Effective support: working
with others
A Twilight Training Session
by Gareth D Morewood, Director of Curriculum Support
Wednesday 14th March 2012
What is going to happen?
• Provide the national context and clarify
some misconceptions
• Discuss what effective support at Priestnall
looks like
• Develop some further guidance in
ensuring we all work as effectively as
possible whilst aiming for the best
outcomes for our students
Does Every Child Still Matter?
• Being Healthy
• Staying Safe
• Enjoying and Achieving
• Making a Positive Contribution
• Economic Wellbeing
New Teachers’ Standards – Sept 2012
• Fulfil wider professional responsibilities
– Make a positive contribution to the wider life and ethos of the
school
– Develop effective professional relationships with colleagues,
knowing how and when to draw on advice and specialist
support
– Deploy support staff effectively
– Take responsibility for improving teaching through
appropriate professional development, responding to advice
and feedback from colleagues
– Communicate effectively with parents with regard to pupils’
achievements and wellbeing
‘One of the major barriers to achievement
for pupils with SEND is being rendered
dependent on adults to help them learn.
Many pupils with cognitive and learning
difficulties lack self-confidence. This
results in an over-reliance on an adult
to support them with their work.’
National Standards 2005: Maximising progress: ensuring the
attainment of pupils with SEN
What do OFSTED say ...
Ofsted 2004 – ‘Support by Teaching Assistants can be vital, but the
organisation of it can mean that students have insufficient
opportunity to develop their skill, understanding and independence’
Ofsted 2006 – ‘Teaching Assistants provided valuable support and
many were taking difficult roles’
...however they recognised that pupils in mainstream schools, where
Teaching Assistant support was the main type of SEN support, were
less likely to make good academic progress than those who had
access to specialist teaching.
• Ofsted 2010 – Barriers to learning which were observed
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by inspectors included lack of careful preparation and
poor deployment of adults to support children and young
people. Where additional adult support was provided in
the classroom for individuals, this was sometimes a
barrier to including them successfully and enabling them
to participate.
In too many examples seen during the review, when a
child or young person was supported closely by an adult,
the adult focused on the completion of the task rather
than on the actual learning. Adults intervened too
quickly, so preventing children and young people from
having time to think or to learn from their mistakes.
Research ...
• Howes (2003) found that Teaching Assistants’ support in
class increased the amount of time students spent on
task but did not necessarily result in an increased rate of
learning.
• Blatchford, Bassett et al (2009) – ‘The more support
students received, the less progress they made, even
after controlling for other factors that might be expected
to explain the relationship such as students’ prior
attainment, SEN status and income deprivation’.
So what is effective adult support?
• aimed at increasing students’ inclusion in the learning of the peer group
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(and should not result in isolating them further)
common practice within the class where the teacher and TAs commonly
work with a small group of students as part of lesson design
discreet so that students are not overwhelmed or embarrassed
selective – used at particular times for specific purposes within the
lesson
linked to learning and withdrawn for some of the time
focused on maximising students’ independence through engaging them
and building confidence
planned wherever possible – the teacher and additional adult will at
least have shared planning or discussed the lesson and their roles
beforehand.
Effective support continued...
• informed – delivered by adults who understand the students’
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individual needs
knowledgeable about students’ targets, the learning objectives and
learning outcomes expected, and how to help the students achieve
them
skilled – trained adults who have a good understanding of the
subject and teaching and learning strategies employed
alert to the class teacher’s agreed ‘ground rules’ (for example, for
talk in the classroom, dispensing sanctions etc…)
able to contribute towards the assessment for learning of particular
students through observation and feedback to the teacher and
student themselves
not about encouraging a dependency culture (as in ‘I’m waiting for
my helper’)
Reducing dependency and increasing
independence ...
• Differentiate the learning objectives, if appropriate
• Brief the Teaching Assistant on what students are to learn, as
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well as the tasks they have to complete
Modify/adjust aspects of the lesson to promote independence
rather than using support from the Teaching Assistant
Find opportunities for students to work with other adults or
peers
Ask the Teaching Assistant to model a task, answer students’
questions, then move away to allow them to work
independently
Model ways of encouraging students to be more independent
Different roles & responsibilities ...
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Ensuring access to learning
Pre-tutoring
Helping to manage behaviour
Observing/recording
Supporting a group
Preparing differentiated/modified resources
Using ICT
Supervising work and groups
Re-capping on teaching points
Working in home language
Clear expectations & ground rules...
• It is helpful to establish ground rules
about how staff will work together in
lessons
• Sorting issues out at an early stage
prevents confusion in the long run
• What are your ground rules?
Let us consider existing guidance...
• Look at the existing TA Guide ...
• How can we improve the guidance for
staff in light of the new evidence?
• How should Priestnall’s support look; for
our students and our learning & teaching?
• Any subject specific information required?
Finally Your Personal Action Plan
What are you going to do tomorrow/next week?
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Learning doesn’t always have to be the
‘same’...
Gareth D Morewood
Director of Curriculum Support
Priestnall School
Stockport
gareth.morewood@priestnall.stockport.sch.uk