Call for more training on child neglect

A children's charity says teaching assistants need more training in how to spot the signs of child neglect.

In a survey of primary school teachers and teaching assistants by the charity Action for Children, one in five said they'd had no training or information about what to do if they suspect a child is neglected.

One in four said they felt under more pressure to intervene in suspected child neglect cases than five years ago, mostly because of media coverage of high profile cases. But only 13 per cent reported noticing an increase in the number of cases over the past year.

Action for Children has launched an appeal to raise £17 million to help neglected children. The charity's chief executive Clare Tickell said "Frontline staff are key to identifying early signs of neglect and giving children and families long term, stable support to tackle the causes. Yet many professionals are telling us that they lack sufficient training and information to appropriately deal with suspected neglect. The Government must listen to what is being said and act to support early intervention."

"Stop vilifying teaching assistants" says union

Academic research is being misused by the media to attack teaching assistants, according to the public service union Unison.
Two big research reports published last week both point to the need for support staff to be properly trained and paid for the work they do. And they highlight the problems created when schools expect them to fill roles they are not qualified to fill.

But some press reports have used the research to denegrate teaching assistants, and their contribution to children's education.
Christine McAnea, Unison's head of education, said, “As a key member of the education team, teaching assistants (TAs) have a very valuable role to play in delivering high quality education for children. They are not teachers – they don’t have the same training or access to ongoing support and certainly don’t get paid the same.
“Recent reports from the Institute of Education and London Metropolitan University highlight two sides of the same problem – that too many headteachers are exploiting low paid support staff. But this is being used by some as an excuse to blame dedicated and hard-working teaching assistants and indeed the whole school remodelling programme in general."
Unison is calling for better pay, training and more paid time for teaching assistants to do their jobs, and backs the Government's plan to train all learning support staff to Level 3.

TAs can "stigmatise" SEN children

Teaching assistants should not work exclusively on a 1:1 basis with pupils, according to researchers. Although some children might need some 1:1 support, it's better for them if they are supported as part of a group.

Studies also underline the importance of teachers and teaching assistants to have allocated planning time together.

Studies on the impact of teaching assistants working with pupils with SEN in mainstream schools give mixed messages, but half the studies said too much reliance on teaching assistant support can hinder children's interaction with other pupils and teachers, and may lead to them feeling stigmatised.

TAs need to be skilled at encouraging children to interact with others, but also to be sensitive about times when a pupil needs to make up their own mind about what to do, say academics. Other studies said TAs can have a positive impact on pupils with SEN by helping them engage in school work, and if they have been trained, in communicating with other children.

In general research shows that teaching assistants have made a big, positive difference to children's learning both directly and through their support for teachers.Trained TAs working in the classroom help pupils with literacy and language problems make significant gains in learning.

Teaching assistants also have an impact on the way teachers work. Their presence allows teachers to introduce more creative and practical activities than they could otherwise, and to spend more time working with groups and individuals.
Having another adult in the classroom makes teachers feel supported and less stressed. Knowing that children are getting more attention and support makes teachers' job more satisfying.

Team teaching in which TAs support small groups in whole class activities promote a more inclusive ethos. TAs can also mediate between teachers and parents, encouraging parents to get more involved in their child's schooling. But schools need to take care that teachers also maintain good contacts with parents.

Academics at Manchester university and London's Institute of Education reviewed all the research studies on the impact of teaching assistants, and their implications for government policy and for practice in schools.

They say

• the largely positive impact of TAs needs to be encouraged through a stronger framework for training, and a career structure capable of motivating teaching assistants.

• Teacher training needs to include training on working collaboratively with teaching assistants.

• Pupils with special needs learn and participate more easily if 1:1 support is kept to a minimum.

• Teachers and TAs should work as a team to plan support for individual pupils, but teachers should use TAs across the whole class rather than assign them exclusively to individual children.

• TAs are most effective in schools where they are part of the staff team which values their contribution to decision making, and where the different complementary roles of teachers and TAs are clearly understood and respected.

The impact of adult support staff on pupils and mainstream schools
Alison Alborz and others. Department for Children, Schools and Families 2009.

Huge increase in support staff training

Getting time off is the biggest barrier to training for school support staff, says new research.
The report from Unison says there has been a "transformation" in the provision of training for school support staff in England over the past five years.
But although three quarters of staff had received some sort of training over the previous year, it wasn't all high quality or relevant to their jobs.
Half of all staff said they experience no barriers to training, but the other half did identify barriers.
One in four said time off for training and lack of cover were the biggest issues. They were worried that if they took time for training during their working day they would return to an even higher workload.
Some staff mentioned training outside of their working hours and in their own time, for example INSET days which they weren't paid for.
If the training was outside school hours, childcare was often a problem.
The report recommends that support staff should have an entitlement to high quality training and development, and calls on the new negotiation body for support staff pay and conditions to address the issue of paid time off for training.
You can read a summary of the report in Unison's latest bulletin for school staff, In Schools.

ICT training for TAs "lagging behind" - Ofsted

Teaching assistants’ and teachers’ training is not keeping pace with changing ICT resources in schools, Ofsted has warned.

As a resoult the resources are not being used to their full potential.

A sample inspection found that in most schools there were not enough opportunities for children to build on their knowledge and skills in ICT.

“Great strides” were evident in the foundation stage and at key stage 1 in helping pupils to be more independent and creative with ICT, but at key stage 2 there wasn’t enough challenge for the most able.

ICT in primary and secondary schools. Ofsted’s findings 2005/7