Teaching Assistants in Primary Schools: An evaluation of the quality and impact of their work

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Teaching Assistants in Primary Schools An
evaluation of the quality and impact of their work

• Teaching assistants play an important part in the
  implementation of the literacy and numeracy
  strategies by supporting teachers and pupils in
  the classroom. They also have a key role in the
  intervention and catch-up programmes associated
  with the strategies.
• An extra pair of hands in the classroom also
  contributes to
• an improvement in adult to pupil ratios
• management of pupils welfare and behaviour
• a better learning atmosphere in which everyone,
  including the teacher, can concentrate
  better and get on with teaching and learning.
• (HMI, 2002)

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The value of training

• Ofsted inspectors found that TAs who had
  completed the DfES Induction Training fully
  (including the school-based element) improved in
  terms of
• competence and confidence in the classroom
• subject knowledge
• ability to manage pupils behaviour.

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The value of training (cont.)

• The report points out that well-trained and
  successful TAs show many of the skills
  characteristic of good teachers
• an understanding of children and their needs
  and behaviour
• an ability to interact effectively with them to
  promote learning
• the ability to assess where the pupils are in
  their learning and what they need to do to make
  further progress.

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The circles of inclusion
Setting suitable learning challenges
Responding to pupils diverse needs
Teaching styles
Learning objectives
Access
Overcoming potential barriers to learning
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Aims of the course

• To introduce TAs to
• the Foundation Stage Curriculum the
  content of the English National Curriculum the
  content of the Primary National Strategy.
• To provide new TAs with a range of strategies
  for
• supporting teachers in the Literacy Hour and
  in teaching literacy across the curriculum
  helping develop childrens literacy skills
  across the primary age range.

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Aims of the course (cont.)

• To help TAs make use of a variety of published
  resources appropriate to the age range of the
  children they work with.
• To introduce TAs to further professional
  development (e.g. STA training) and programmes
  designed to support the specific needs of pupils
  (e.g. Additional Literacy Support).

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Literacy catch-up packages

• Early Literacy Support for children in Year 1
  (ELS)
• Additional Literacy Support for children in Year
  3 (ALS)
• Further Literacy Support for children in Year 5
  (FLS)

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Literacy in the Primary National Strategy

• Targets for literacy
• The Searchlight model
• Framework of objectives
• The Literacy Hour

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The Searchlight model
Phonic knowledge (sounds and spelling)
Knowledge of context
Grammatical knowledge
TEXT
Word recognition and graphic knowledge
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The Framework of Teaching Objectives
YEAR TERM
Range Fiction and poetry Stories about fantasy
worlds, poems with patterned and predictable
structures a variety of poems on similar
themes. Non-Fiction Information texts including
recounts of observations, visits, events.
1
3
Word level work
Sentence level work
Text level work
Comprehension and composition Pupils should be
taught Fiction and Poetry Reading
comprehension 1 to reinforce and apply their
word-level skills through shared andguided
reading 2 to use phonological, contextual,
grammatical and graphic knowledge towork out,
predict and check the meanings of unfamiliar
words and to make sense of what they read 3
to notice the difference between spoken and
written forms through re-telling known stories
compare oral versions with the written text 4
to read with sufficient concentration to complete
a text, and to identifypreferences and give
reasons 5 to re-tell stories, to give the main
points in sequence and to pick outsignificant
incidents 6 to prepare and re-tell stories
orally, identifying and using some of themore
formal features of story language 7 to use
titles, cover pages, pictures and 'blurbs' to
predict the contentof unfamiliar stories 8 to
compare and contrast stories with a variety of
settings, e.g. space, imaginary lands, animal
homes 9 to read a variety of poems on similar
themes, e.g. families, school, food
Phonics, spelling and vocabulary Pupils should be
taught Phonological awareness, phonicsand
spelling 1 the common spelling patterns for
each of the longvowel phonemes ee ai ie oa oo
(long as in moon)Appendix List 3 to
identify phonemes in speech and writing to
blend phonemes for writing to segment words
into phonemes for spelling Word recognition,
graphic knowledgeand spelling 2 to read on
sight high frequency words specific tograded
books matched to the abilities of reading
groups 3 to read on sight other familiar
words 4 to read on sight approximately 30 more
high frequency words from Appendix List 1 5
to recognise words by common spelling patterns 6
to investigate and learn spellings of verbs
with ed(past tense), ing (present tense)
endings 7 to spell common irregular words from
Appendix List 1 Vocabulary extension 8 new
words from reading and shared experiences, andto
make collections of personal interest or
significant words and words linked to particular
topics
Grammar and punctuation Pupils should be
taught Grammatical awareness 1 to expect
reading to make sense and check if itdoes not 2
to use awareness of the grammar of a sentence
to decipher new or unfamiliar words, e.g.
predict text from the grammar, read on, leave a
gap and re-read 3 to read familiar texts aloud
with pace and expressionappropriate to the
grammar, e.g. pausing at full stops,raising
voice for questions 4 about word order, e.g.
by re-ordering sentences,predicting words from
previous text, grouping a range ofwords that
might fit, and discussing the reasons
why Sentence construction and punctuation 5
other common uses of capitalisation, e.g. for
personaltitles (Mr, Miss), headings, book
titles, emphasis 6 through reading and
writing, to reinforce knowledgeof term sentence
from previous terms 7 to add question marks to
questions.
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Structure of the Literacy Hour
A minimum entitlement of a daily Literacy
HourCurricular and childrens targets are
visible, monitored and assessed
Whole class Plenary including opportunities to-
review progress- make connections to other
learning- reinforce the objectives of the lesson
Whole class shared workWork is based on NLS
Framework and other age-related
publications Shared reading to enrich, improve
fluency, support comprehension and response, and
provide models for writing Shared writing to
demonstrate and support independent writing Word
work including systematic teaching of phonics
and/or spelling Sentence work as appropriate
Whole class Plenary approx. 10 mins
Group and independent work Guided reading or
writing Independent tasks to develop and
consolidate literacy skills Second wave support
offered where needed
Whole class shared work approx. 30 mins
Group andindependent work approx. 20 mins
Literacy beyond the literacy hour - application
of skills across the curriculum, particularly
non-fiction- application time, e.g. independent
reading, handwriting- reading to children, e.g.
class novel
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