Teaching assistants should support not replace teachers, says charity

Evidence is mixed when it comes to assessing the impact that teaching assistants (TAs) have on tackling the attainment gap.

Recent research by education charity the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) found that TAs had "little or no impact on outcomes" for disadvantaged pupils, according to its senior researcher Jonathan Sharples.

With schools spending £4bn a year employing them through their Pupil Premium budget, the EEF has produced guidance for schools on how to use the UK's 243,700 TAs most effectively.

The guide, Making the most of teaching assistants, is being backed with £5m to implement its recommendations in hundreds of primary schools throughout Yorkshire.

Alongside this, the EEF has published the findings from two programmes that looked at utilising the skills of TAs more effectively (see box).

The guide, aimed at head teachers in primary and secondary schools, recommends how to use TAs inside and outside the classroom to best effect, drawing on six different interventions.

It advices that TAs should support the teacher's work, not replace it, and that TA's work should always be structured and planned.

TAs should also support pupils to take responsibility for their own learning, for example by giving them the time needed to find the right answer themselves.

Supporting teachers

Sharples refers to the "separation effect", where children miss out on teaching in the classroom and interactions with classmates as a result of the amount of time spent with a TA. He says there should be "less time for the TA with disadvantaged children to enable teachers to spend more time with them".

"There is a compelling argument that teachers should be working with low-attaining children," he adds.

The purpose of TAs is to supplement the support given by the teacher, he says. Part of this is teaching TAs how they can "work with pupils to develop skills that give them more independence, asking more open-ended questions and giving them more time".

The guidance also states that TAs should be adequately trained and prepared.

"TAs often need the right support and training. Schools need to find the time for TAs and teachers to meet, and time for TAs to get training - this is patchy across the country."

The advice, Sharples says, is not specifically aimed at narrowing the attainment gap, but if the guidance is followed, this can be can achieved.
 
"It's about getting teachers to work more with low attaining pupils. Do this and it will improve the attainment of low-attaining pupils."

The guide will also help teachers understand "how to best use TAs" Sharples explains. "It's about ensuring the right environment for them to work together," he says.  

"The responsibility for lower attaining pupils should nudge more towards teachers. Not completely - TAs have a key role in supporting children - but we're saying that the prime responsibility for teaching all children is the teacher, and use the TA to support that to happen with fluidity."

However, Jon Richards, head of education and children's services at Unison, says some of the report's recommendations leave him "uncomfortable" because it could be seen as "blaming" TAs, who are not culpable.

"TAs come to us and want training; they want to be supported," says Richards.

The attainment gap

However, he accepts that evidence in the report suggests schools need to do more to "deploy and properly train" TAs, and that the guide should "absolutely" help to reduce the attainment gap.

"It's about making sure you use TAs properly and it is incumbent upon leaders to use the guide in best way you can," he adds.

Peter Morris, national official at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), says that the guidance is an "excellent piece of work".

"We're very supportive of it," he says.  

"Schools have had to think about exactly how they use their TAs. It is a bit ad hoc now - in some places they are simply used to fill gaps in the system and not used properly.

"They should be working with children in small groups and supporting teachers," Morris says.

The guide is timely because planned government TA standards have been shelved. The draft TA standards, published by the Coalition government in February 2015, define the primary role of the TA to be "working with teachers to raise the learning and attainment of pupils while also promoting their independence, self-esteem and social inclusion".

However, the guide isn't enough to make fundamental improvements to how TAs are used, Morris says. He is concerned that it will not be treated as seriously by schools as the shelved TA standards would have been - despite their content being very similar - because it will be missing "the stamp and the authority of government".

Government imprint

The difference, Morris says, is that if the government had issued TA standards, schools would have to consider them. "It is going to be a lot harder job to get [the recommendations] looked at and discussed because of the lack of government imprint."

Amy Finch, senior researcher at educational charity Reform, says the main factor that could hinder the implementation of the guide's recommendations is a lack of time and resources in schools.

"Perhaps there is concern that there is a lack of capacity in the system to look at the evidence," she says. "It's not a question of the evidence not being there, but the time and capacity in the system to look at it."

However, she says this can be overcome by schools working more closely together, such as being part of academy chains. "One of the benefits that could be obtained is more time freed up in the strategic management part of primary schools to look at evidence and use that to inform the structure of the workforce."

Finch says that guidance on TAs cannot be a one-size-fits-all, and that perhaps the government's standards would not have been particularly beneficial for this reason.

She says: "Schools need to have the freedom to structure their workforce in the best way for their pupils, and this is different across the county. You really do need an individualised approach; it can't be something the government can dictate on."


EEF programmes show pupil progress is boosted when Teaching assistants receive support

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) recently published analysis on the effectiveness of two teaching assistant programmes - the Nuffield Early Language Intervention and REACH. Both were funded by the EEF and saw TAs delivering high quality, targeted support. They resulted in adding an extra three months to pupils' progress compared to existing practice.

During the independent evaluation of the Nuffield Early Language Intervention, TAs were given three days of training and detailed lesson plans to present short, structured sessions with small groups of pupils. The EEF tested the intervention across 34 schools and nurseries.

In the REACH programme, TAs provided one-to-one sessions with a group of pupils three times a week for 20 weeks. The learning involved reading aloud while the TA recorded any errors the pupil made. There were two separate trials, and in one of the trials the TA didn't just inform the child of their mistakes, but placed greater emphasis on understanding language.

Pupils in the first group benefited from an additional four months added to their progress, while the pupils who were given more structured teaching about language gained an extra six months' progress.

Josh Hillman, director of education at the Nuffield Foundation, says that earlier work carried out into the research that informed the intervention found that speaking and listening skills were a strong precursor of later ability.

He says the intervention can be used with all children, but works  particularly well with those with delays in language.

"Our research shows that if you use TAs in a systemic way, train and support them, they can have a significant impact on supporting the learning of the child," Hillman says.

"Teachers are aware and support the TAs, they are not totally separate from the programme."

The training is delivered by tutors, and the TAs can be in touch with them or the teacher to ask any questions.

"As well as properly training the TA and supplying them with high quality materials, you also need to be giving ongoing support after initial training. They need ongoing support and development, particularly when delivering a programme that delivers outcomes."