The Essential Guide for Experienced Teaching Assistants

Meeting the National Occupational Standards at Level 3

Anne Watkinson

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781317857501
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

This indispensable textbook provides the underpinning knowledge to support all Teaching Assistants working towards Level 3 of the National Occupational Standards.

This new edition incorporates and responds to all new materials and initiatives required to meet the revised and expanded 2007 standards.

The Essential Guide for Experienced Teaching Assistants:

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• actively engages the reader in activities, developing reflective practice while giving the theoretical background to school-based work
• gives insight and information about pupils individual needs
• helps Teaching Assistants develop curriculum-based skills to enable more effective pupil, teacher and classroom support
• emphasises that Teaching Assistants are team members, supporting the school and being supported by the school
• enables Teaching Assistants to operate more independently, using their knowledge and initiative.

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CHAPTER 1

Introduction

The reason for this book

YOUR IMPORTANCE as a teaching assistant (TA) has been recognised over the last ten years and your numbers have increased dramatically. The government has put considerable resources into the recruitment, training and support of systems for professional and career development, including facilitating pathways to teaching for those who wish it. National Occupational Standards (NOS) for Level 2 and Level 3 assistants were introduced in 2001 and a Higher Level Teaching Assistant (HLTA) status introduced in 2003. The rewriting of the NOS (TDA 2007) has coincided with the embedding into schools of a number of important initiatives, so the time is right for second editions of the books to support assistants in their work. This book supports those studying at Level 3.

The first set of standards seemed complicated and were written as a result of study of the varied role of TAs, consultation with focus groups and advisers. The role has not become easier to define in the intervening years: TAs have undertaken more responsibilities as well as operating effectively at the various defined levels. There are now learning mentors, cover supervisors, many specialist TAs and senior TAs in addition to the HLTAs. Although there are still no national qualification requirements for TAs, the value of training and celebrating the training with qualification recognition is recognised increasingly by school staff.

Since the first edition of this book, the literacy and numeracy strategies have gone into secondary schools, and a primary strategy is attempting to give schools greater freedom to define their own curriculum. The very title of the introductory document Excellence and enjoyment (DfES 2003a) indicated the need to release schools from the straitjacket which the subject strategies had become. The secondary curriculum as a whole has been reviewed, the primary curriculum is under review. This emphasis on curriculum content and the accompanying testing regime has narrowed horizons for school teaching staff, but this has not brought about a narrowing for the TAs. Anew Early Years (EY) framework has also started in September 2008. The introduction of Workforce Remodelling (DfES 2003b), an attempt to lighten the workload for teachers, has increased the schools’ dependence on assistance, not only from TAs but also from administrative staff. ICT (information and communication technology) has become increasingly dominant in the last few years, not only because of the development of the technology itself by schools and the general population, but also because of government funding. Most classrooms now have interactive whiteboards, schools and classrooms are linked with the internet through wireless connections, all teachers and some TAs have their own laptops. TAs are now expected to be computer literate and often to communicate with other staff and deal with school matters electronically. Policies and procedures are available on an intranet, along with plans and resources. Much of the government produced support material is now only available on-line.

There has also been a move towards more joined-up thinking between service providers for those dealing with children and young people. Some high-profile child abuse cases, notably that of a little girl, Victoria Climbié, highlighted that lack of communication between Local Authority (LA) departments was a major factor in the failure to support the child. A very important document called Every Child Matters (ECM) (DfES 2004a) outlined the philosophy which was felt desirable. Instead of focusing on the curriculum and its delivery, it focused on the needs and rights of children. Children are defined as those younger than 18 years old. The details of this initiative and its implications for local government, and more particularly for schools and their staff, will permeate this edition. It focuses on the softer outcomes of child care and education rather than hard-edged, testable, target-orientated ones. It underlines the fact that while schools are more than children’s homes and education is more than care, unhappy children cannot learn. Low self-esteem, poverty, ill-health and the like prevent children from reaching their potential. This has now been followed by a ten-year Children’s Plan which ‘aims to make England the best place in the world for children and young people to grow up in’ (DCSF 2007a:5).

The new guidance available on-line from the TDA (Training and Development Agency) (www.tda.gov.uk) written to support the new NOS, emphasises that the standards are written to support the new initiatives and lists the particularly important ones. Along with the major ECM initiative have come several smaller ones which all make their impact felt in schools. Short inspections, focused on the school’s own self-evaluation; moves to look at the value a school adds to its pupils’ achievements rather than crude test and examination result lists; providing for children before and after school hours; attempting to assess for and personalise learning rather than stick with the ‘one size fits all’ model have all contributed to a more autonomous climate for school governance. School budgets have been increased in real terms, enabling them to be more adventurous with staffing and resource provision. School buildings have improved, including making provision for TAs in the staffroom. It is rare now to find the teaching and support staff separation that was common ten years ago, although, sadly, it does still exist.

The National Occupational Standards

The original standards for TAs were consulted on and tried out over a period of well over a year before they were published. These new standards were also widely consulted on and, of course, the experience gained with the original ones was invaluable. The title of the new standards, Supporting teaching and learning in schools (TDA 2007), reflects this better than the job title by which the original standards were known. Teaching/classroom assistant was the generic title used to cover all the variety of names used by schools. The term preferred by the then Department for Education and Skills (DfES 2000) is ‘teaching assistant’, but Scotland, having its own education system, preferred classroom assistant, hence the dual nomenclature in the original standards. The way the TA role fits in with others in schools as it is understood by the TDA is shown in Table 1.1.

TABLE 1.1 The support staff framework as seen by the TDA

Acts of Parliament and codes of practice are sometimes changed for use in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Some differences between the four countries may be noted in the text, for instance in referring to the requirements of the National Curriculum (NC) but not all, so do check if you are not working in England. The other main difference in the development of these new standards was that the management of their development was with the TDA, not the employers’ organisation which is the National Training Organisation for local government employees. This has meant that people involved in teaching and learning were heavily involved from the outset of the revisions. Some of the new units for TAs are in fact not new except to be included in this award. They come from the child care, playwork or social work sectors, for instance, and reflect the diversity of the role a TA can be called upon to play.

NOS are given in different levels corresponding to the National Qualification Framework – see Table 1.2. If you want to know more about this go to www.qca.org.uk where you will find further information and links to awarding bodies. All nationally recognised qualifications (at least in England, Wales and Northern Ireland) now figure somewhere on this framework.

Study for a national vocational qualification (NVQ) at Level 3 equates to that of ‘A’ levels so study at this level should be advanced. It is intended for those working across a range of responsibilities within an institution, able to use their initiative within certain boundaries. Those seeking HLTA status were envisaged to be at a Level 4 ability (second year undergraduate) and any training course should reflect this. Of course the foundation degrees for TAs are at Level 4. Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) implies not only graduate status, but also the professional qualifications needed by a teacher. Some degrees in teacher training institutions lead to the acquisition of both, and some require the recipient to take a further year’s study to obtain a Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) or other teaching qualification. All newly qualified teachers have to undergo a period of at least one year’s induction, which is monitored before they are fully accredited as qualified teachers. More details of these higher levels in the teaching profession can be found at www.tda.gov.uk.

TABLE 1.2 The National Qualifications Framework

It is on this website that you will also find detailed guidance of how to use the STL standards and gain NVQs or equivalent qualifications (TDA 2008). The guidance contains information for aspiring candidates on the actual process of undertaking an NVQ, how the standards match with the current understanding of roles in school, and suggestions for a training needs analysis. It explains things like accreditation of prior learning (APL) – how you can use qualifications you already have towards the qualification including how some Level 2 units transfer to Level 3. There is also guidance on how the standards can be used in schools for advertisement or interview processes or gap analysis in performance reviews.

The standards themselves

The standards are divided into units, some of which are considered essential for any TA in any kind of school. If taking an NVQ, these six units are considered ‘mandatory’. Each level also contains optional units which at Level 3 are grouped in five areas of school work. Candidates for an award have to choose four of these optional units which can come from any group, so long as not more than two come from group 5. Some units appear in both Level 2 and Level 3 such as Keeping children safe [3] and ICT [8].

Each unit starts with a brief summary description of who the unit is for, what it is about, what it contains, what other units the unit in question may be linked to, where it may have originated from and its status in the qualification. Then follows a really useful glossary of terms for the unit. Each unit has at least two elements, and some have three. These are sections covering different aspects of that part of the TA role and they give what you would need to show in order to prove your competence in that area of your work. Each element is subdivided into ‘performance indicators’ which are numbered P1, P2, etc. Each unit also has a list of the knowledge and understanding which you need to know and understand in order to be considered to be working at this level. These are numbered K1, K2, etc. A few of the K indicators are subdivided again into a, b, c, d, etc., parts. Each numbered indicator or criterion defines what has to be evidenced in any qualification process. Some standards also have a separate list of the scope of activity which the standard covers.

In other words, the NOS are very detailed, covering 99 pages for Level 2 and 300 or so for Level 3. Hence they are not reproduced in this book, and you must get a separate copy for yourself from the standards website (www.ukstandards.org.uk). The NOS titles are given in Table 1.3 along with some indication of where you might find material in this book to support the contents. Only the mandatory elements are covered in detail, and thus their titles also appear in Figure 1.1.

Even if you are not going to take the qualification, these standards provide useful reference material and food for thought and discussion. There is much repetition and cross referencing inherent in the standards: for instance, the need for ‘understanding legal frameworks’ or ‘following policies in that area’ or ‘referring to other ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Photographs
• Figures
• Tables
• Abbreviations
• 1: Introduction
• 2: Starting with yourself
• 3: Relationships
• 4: Working in the school team
• 5: Understanding how we develop and learn
• 6: Understanding other aspects of pupils’ development
• 7: Care and support of pupils to enhance development and learning
• 8: Supporting pupils with individual needs
• 9: Supporting bilingual and multilingual pupils
• 10: Supporting teachers in and out of the classroom
• 11: Performance and feedback
• 12: Supporting the curriculum
• 13: Supporting literacy
• 14: Developing numerate pupils
• 15: Thinking ahead
• References
• Index