Making the Most Effective Use of Teaching Assistants in School
Here Martin Cain poses some questions for schools that they can use to evaluate their deployment of teaching assistants.
Background
The growth in the numbers of teaching assistants has been driven by the implementation of The National Agreement (2003). This has helped to raise standards and tackle excessive teacher workload as well as to help pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) get into mainstream schools. Teaching assistants often provide the key means by which inclusion is facilitated. Given that SEN pupils and low-attaining pupils are also more likely to come from disadvantaged backgrounds, teaching assistants also often work more closely with pupils from low-income backgrounds and represent one of the most common uses of the pupil premium funding in schools.
Are teaching assistants used as an informal teaching resource for low attaining pupils?
Research suggests that some schools have drifted into a situation in which TA’s are often used as an informal instructional resource for pupils in most need. This has the effect of separating pupils from the classroom, their teachers and their peers. Although this has happened with the best of intentions, school leaders should review the roles of teaching assistants and take a wider view of how they can support learning and improve attainment throughout the school.
Do teaching assistants add value to what teachers do, rather than replace them?
If teaching assistants have a direct instructional role, it is important they add value to the work of the teacher and not replace them. Schools should try and organise staff so that the pupils who struggle the most have as much time with their teachers as others. Breaking away from a model of deployment where teaching assistants are assigned to specific pupils for long periods requires a more strategic approach to classroom organisation.
To what extent do teaching assistants help pupils develop independent learning skills and manage their own learning?
Teaching assistants should be trained to avoid prioritising task completion and instead to concentrate on helping pupils to develop ownership of tasks and aim first to give them the least amount of help. Pupils should be allowed sufficient wait time to allow them the opportunity to respond to a question or attempt the relevant stage of a task independently. Teaching assistants should intervene appropriately only when pupils demonstrate they are unable to proceed.
Does the school ensure that teaching assistants are fully prepared for their role in the classroom?
Schools should provide sufficient time for training and for teachers and teaching assistants to meet outside of the classroom to facilitate the necessary lesson preparation and feedback. Creative ways of ensuring this include adjusting teaching assistants’ working hours (for example, start early or finish early), using assembly time and arranging for them to join teachers for an appropriate proportion of their PPA time. Teachers should ensure that they provide teaching assistants with the following essential ‘need to knows’ ahead of lessons:
- Concepts, facts and information being taught;
- The skills to be learned, applied, practised or extended;
- The intended learning outcomes; and
- Feedback that is required or expected.
Best Practice
It has always been best practice for schools to review their behaviour policy on an annual basis to ensure it is in line with statutory requirements, any new guidance and to also review what they are doing to create a culture of positive behaviour. There is a duty on schools to consult with parents and pupils when reviewing their policy and many now include both parent and pupil surveys and an Equalities Impact Assessment as part of this process.
Legislative Changes
The guidance sets out legislative changes to expand the headteacher’s duty to inform, where relevant, social workers and virtual school heads if a child in their care has been permanently excluded and to notify local authorities of all temporary suspensions immediately. The requirement for the headteacher to do this should be written into the behaviour policy and any other related policies, for example looked after children and young carer policies.
Are teaching assistants used to deliver high quality one-to-one and small group support using structured interventions?
There is a great deal of evidence which shows that when teaching assistants are appropriately trained by schools to deliver high quality structured one-on-one or small-group interventions, they can typically add 3-4 additional months of educational progress for struggling pupils, compared with the more standard or traditional ways of deploying them. Crucially, these positive effects are only observed when teaching assistants work in structured settings.
Are evidence-based interventions adopted to support teaching assistants in their small group and one-to-one instruction?
- Sessions are often brief (20–50 minutes), occur regularly (3–5 times per week) and are maintained over a sustained period (8–20 weeks). Careful timetabling is in place to enable this consistent delivery;
- Teaching assistants receive extensive training (at least 5 hours per intervention);
- All interventions have structured supporting resources, lesson plans and clear objectives which are closely followed by teaching assistants;
- Assessments are forensically used to identify the appropriate pupils in need of support, guide areas for focus and track their progress. This will help to inform effective interventions as the right support will be provided to the right pupil; and
- Appropriate and relevant connections are made between the learning in the intervention and classroom teaching.
Are explicit connections made between learning from everyday classroom teaching and structured interventions?
Interventions should not be seen as separate from classroom activities but a lack of time for teachers and teaching assistants to liaise can sometimes mean that there can be relatively little connection between what pupils experience in and outside of their lessons. The key is to ensure that learning in interventions is clearly consistent with, connects to and indeed extends work inside the classroom and that pupils understand the links between them. It should not be assumed that pupils can consistently identify and make sense of these links on their own.