- Title: Deployment of Teaching Assistants
- Authors: EEF
- Access the original paper here
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Paper summary
This Education Endowment Foundation report offers guidance on the effective deployment of teaching assistants (TAs) in mainstream schools to enhance teaching and learning. It emphasizes that TAs should supplement, not replace, teachers, ensuring all students, especially those needing more support, have access to high-quality instruction. The report provides recommendations for strategic TA deployment, focusing on scaffolding learning, delivering evidence-based interventions, and ensuring adequate preparation and training for all staff. It further stresses the importance of school leaders fostering a culture of effective TA integration through clear roles, ongoing communication, and a shared understanding of best practices to improve pupil outcomes. Ultimately, the guidance aims to maximize the positive impact of TAs within a framework that supports inclusive and high-quality education for every student.
What are the key implications for teachers in the classroom?
Based on the guidance report, the deployment of teaching assistants has several key implications for teachers in the classroom:
- Teachers retain primary responsibility for the learning of all pupils, especially low-prior-attaining pupils and pupils with SEND. This means that even when TAs are providing support, the teacher remains accountable for the progress of every student in their class.
- Teachers need to work collaboratively with TAs to ensure access to high-quality teaching for all pupils. This requires a strategic approach to classroom organisation that prioritises teamwork and ongoing communication.
- Teachers and TAs must have clear and complementary roles within the classroom to support high-quality teaching. Teachers need to establish a shared understanding with TAs about their respective roles in supporting pupil progress.
- Teachers should provide TAs with the necessary information and resources to effectively support learning. This includes sharing lesson plans, key vocabulary, prompt questions, and modelled examples. If TAs are supporting specific pupils, teachers should provide information about these pupils and how to best support them.
- Teachers should work with TAs to ensure that TAs supplement, not replace, the teacher. Pupils who struggle most should spend at least as much time with the teacher as other pupils, if not more.
- Teachers can utilise TAs to improve access to high-quality teaching for all pupils in various ways, such as TAs circulating to identify pupils needing extra help, supervising peer learning activities, or overseeing one group while the teacher works with another.
- When TAs deliver structured interventions, teachers need to ensure these interventions are linked to classroom learning. Teachers should have clear oversight of out-of-class interventions and consolidate the learning in the classroom. They should also engage in ‘bridging’ practices with TAs to help pupils connect their learning.
- Teachers need to be aware of practices that might inhibit pupil learning when working with TAs, such as pupils becoming over-dependent on TA support or spending excessive time away from the classroom.
- Teachers should be trained to work effectively alongside TAs. Professional development for teachers can include training in curriculum adaptation, using different strategies or interventions, and developing their understanding of pupil needs. This should empower teachers to retain responsibility for all learners, including those with SEND.
- Teachers and TAs should engage in live assessment to identify which pupils need further support. This ongoing assessment can inform how the teacher and TA adapt their support within the lesson.
- Teachers need to collaborate with TAs to prepare for lessons. Leaders should consider developing guidelines on how teachers and TAs are expected to communicate and prepare.
- Teachers should work with TAs to develop pupils’ independence through effective scaffolding techniques, gradually reducing support as pupils become more confident.
In essence, the guidance emphasizes that effective TA deployment requires teachers to be strategic in how they work with TAs, ensuring that TAs enhance their ability to provide high-quality teaching to all students, rather than taking over the teacher’s core responsibilities.
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What is one key quote from the paper that encapsulates the most important takeaway?
