Teachers TV has launched a nationwide competition to find TAs with Talent. They are looking for the gems of the classroom to feature in a special programme to be transmitted in the New Year. They want to know about inspiring Teaching Assistants and what talent or skill they bring to their classroom or school. Do they [...]
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Pupils receiving help ‘do worse’
A new report, which is highlighted on the BBC News site, states that pupils who are supported by teaching assistants make less progress than their classmates. The report explains that this isn’t the fault of the teaching assistants… it’s because those children spend less time with the teacher. What is your experience? If you’re a teacher, [...]
TA's used as a cheap way of covering teacher' lessons
Unison has said that teaching assistants were increasingly being used as a cheap way of covering teachers’ lessons. The schools minister, Jim Knight, said teaching assistants eased the burden on teachers but should not lead classes for more than a short period. Christine McAnea, head of education at Unison, said schools either chose to ignore [...]
Backpay for Teaching Assistants
Here’s an article all management and Teaching Assistants should read: “When an invoice for £650,000 landed on Phil Jones’s desk last October, it was something of a shock. The headteacher of Oakham primary school in Sandwell soon discovered that his wasn’t the only school reeling. Other headteachers in the borough had received official brown envelopes [...]
Teaching Assistant and HLTA Support
Over the weekend another excellent forum for HLTAs and Teaching Assistants came to my attention. Teaching Assistant and HLTA Support (www.taandhltasupport.com) is a newly established forum aimed at all staff in education, though does have its main focus on support staff and enabling them to develop their practice and be aware of the changes not [...]
Teaching Assistants make significant contributions
According the BBC teaching assistants make significant contributions to pupils’ learning. Research by London University’s Institute of Education, said teaching assistants also faced a range of challenges. The reseach was initiated because teaching assistants are now covering more classes with the introduction of PPA time. The report said more work was needed on how much [...]
Teachers Down, Teaching Assistants Up
According to the BBC the number of qualified nursery and primary school teachers fell by 3,160 from 2002 to 2005. However there were 26,150 more teaching assistants. Critics of the government’s workforce reforms claimed they were being used to replace teachers. The government and its supporters said this was nonsense, there were simply fewer school-age [...]
HLTA Discussion Forum
After mentioning a Teaching Assistants Forum that I came across the other day I’ve now found another one. This forum is specifically for HLTA’s, but the discussion ranges from what how to become a HLTA to questions and answers to generally feel good chat. The site is very active always seems to have members online [...]
New Powers for TA's
The Guardian is reporting on how new legal rights to restrain unruly pupils and confiscate disruptive mobile phones and music players are to be extended to all frontline staff including teaching assistants and playground supervisors. The rights will not be available to staff such as cooks and caretakers. The changes are designed to stop badly [...]
Resource for Teaching Asssistants
I forgot to mention another resource that was mentioned, and highly recommended, on the AQA Maths course yesterday. This was a book that was written specifically for Teaching Assistants. The book is called ‘Assisting Numeracy – A Handbook for Classroom Assistants’ (ISBN: 18-74099-72-3). According to the blurb on the back of the book: This book [...]
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