Working with teaching assistants

The effective management of teaching assistants to improve standards in literacy and mathematics

Ref: DfES 1228-2005
Date of issue: 03-2005

Aimed at helping primary school senior management teams to evaluate their current practice and to develop the role of teaching assistants in order to have a positive impact on:

effective inclusion
children’s achievements and attitudes
teacher workload
continuing professional development of TAs

Links to Cycle for school improvement as recommended by Ofsted

DVD (contains clips to illustrate good practice) and accompanying notes in A4 booklet, looking at:

school self-evaluation grid
leadership and management of TAs
provision mapping (with example provided)
continuing professional development for TAs
focused support for children and the use of intervention programmes
joint planning between teachers and TAs and reviewing progress
monitoring the impact of TA support
performance management

Booklet provides information and discussion points for each area, plus notes on case studies and information on further resources.

Further useful documents:

Working with Teaching Assistants – A good practice guide
Ref DfES 0148/2000

Supporting Pupils with Special Educational Needs in the Literacy Hour
Ref: DfEE 0101/2000

Guidance to support pupils with specific needs in the daily mathematics lesson
Ref: DfES 0545/2001

Lesson prompts for teaching assistants (word)
An observation checklist for teaching assistants.

Effective deployment of teaching assistants - Ealing's good guide practice

Training for Teaching Assistants

In-house (SENCO/LA)

Training sessions at Ealing Education Centre:

DfEE Induction Course
NVQ2
NVQ3

Details of these courses can be obtained from Sukhvir Kang (CPD administrator – non-teaching staff) at EEC Tel: (020) 8578 7943

Higher Level Teaching Assistant (HLTA)
For this you will need to have been a classroom assistant for two years and have English and Maths GCSEs or O-levels. (If you do not have these, you can attend a course at Uxbridge College)
Details obtainable from Tina Birch (principal officer CPD and training) at EEC Tel: (020) 8578 6154