Teaching Assistants - Advice for students, NQTs, and those who've somehow never had a TA in their class before
For those who don't know, I was a TA before I became a teacher and what I say here is based on a combination of what I would have liked from my teachers as a TA and what I would like as a teacher from my TAs. I would also like to apologise in advance if this reads in terms of "them" and "us", or if it sounds like I'm treating TAs as an inanimate resource, akin to a textbook, or a nice ergonomic chair, that is not my intention at all! TAs are highly valuable members of staff and I am grateful to them for their work.
There's a TL;DR at the end. [NB: I've reached out to some of the TAs I work with for their thoughts and, if necessary, will update the following accordingly.]
Why are they there?
Pretty sure you know why they're there - at least one student in that class has some need that has been deemed as requiring TA support. This could be written into a student's EHCP - the school will provide them with a TA in [lessons] to provide support because of [need] - or it could be that the school has identified a need but the student doesn't have an EHCP, but everyone thought it best if they had a TA anyway. Employing TAs has a cost and therefore the latter doesn't happen as often as maybe it should. You can usually find out the specifics of why a class has a TA by looking at their data - often students marked with an E or a K will have a TA, although this does vary from school to school (I've seen SA and SA+ used instead of K). To find out why a particular student has TA support, you'll probably need to look at their personal information. Sometimes this is on SIMS (other MIS are available) but sometimes your school will have a SEND folder on the system with "lite" details, nothing specific but enough to give you an idea. Generally for specifics you will need to speak to your SEND/support for learning department - this information is, of course, sensitive, and should be stored safely and securely.
Why does it matter?
The reason there is a TA affects what you can reasonably ask them to do. If you have a student who has mobility issues and requires a TA to help them move safely around the school and a classroom, but otherwise has not issues accessing the learning or participating in the class, then you're a bit more free to use the TA within the room as you see fit. Most of the time your students will be in one place, so deploying their TA elsewhere will not remove vital support. If instead, you have a student who, for example, can't read or write properly, then you need to be much more careful about the time the TA spends away from this child.
Okay, so you know why they're there, now what?
Find out which TA and when. You need to know when you're going to have that extra support, and what sort of support it is. Much like teachers, not all TAs are created equal. I have had fantastic TAs who are proactive and engaged and I've also had a TA who spent a lesson filling in their planner while the student they were meant to be supporting engaged with little of the lesson, and instead drew all over the table. Knowing which TA you're getting tells you how much instruction/direction you're going to need to give and you can prepare accordingly.
I have a challenging year 9 group. I see them three periods a week and I get TA support in one of them. I am not going to plan something that needs lots of adult attention for a day when I am on my own. It's not a good idea. Alternatively, I have my year 10 group five periods a week and get TA support in two periods - the TA is there to support a student who uses a wheelchair so I would avoid setting exams/quizzes/tests on those two periods because they won't need to use the support provided so it is a waste and means they miss out on the support at another point when they do actually need it.
How do you find out who and when?
Again, this one comes down to your school. When I was a TA my timetable was shared with the teachers whose classes I would be in. They knew exactly which lessons I would be in and who I was there to support. My current school doesn't do anything like that and we sort of have to try to see if there's any pattern to who is in your room when. But if you have a HoD/dHoD who is receptive to advice from their staff, it is definitely worth asking them to email whoever is in charge of TA timetabling and ask for a copy of the timetable. I say to ask your HoD or their second-in-charge because they can usually get master copies, or at least send one email on behalf of the whole department, rather than the poor timetabler getting bare emails asking for timetables. There is, of course, nothing stopping you asking personally.
Deploying your wonderful TA
Teaching assistants are people. Some are good at their jobs, some are not. Some teachers are good at their jobs, some are not. Teachers go through postgrad training on how to teach and still there are teachers who are not good. TAs don't have to do any specific training on "how to be a TA" [I'm not counting the mandatory safeguarding/PREVENT training that all school staff have to do because it's not specific to being a TA]. My brother is a teaching assistant in a primary school. He was "promoted" from lunchtime supervisor, so his experience is handing out school dinners. When I started as a TA I interviewed on the Friday as a fresh-faced chemistry graduate and started work on the Monday. There was no training. As far as I'm aware, there is no training outside of what is provided on INSET days and CPD evenings. What I'm waffling on about is that it would be unfair to expect that the person who has walked into your classroom instantly knows what you want from them.
We talk a lot about how important routines are for students. We talk about how rough it is on kids to have like 14 different teachers who all want something slightly different. We talk about this. But I have never heard it mentioned how hard it must be for TAs who are in the same position, but are additionally expected to be an authority in the room. We would never expect a student to know exactly what we wanted them to do without telling them, and yet there is this weird idea that you don't have to tell your TA what to do because they're an adult. I have been guilty of this myself in the past. The first time (and the second and the third and the...) time you have a new* TA in your classroom, establish your expectations. Now, obviously you're not going to go about this in the same way as you would if you were directing a student, but the concept is the same. "I would like you to [blah]". What that blah is depends on why the TA is there - do not take support away from a student, whose right it is to be supported, in order to support someone else. But, if, for example, they are there to support a student with their reading but there is no reading right now, then they are essentially free to help refocus a disengaged student, or encourage students to check their answers, or simply be seen as an adult in the room who is keeping an eye on the class. (Interestingly, this approach of TA support for specific students, as opposed to whole-class support is much more common in secondary schools than in primary schools [1], make of that what you will.)
You are both adults. Talk to each other. Find a little sliver of time to talk to them - about expectations, about what you're doing next lesson, about their weekend. It's really hard because everyone is always busy and TAs often finish at or just after the bell rather than hanging around. I would also recommend talking to each other in front of the students so they can see you're "on the same side" for want of a better phrase. As you build up that professional relationship, as you establish your expectations from them they become more autonomous - just like the students, they no longer need you to tell them what to do and how to do it. Things flow better. I think we've all been undermined at some point in our careers by a teaching assistant who permitted a student to do something the student knows you would never allow - when you make your expectations clear, this doesn't happen (at least not as often as it might do otherwise). It also means that you don't have that awkward situation where you smile sweetly and have to work out how to correct the other adult in the room when surrounded by children who are watching to see what you do. (Don't reprimand them in front of the class)
What can the TA do?
What do you want them to do? What is the best use of their skills and time? As a TA, I did a lot of marking. It wasn't necessarily the best use of my time, and I don't think it supported the students, but that's how I was directed. But if the class is doing an exam and the TA is just going to be sat there doing nothing, maybe that is a good use of their time. My advice, in general: talk to them - what do they feel comfortable doing? Is there anything they think they need to do? I've had TAs ask if they could look through student revision guides during exams because they aren't confident with science and would like to have a bit more background so they can support the kids better. Personally, I like it when my TAs circulate and read student work - it keeps the students on task more efficiently than if it's just me. I strongly dislike it when the TA pulls up a chair and sits in it, passively. That is not helping anyone, that's just being an obstruction.
TL;DR
- Find out why you have a TA - check SIMS and/or talk to SEND department
- Find out which TA and when - ask for their timetable, ideally via HoD/2ic so everyone in the department gets the relevant timetable without millions of emails being sent.
- Establish routines and expectations - you wouldn't expect students to know magically what to do, same goes for other adults in your room.
- Work with them to direct them effectively
[1] Deployment of Teaching Assistants in Schools (June 2019) Accessed 13/04/2021: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/812507/Deployment_of_teaching_assistants_report.pdf