Peter Blatchford

Rob Webster

Anthony Russell

Maximising the Impact of Teaching Assistants: Guidance for school leaders and teachers

Anke A. de Boer

This book offers the first collection of international academic writing on the topic of teaching assistants. It serves as an indicative summary of current research and thinking in this field and as a point of departure for future research and development. With contributions from leading researchers, the book draws together empirical work on the deployment and impact of teaching assistants from various perspectives and from a range of methodological approaches. It highlights and celebrates the vital everyday contributions teaching assistants make to their schools and their communities: from their role within classrooms, to their moment-by-moment interactions with pupils and teachers. The book examines the effect that teaching assistants can have on pupils’ learning and wellbeing, and considers issues of over-dependence on classroom paraprofessionals and the unintended consequences to which this can lead. Bringing together work from a journal special issue with brand-new and updated chapters, the contributions offer insight into the liminal space between educator, caregiver, behaviour manager, and facilitator of learning and of peer relations, which characterizes the teaching assistant role. This timely and important book will be essential reading for academics, researchers, and students interested in special educational needs, disability, and inclusion, and those interested in the wider topic of paraprofessionals in labour markets.

International Perspectives on the Role of Paraprofessionals in Schools

Teaching Assistants, Inclusion and Special Educational Needs

"This highly relevant handbook addresses and discusses a key period of change to the educational landscape with regard to the increased use of support staff. By highlighting the central problems found in every day classrooms, the authors argue that it is not individual Teaching Assistants who are at fault, but systemic school and classroom factors within which Teaching Assistants operate and over which they have little or no control. Based on results from the authors' pioneering research project, the 'Deployment and Impact of Support Staff' (DISS) which for the first time ever, studied in detail the impact of Teaching Assistants on pupils and teachers, this handbook provides essential, practical information and tools to allow schools to conduct a fundamental review of current practice and provide a framework for reforming methods of support staff deployment. As a pressing need emerges for clear, well-informed guidance on effective ways of deploying and preparing Teaching Assistants and teachers, current methods are also re-evaluated in order for school managers to realise and unleash the huge potential of Teaching Assistants working in mainstream schools"--

Guidance for School Leaders and Teachers

Maximising the Impact of Teaching Assistants

Teaching assistants are an integral part of classroom life, yet pioneering research by the authors has shown schools are not making the most of this valued resource. Evidence shows the more support pupils receive from TAs, the less academic progress they made. Yet the reason for this has little to do with TAs. It is decisions made about them by school leaders and teachers that best explain this provocative finding. The fully updated second edition of this book draws on the experiences of schools that have put this guidance into action via the Maximising the Impact of Teaching Assistants programme. Revised to reflect the latest research evidence and changes within education, including the 2014 SEND Code of Practice, this book will help school leaders and teachers in primary and secondary settings to rethink the role, purpose and contribution of TAs, and add real value to what can be achieved in classrooms. Setting out a field-tested process, structured around a coherent and empirically sound conceptual framework, this book: helps school leaders review, reform and reenergise their TA workforce provides practical strategies to implement in the classroom illustrates key points with new case studies provides photocopiable templates and resources to support decision-making and action. Maximising the Impact of Teaching Assistants provides much-needed and evidence-informed guidance on how to unleash the huge potential of TAs, and is essential reading for all school leaders.

Guidance for school leaders and teachers

Inclusion conjures images of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) learning in classes alongside peers in a mainstream school. For pupils in the UK with high-level SEND, who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (formerly a Statement), this implies an everyday educational experience similar to that of their typically-developing classmates. Yet in vital respects, they are worlds apart. Based on the UK’s largest observation study of pupils with high-level SEND, The Inclusion Illusion exposes how attendance at a mainstream school is no guarantee of receiving a mainstream education. Observations of nearly 1,500 lessons in English schools show that their everyday experience of school is characterised by separation and segregation. Furthermore, interviews with nearly 500 pupils, parents and school staff reveal the effect of this marginalisation on the quality of their education. The way schools are organised and how classrooms are composed creates a form of ‘structural exclusion’ that preserves mainstream education for typically-developing pupils and justifies a diluted pedagogical offer for pupils with high-level SEND. Policymakers, not mainstream schools, are indicted over this state of affairs. This book prompts questions about what we think inclusion is and what it looks like. Ultimately, it suggests why a more authentic form of inclusion is needed, and how it might be achieved. Praise for The Inclusion Illusion 'This timely book presents clear challenges to the limits placed on progress for children with SEND in mainstream schools. It stands alongside calls, back to Warnock’s vision of every teacher being a teacher of SEN, for an end to “exclusion within inclusion”. It urges us to develop all staff to fulfil their roles with pupils with SEND. Acknowledging the value of TAs, it urges schools to ensure children who most need a teacher, get the teacher. Based on rigorous research, it rightly calls for bravery. For honesty. For action.' Professor Maggie Atkinson, Safeguarding consultant, adviser and leader, and Children’s Commissioner for England (2009–2015)'This is an important and valuable book which … has the potential to improve the educational experiences of pupils with significant learning and related difficulties. It combines an insightful account of the many issues and difficulties surrounding inclusion with a rigorous analysis of the outcomes and implications of large scale empirical work.' Professor Paul Croll, University of Reading 'I love this book! It tackles the structural challenges of inclusion head on and sets out what must change to create a fairer future for children with SEND. This is essential reading for all evidence-led school leaders, teachers and policymakers who believe in better.' Margaret Mulholland, SEND and Inclusion Policy Specialist, Association of School and College Leaders 'Rob Webster has deepened our understanding of how mainstream schools fail to address the needs of children with SEND. Distilling the crucial insights from years of work, he has thrown down a challenge to policymakers that for many children with SEND, simply having a mainstream placement is not the same as inclusion. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in what needs to change to ensure better futures for children with SEND in mainstream schools.' Brian Lamb OBE, Visiting Professor of Special Educational Needs and Disability, Derby University "This book brilliantly demonstrates the kind of education children with special educational needs in mainstream classroom, with the legal entitlement of an Education, health and care Plan actually experience. Despite talk of inclusion the classroom settings and organisation ensure that the children are excluded and marginalised from actual mainstream teaching. The over- use of Teaching Assistants, however well intentioned, is no substitute for the attention of qualified teachers. There is a separation in mainstream classes that ensures that inclusion is indeed an illusion. The book should be read by all teachers, parents and policy makers who care about the education of all children, not just those who are regarded as 'typical' or non-problematic." Professor Sally Tomlinson PhD FRSA

How children with special educational needs experience mainstream schools

The Inclusion Illusion

Paula Bosanquet

Julie Radford

"This second edition of The Teaching Assistant's Guide to Effective Interaction is the definitive guide to teaching assistant-pupil interaction, fully updated with examples from schools that have implemented techniques from the first edition. An invaluable professional development tool for classroom support staff and the teachers who work with them, this new edition answers the need for specific, practical guidance on the role of the teaching assistant. This practical and accessible guide sets out a role for teaching assistants that focuses on developing pupils' independence and ownership of learning, with key learning points now summarised in each chapter. Based on a classroom-tested framework and covering the main contexts in which teaching assistants work, it includes a range of strategies and reflective activities to help improve the support provided to pupils in everyday settings. This book sets out successful strategies for: Responding to additional needs, Understanding the principles behind effective classroom talk, Carefully scaffolding pupils' learning. Delivering intervention programmes The Teaching Assistant's Guide to Effective Interaction is an essential read for all teaching assistants and will also be of interest to school leaders, SENCOs and teachers in both primary and secondary schools who wish to improve their deployment of teaching assistants and their own interactions with pupils. Used in combination with Maximising the Impact of Teaching Assistants in Primary Schools, The Teaching Assistant's Guide to Effective Interaction is a comprehensive and unrivalled resource for supporting school workforce improvement"--

How to Maximise Your Practice

The Teaching Assistant's Guide to Effective Interaction

Teaching assistants have become an integral part of classroom life, yet pioneering research by the authors has shown that school leaders and teachers are not making the most of this valued resource. Results from the Deployment and Impact of Support Staff (DISS) project showed that the more support pupils received from teaching assistants, the less academic progress they made. Yet it is not decisions made by the teaching assistants themselves, but decisions made by school leaders and teachers about how their support staff are used and prepared, which explains these provocative results. Prompted by the wake-up call the DISS project findings provided, this timely book of guidance will help school leaders and teachers in primary and secondary schools improve the way they use teaching assistants, and will add real value to what can be achieved in the classroom. Based on the authors’ collaborative work with schools in the Effective Deployment of Teaching Assistants (EDTA) project, this book provides essential, practical tools and classroom-tested strategies that will allow schools to conduct a fundamental review of current practice and provides a framework for reforming teaching assistant deployment and preparation, and the way they interact with pupils. Maximising the Impact of Teaching Assistants provides much-needed and well-informed guidance on how to unleash the huge potential of teaching assistants working in schools and is essential reading for all school leaders.

Matthew Parker

Sally Franklin

Drawing on the lessons from one of the world’s leading research and development efforts involving teaching assistants (TAs), this book is the authors’ most authoritative text yet on how to design a whole school plan to improve TAs’ deployment, practice and preparedness, and put it into action. The authors use robust theories and original research to explore an innovative and integrated approach to making the most of TAs, and recognising the valuable contributions they make to the classroom and the school. Structured around a unique and empirically sound conceptual framework, this book provides essential principles, practical tools and workable strategies, developed through collaboration with hundreds of UK schools. It focuses on ensuring TAs can thrive in their role, and presents the tools and techniques needed to do so accessibly, and is illustrated with case studies on school and classroom practices. Essential reading for all primary school leaders and SENCOs responsible for training and managing TAs, this book is also a useful resource for teachers and teaching assistants looking to optimise the TAs’ contributions. Used in combination with The Teaching Assistant’s Guide to Effective Interaction, Maximising the Impact of Teaching Assistants in Primary Schools is a comprehensive and unrivalled guide to supporting school workforce improvement.

A Practical Guide for School Leaders

Maximising the Impact of Teaching Assistants in Primary Schools

Marking the 40th anniversary of the Warnock Enquiry (1978) into special education in the UK and capturing the coverage of a public debate on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) hosted by the University College London Institue of Education (2018), this volume explores the legacy of the Enquiry, considering how it has impacted on policy and practice relating to SEND and inclusion, and how it will continue to do so. Offering historical perspectives and drawing on professional and personal experiences, high-profile contributors, including practitioners, researchers, campaigners and parents, reflect on the approaches taken during the Warnock Enquiry and consider how successfully recommendations have been implemented. Reviewing conceptional and practical territory covered by the Warnock committee, and assessing the current state of the inclusion and education of young people with SEND in the UK, the text sets out broad, evidence-based principles for rethinking inclusive practice and explores topics including: the purposes, contribution and impacts of the Warnock Enquiry rights-based approaches to the education of children with SEND past and present dialogue between mainstream and specialist settings challenges faced by parents of children with SEND implications of the Enquiry for initial teacher training perceptions of SEND in the media the relevance of the Enquiry to policy and practice in the years ahead. This invaluable text will widen current debates by exploring how persistent problems relating to inclusion and the education of children and young people with SEND might be resolved. It is an essential read for researchers, educationalists, practitioners and families involved in the education of children with SEND.

How Far Have We Come Since the Warnock Enquiry – and Where Do We Go Next?

Including Children and Young People with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities in Learning and Life

Over the last decade, teaching assistants (TAs) have become an established part of everyday classroom life. TAs are often used by schools to help low-attaining pupils and those with special educational needs. Yet despite the huge rise in the number of TAs working in UK classrooms, very little is known about their impact on pupils. This key and timely text examines the impact of TAs on pupils’ learning and behaviour, and on teachers and teaching. The authors present the provocative findings from the ground-breaking and seminal Deployment and Impact of Support Staff (DISS) project. This was the largest, most in-depth study ever to be carried out in this field. It critically examined the effect of TA support on the academic progress of 8,200 pupils, made extensive observations of nearly 700 pupils and over 100 TAs, and collected data from over 17,800 questionnaire responses and interviews with over 470 school staff and pupils. This book reveals the extent to which the pupils in most need are let down by current classroom practice. The authors present a robust challenge to the current widespread practices concerning TA preparation, deployment and practice, structured around a conceptually and empirically strong explanatory framework. The authors go on to show how schools need to change if they are to realise the potential of TAs. With serious implications not just for classroom practice, but also whole-school, local authority and government policy, this will be an indispensable text for primary, secondary and special schools, senior management teams, those involved in teacher training and professional development, policy-makers and academics.

How research challenges practice and policy

Reassessing the Impact of Teaching Assistants

The Teaching Assistant’s Guide to Effective Interaction is the definitive guide to teaching assistant-pupil interaction and an invaluable professional development tool for classroom support staff and the teachers who work with them. The authors’ research and development work with schools has highlighted the need for specific, practical guidance on the role of the teaching assistant. This highly practical and accessible book sets out a role for teaching assistants that focuses on developing pupils’ independence and ownership of learning. Based on a classroom-tested framework, and covering the main contexts in which teaching assistants work, it includes practical strategies and reflective activities to help you improve the support you provide to pupils in everyday settings. This book will help you to: Improve your interactions with pupils Understand the principles behind effective classroom talk Carefully scaffold pupils’ learning Work effectively in collaboration with teachers Support the Assessment for Learning process Support group work and collaborative tasks Deliver intervention programmes. This book is an essential read for all teaching assistants. It will also be of interest to school leaders, SENCos and teachers, in both primary and secondary schools, who wish to improve their use of teaching assistants and their own interactions with pupils.

Rob Webster

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