It is essential to have respectful and professional relationship with children and young people, and in the position of a Teaching Assistant; there are various ways which enable such a respected and trusted relationship be recognized. A relationship where a child trusts and respects their TA and feels at ease in their company, allows the TA to propose a compassionate and caring surrounding in which the child can learn and develop. We want to make sure that we make children of all ages, abilities and cultures feel safe and valued.

To get these relationships correct from the start, we have to to establish ground rules and joint respect from the start and converse with pupils the factors that will be vital when working jointly. Listening is debatably the most vital approach to create a respectful and professional relationship with a child or young person. By listening to what a child has to say, shows them that they can trust you and can trust that you won’t judge and listen intently. Also listening to a child explain themselves, or defend themselves, it’s important that they know you will listen to them and hear them out.

For example, if there has been a fight between two pupils, it’s best to first separate the two then sit both child A and child B down and listen to their explanation. They should always be reminded that bad behavior and breaking school policy will not be accepted. Furthermore, it’s important that children and young people respect you, and having that respectful relationship will make them want to listen to you when you give them punishment for their actions and rules are set in place for a reason. The TA should then clarify why they believe a rule has been broken and the required punishment.

The TA should always hold on to the schools behavior policy and pursue through with punishments. As a result of doing this, the TA communicates that there are consequences to the choices children make and that the punishment is ‘fair’ in regards to the rule break. It is imperative for the TA to be unswerving in such situations. For instance, if two children were to break the same rule it would be ‘unfair’ to permit one to go unpunished, yet punishes the second child. This would equal to a lack of respect from the children. As well, it would be ‘unfair’ if a TA shows favoritism.

An example would be, if a TA was to let their favorites to ‘get away with’ things that they would normally punish other children for; this is ‘unfair’. Eventually, the relationship that a TA wants to create with all the children is one of trust and respect. A relationship like this cannot be formed if a TA is unfair, incoherent or shows favoritism.