Career Advice

How to show initiative in education assistant work

Added to the archive on 15 November 2026.

Use a small improvement to show you can act within your responsibilities.

A good example of initiative starts with a problem you noticed in day-to-day work. In school support, it might be something that keeps interrupting progress around classroom materials and activity schedules. Think about what you could improve without waiting for a major process change.

Test the idea on a small scale

For example, adapt an activity checklist so the next person can find the missing detail. Ask before changing anything used by the team. Keep the original version until your supervisor is happy with the change. Afterwards, explain what the change made faster or clearer using a specific observation.