National TA Day – A Time for Reflection and Celebration

National TA Day – A Time for Reflection and Celebration

by Abi Joachim

Institute SEND Specialist

National TA Day is an opportunity for schools across the UK to reflect on the work of teaching assistants and “…a time to celebrate their achievements and raise awareness of their impact”.

Having worked as a secondary Teaching Assistant (TA), and later Higher Level Teaching Assistant (HLTA) for English, for over twenty years, I know first-hand how valuable and rewarding the role is. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to experience excellent professional development and know how essential this is for success. I am privileged to now have the chance to ensure the same professional development journeys are available for my colleagues through my Institute SEND Specialist role leading on PD for pupil-facing support staff across the Trust. At ATT, TAs, LSAs (Learning Support Assistants) and HLTAs perform the vital role of removing barriers to learning and therefore enabling education for our students.

As a Trust, we have adopted Judith Carter’s Essential SENCO Toolkit as a strengths-based framework providing a shared language of learning and assessment and a guide to adaptive practice and identification of need. Within this framework, the 4 Functions of Leaning Support codify teaching assistant support into four key roles: providing mediation, reinforcement of a skill or learning behaviour, carrying out an assessment and delivering an intervention. This aligns with the new EEF ‘Deployment of Teaching Assistants’ guidance report, which organises its five recommendations for schools into ‘effective practices’ and ‘effective implementation’, highlighting the integral role of leaders, teachers and teaching assistants themselves.

In order to assist our academies to engage with this evidence-informed approach and ensure high-quality support, we have created the ‘Teaching Assistant Deployment and Practice the ATT Way’ to offer guidance around best practice. This is supported by the Maximising the Practice of Teaching Assistants (MPTA) training programme, which enhances the practice of teaching assistants, focussing on developing pupil independence, while upskilling teachers to effectively deploy and work collaboratively with them.

In addition to their role within the classroom, teaching assistants across ATT are involved in delivering one-to-one or small group targeted interventions, which research suggests have a positive benefit of between four and six additional months on average. Our SEND Core Offer provides a suite of evidence-informed interventions and assessment tools to facilitate the identification of need and support the removal of barriers to learning. Teaching assistants receive extensive and ongoing training, resources and professional partnership opportunities to ensure they are fully prepared for this role.

Throughout the year, new teaching assistants participate in a programme of professional development, alongside other members of staff in an Enabling Education role, to build their knowledge and skills in foundational areas, such as the science of learning, barriers to learning, SEND and safeguarding, through an extensive induction programme. Existing staff are then able to build on this secure base to enhance their expertise in specialist areas. The Teaching Assistant Community offers a platform for professional discussion and collaboration, where representatives from across the Trust work together to cocreate solutions to the common and persistent problems in education.

It is an exciting time to be in the teaching assistant profession as the career pathways apprenticeships provide are constantly growing and developing. As a Trust, we were fortunate to have had the opportunity to play an instrumental role in the development and launch of the Level 5 Specialist Teaching Assistant apprenticeship, through the trailblazer group, and are able to offer up-to-date advice and guidance to our leaders to ensure staff have the best opportunities to progress and grow at ATT.

The calibre and dedication of our amazing teaching assistants could not be illustrated better than through our own TES TA of the Year 2024, Jackie Rawson, from The Nicholas Hammond Academy, who “… is dependable and has consistently risen to the challenges the Academy has faced, supporting the pupils in their learning, and ensuring they meet their targets.”

Watching our teaching assistants grow and develop within their roles, carving out their own career paths – whether that be into teaching, HLTA roles, Assistant SENDCos or pastoral positions – and being recognised for their achievements, makes my job the best in the world (in my opinion).