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- This article is about teaching assistants in higher education. For teaching assistants in UK schools, see Teaching assistant (United Kingdom).
A teaching assistant (TA) is a junior scholar employed on a temporary contract by a college or university for the purpose of assisting a professor by teaching students in recitation or discussion sessions, holding office hours, grading homework or exams, supervising labs (in science and engineering courses), and sometimes teaching classes, among other duties. In some universities (such as the University of Michigan), they are known as Graduate Student Instructors (GSIs). In New Zealand, Australian, and some Canadian Universities they are known as tutors.
Depending on the institution or department, a TA can be either a graduate or undergraduate student. Typically undergraduate TAs have taken the course they are assisting in, often with the same professor, and performed well in it. This case is less common for graduate students, since many would have been undergraduates at other institutions. Unlike professors, TAs generally do not have a fixed salary but are either paid by the hour, earn credit hours, or volunteer their time.
Some high schools and middle schools also offer as a course the opportunity for students to be a TA for a teacher (assigned to them or chosen by the student). The purpose of these courses is to introduce students into the aspects of a career in education as well as to give teachers help in grading papers and performing other duties, although they are often not labor intensive classes and may be taken by students simply for their ease. Students who participate in these TA programs receive a course grade based on feedback from the teacher they assist.
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"Teaching assistant"