Have your say on government e-petitions

Rename Teaching Assistants to Assistant Teachers to fully reflect their roles

Submitted by David Watson on Sunday 22nd March 2026

Published on Friday 24th April 2026

Current status: Open

Open until: Saturday 24th October 2026

Current Signatures: 49
(count is updated approximately hourly)

Relevant Departments

Tagged with

Change ~ Children ~ Education ~ Partner ~ progress ~ Studies ~ system ~ Teachers ~ teaching ~ Teaching Assistants ~ work

Petition Action

Rename Teaching Assistants to Assistant Teachers to fully reflect their roles

Petition Details

The government needs to change the perception of the contribution that Teaching Assistants actually provide to the education system, and better educate parents on the role they play.

Additional Information

We think the simplest way to do this is rename them to Assistant Teachers to better reflect the role they play in class.

My partner often comes home feeling undervalued after a hard day's work at school, only to hear hurtful comments like, "you're just an assistant, you don't teach." This is not only misleading but sorely underestimates the vital role that teaching assistants play in the educational system. We feel we must change the perception of the pivotal role they play in our children's education.

A study has found that the presence of teaching assistants can improve pupil progress.


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216.73.217.179 Tue, 23 Jun 2026 08:17:56 +0100