A quiet revolution?
The total number of TAs working in English schools is down for the first time ever – but encouraging signs from the MITA project show how a strategic focus on TAs can unlock their potential.
Blog Archive of: Research Evidence
After the gold rush: Funding, staffing and uncertain times
15 December 2016
Research evidence can’t offer certainties, but it can help school leaders make better decisions.
The Magnificent Seven: The compelling evidence on TA impact and where we go next
30 October 2016
The evidence on deploying TAs to deliver out-of-class interventions is unarguable. Our new MITA project aims to show that up-skilling TAs and carefully rethinking their use within classrooms can unleash their full potential.
What I’ve learned from the teaching profession (or why you can’t ever have enough of experts!)
28 September 2016
Our work with the Education Endowment Foundation has shown how the teaching profession and researchers can unite around the evidence to co-construct solutions for making better use of teaching assistants. In this blog, Rob Webster reflects on what he has learnt from working closely with those at the chalk-face.
Making headlines: The problem of wide coverage and narrow reporting
28 February 2016
What happens when provocative findings from educational research get wide coverage, but are narrowly reported? What are the risks to policymakers, practitioners and researchers? Rob Webster shares his experience of helping schools make sense of the headlines about teaching assistants.
Why the hold up? The DfE can show they value the role and contribution of TAs by publishing the professional standards NOW!
11 September 2015
The government has admitted to another delay to the publication of the new professional standards for teaching assistants, but nothing would show a greater statement of intent and support for schools by getting them out there now. After all, the timing couldn’t be better…
The power and potential of teaching assistants’ talk
01 September 2015
How can we connect TAs with the kinds of practice that have a measurable impact on achievement? Our new book, The Teaching Assistant’s Guide to Effective Interaction, aims to grow schools' capacity and opportunity for the valuable types of classroom talk that improve pupils' independence and their relationship with learning.
The freedom to make decisions about teaching assistants is nothing new, but now school leaders have the means to unlock their potential
26 February 2015
Evidence-informed guidance and the DfE's new professional standards for TAs offer school leaders actionable recommendations to help TAs thrive in their role and improve outcomes for pupils.
The more things change…? Children with SEN and their classroom experiences over time
30 December 2014
A new paper looks at how the educational experiences of children with SEN have changed since the 1980s. The results are a reminder that effective policymaking and classroom practice require objective research evidence to balance our subjective perceptions.
