parent, list what you did at school
Helping on trips, hearing readers or running a stall at the summer fair are roles you can date and describe. Parenting on its own is not a CV line.
Be exact about courses in progress
Write “in progress” and the month you expect to finish. List a qualification as complete only once you have it.
Checks and qualifications to mention
- GCSE English and maths. Grades 9 to 4 (A* to C) are usually expected. Older letter grades are fine: write them as awarded.
- No classroom time at all? Ask a local primary school about volunteering as a reading helper. The National Careers Service calls volunteering an excellent way to get experience of working with children.
- DBS check. You do not need one to apply; the school arranges an enhanced check as part of hiring. If you already have one from volunteering and it is on the DBS Update Service, say so.
- Apprenticeships. An advanced (Level 3) teaching assistant apprenticeship usually asks for 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4, including English and maths. You train while you are paid.
- Before an interview in England. Read Part one of Keeping Children Safe in Education 2026. All school staff must read it, and you can then say you have.
Putting experience with children first means the paid job sits lower down. Keep its dates and title so a school can still see your work history in order.