Researchers take the lid off TAs' role in schools

Two big research studies for the government show that while teaching assistants are playing a fast-growing role in schools, the conditions they work under are not keeping pace.

The studies, one from the Institute of Education and the other from London Metropolitan University, both suggest teaching assistants are doing increasing amounts of unpaid overtime, and both found a lot of dissatisfaction about pay and contractual arrangements.

According to the London Metropolitan Study, less than half the TAs who take whole classes have allocated time to plan, even though they were mostly taking classes during planned as well as unplanned teacher absences.

Most TAs said they enoyed being responsible for whole classes, and that this was a good use of their skills and experience. But one in three said they needed more training and development, especially in behaviour management.

The other study, The Deployment and Impact of Support Staff Project, has taken place over five years. It has produced a lot of detailed information about TAs and the circumstances of their work.

Most support staff are white women aged 36 or over. Two thirds have qualifications equivalent to GCSE level or below, and a third have higher levels of qualifications. Most are on permanent contracts, and primary school staff receive lower wages than secondary or special school staff.

The study found that most teachers have no time allocated for planning, or exchanging feedback, with their classroom teaching assistants, and the majority have had no training to help them work with support staff in classrooms.

Despite this, most teachers felt supported by teaching assistants, and said the growth in the number of support staff had increased their job satisfaction.

This was because pupils' needs were being better met, and their learning and achievement was being enhanced. They also said the personal qualities and skills of support staff and the increased time available to them for teaching had made a positive difference.

But the study found that individual support for pupils in the classroom seemed to have a negative effect on their educational progress. The more individual support pupils received over the year, the less progress they made in English and Maths.

The researchers say these findings are not explained by differences in the pupils themselves (eg that pupils getting most support are low ability pupils and therefore are making slower progress), because their research methods accounted for these differences.

The researchers suggest the negative impact of individual support could be because TAs are not able to prepare lessons, and that low ability children who are supported by TAs may have less contact with their teacher and the curriculum.

Deployment and Impact of Support Staff project from the Institute of Education

Aspects of School Workforce Remodelling Strategies Used, and Impact on Workload and Standards from London Metropolitan University