People with these 6 backgrounds can get teaching assistant opportunities easily during admissions at universities in Canada, USA & Europe
Opportunities exist for interested applicants to get teaching assistant roles while studying at universities in Canada, the USA and Europe.
Apart from granting opportunities to foreigners to study in host countries, the universities also provide avenues for applicants to gain needed experience and earn income alongside supporting their living expenses.
Most universities expect foreign students to return to their home countries to put the knowledge acquired to use in their home countries.
Transfer of knowledge requires teaching in tertiary institutions in home countries. In addition to working in teams in other sectors of the economy.
Serving as a teaching assistant provides the needed experience required, in host countries’ approach, to transfer the knowledge to students in home countries whenever a student returns home to lecture.
Backgrounds that get teaching assistant opportunity easily
1. You have a higher degree before applying to study abroad: a teaching assistant opportunity is usually granted to applicants who have higher degrees, masters, MPhil and PhD, before applying to study abroad.
Though the lowest level to do the teaching assistant role is a bachelor’s degree. Reasonably, someone with a postgraduate degree would be preferred to become a teaching assistant for bachelor’s degree students to let a bachelor’s holder become a teaching assistant for a bachelor’s degree.
2. You have held a student leadership position: Whether you are a lecturer/ teacher or a teaching assistant, you are equally a leader. People with previous leadership positions would have developed certain abilities and skills that someone who was never a student leader would have. These abilities include being able to face large crowds of people and being able to respond to unanticipated queries.
3. You have taught before: Teaching is teaching everywhere, especially if you have adopted the best practices in your delivery. The teaching assistant opportunity is not so different from the best teaching practice. Therefore, people who have taught before have a better chance of being given the opportunity to become teaching assistants in Canada, the USA and Europe.
Your precious teaching role could be at any level. However, experience at the post secondary or college or any tertiary level gives you an advantage.
4. You worked in reputable national or international or traceable institutions. Having worked in a widely recognized institution gives you an added advantage. The reason is that most foreign institutions expect you to return home to transfer your knowledge. Transferring the best practice knowledge to a well recognized national institution is a great way for the institution to be sure the opportunity that would be granted to you would end up impacting on your country at large. This is especially important if your institution provides written evidence that they will provide a vacancy for you on your return.
5. You hold executive positions in social or welfare or charity or alumni organizations etc.: The background provides dual benefits to the host universities and the home countries. Knowledge can be shared or transferred anywhere. Therefore, universities believe any knowledge or experience you gain from being a teaching assistant will be shared or transferred to your social cycles, charity groupings or alumni bodies. Also, having been an executive of any social, charity or alumni organization provides you with certain soft skills that you could apply as a teaching assistant.
6. Your career or current job aligns with the program of study you applied for: Teaching assistant jobs is equally an opportunity to continue in your career. This is to ensure you transfer practical knowledge from your career to the classroom as a teaching assistant. This is also to ensure you are a master of the field that will be given to you as a teaching assistant.