Teaching Tips: Working with Teaching And Classroom Assistants
Teaching Tips: Working with Teaching And Classroom Assistants
Having support staff in a classroom can seem to be a godsend to a new teacher. It can be seen as an obvious fix to some of the most pressing needs in the classroom. Yet research shows that a lot of the time, having teaching assistants actually has a detrimental effect on progress. So, how can new teachers make effective use of teaching assistants?
To start with, we will make it clear that not every school uses Teaching Assistants in classrooms. Alternative management strategies work very well in some schools: perhaps other schools ought to look at these types of model? One examle is exlained in the linked article below:
Why my school doesn’t have #TAs and what we do instead. http://inco14.wordpress.com #education #SEND #inclusion
That approach works well at that school. However, for the new teacher, the decisions over that sort of deployment are some way into the future. If you have Teaching or Classroom Assistants, you need to work with them effectively.
What doesn’t work?
Your aims as a teacher will include wider objectives such as developing independent learning skills; developing social skills and encouraging active listening and participation.
What is the easiest way of preventing any of those from happening for a pupil with additional needs?
Simply plonk a teaching assistant next to them. They will instantly stop listening attentively, expect ‘support’ , and end up engaging with the adults in the room, rather than their peers. This not only holds them back but it ostracises them and, in the case of pupils with low self esteem, can simply re-enforce the problems.
How you address this is very much a personal decision and one that will reflect the personalities and strengths of the teacher and assistant. I advocated having such assistants attached to faculties, rather than individual pupils. This allowed colleagues to work in areas where they had a particular skill or interest and built close working relationships. Where this was possible, it was virtually team teaching with a good classroom assistant available. The starter and plenary could – and usually would – involve both the teacher and the support staff. This could be as simple as the teacher asking pupils to talk the assistant through how to solve a problem on the board, with the assistant doing the board work and the teacher asking questions, fielding them and directing the session. The main body of the lesson could have groups working with the teacher or teaching assistant, with the other aiding the rest of the class. This allows specific focus on issues and will enable a less invasive intervention for any pupil who has a specific need in that lesson. The involvement at that level requires an environment in which the assistants can participate in planning. Otherwise it will fall short.
Of course, that is not always possible. School policy will determine how the teaching assistants are deployed. It is up to you to work with them to make sure that the relationship works most effectively in your classroom.
Share planning.
Involve them in ways other than simply helping pupil x, y or z.
Discuss the pupils’ level of independence and ‘negotiate’ no help slots – ie see how they cope on their own!
Where practical, and suitable based on need, have teaching assistant involvement in teacher led sections away from the side of the pupil – they could take on the role of noting key points, for example.
The vast majority of teaching assistants I worked with were fantastic. They enhanced learning and had a hugely positive impact. I was lucky in that the ones I had when I started teaching were experienced, trained well and assertive: with me as much as with the pupils! On my travels as an AST I sadly saw the opposite quite a lot. This was mainly because the staff were not deployed to any real effect.
There are lots of online guides to using teaching assistants. Many are in response to criticisms of their impact that were noted in a report last year.
