Making the most of your TAs

Top takeaways

The EEF has updated its guidance report, Deployment of Teaching Assistants. Teaching assistants (TAs) provide a vital and valuable role in schools, supporting pupil learning and inclusion. When deployed well, they can make a difference and help ensure the provision of high quality teaching and learning. Effective TA deployment is a strategic issue, and the responsibility of senior leaders. 

More detail

The guidance report is accompanied by a poster summarising the five key recommendations, and supplementary resources such as a scaffolding framework. 

Five recommendations 

1. Deploy TAs in ways that enable all pupils to access high-quality teaching. TAs should supplement – not replace – the teacher. 
2. Deploy TAs to scaffold pupil learning and to develop independence. Supporting pupil independence should be a key part of the TA role. 
3. TAs can be used to deliver carefully selected, evidence-based, structured interventions where appropriate. 
4. Train staff around effective TA deployment. Everyone needs to be on the same page re the TA role and how they can most effectively support pupil learning. Ongoing coordination and communication between teachers and TAs is vital. 
5. Effective TA deployment is complex and dependent on a range of factors. Make sure all staff are engaged in the process of implementing effective TA deployment. 

Learning points for leaders

Responsibilities and fostering independence

• Try and resist having one TA ‘tied’ to a pupil for long periods of time, as this is likely to hinder independence, rather than foster it.
• The teacher remains the person in charge of pupil learning. They are responsible for the learning of all pupils in their class. 
• Pupils who struggle most should spend at least as much time with the teacher as other pupils, if not more. 

Interventions

Well-chosen, evidence-based interventions have an important role in providing support for targeted needs. Interventions should be monitored, evaluated, and linked to what’s happening in the classroom. If pupils are being taught a particular method or strategy in isolation, that’s not helpful – it needs to be reinforced or supported in the classroom. 

Leadership

The way in which TAs are deployed should reflect a school’s wider values and vision, in particular its commitment to inclusion and ensuring access to high quality teaching for all pupils. Leaders must set the tone for a school culture that encourages and enables all staff to support outcomes for all pupils. (Page 34)

It’s important to ensure that a member of the senior leadership team has clear responsibility for TA deployment in the school. It needs to be someone who has the time and influence to guide changes in practice and their implementation. 

Focus on intentional deployment of TAs, and remember:

To support inclusion, schools must focus on high-quality teaching as the greatest enabling factor to support all pupils – particularly those from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. (Page 1)

Questions for reflection and action

• Do you have a senior leader who has clear oversight of how TAs are deployed in your setting? 
• Is there a shared understanding across your setting about the TA role and how they can most effectively support high quality teaching and learning?
• If you were to change the way TAs are deployed in classrooms within your setting, which adults in school can enable this change?
• How do you decide when/if to deploy an intervention? What evidence base is drawn on? 
• How are interventions monitored and evaluated? 

Reading and resources

• EEF guidance report: Deployment of Teaching Assistants
• Need to Know: How TAs are used in schools 
• DfE research: Use of teaching assistants in schools