CPD for support staff

CPD: what's on offer for your TAs

scameron — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 16:10:24 +0100

The funding available from local authorities for the induction and CPD of teaching assistants and other support staff has been severely depleted by the spending cuts of the last year. There is also a question mark over the future of higher level teaching assistant (HLTA) status. This means that individual schools are being forced to take on more responsibility for the training and career development of this important sector of the workforce.

How to deliver CPD on tackling off-task behaviour in lesson

scameron — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 15:35:23 +0100

When teachers are asked what makes the biggest day-to-day difference in improving students' progress the answer is rarely better resources, smaller classes or more frequent lessons. More often it is getting pupils to stay focused and on-task.

Ensuring support staff are included in CPD

scameron — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:37:41 +0000

Limited resources balanced against numerous needs may mean that difficult decisions have to be made around spending for professional learning. But that shouldn’t affect the degree to which access to new learning is deemed to be fair across all types of staff in your school.

‘When I was a young coach I used to say, 'treat everybody alike'. That’s bull. Treat everybody fairly.’
Bear Bryant

Professional learning for support staff

scameron — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:48:09 +0100

Fairness is not an attitude. It’s a professional skill that must be developed and exercised.
Brit Hume

In some schools the race for a slice of the professional learning pie sees key sectors of the workforce missing out, with significant consequences. Typically on the bottom of the pile are part-time workers and support staff. This e-bulletin we take a look at the reasons for ensuring that all members of staff receive professional learning opportunities and at ways of making this happen.

How to make CPD integral to your whole school

scameron — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:48:30 +0100

Is it just rhetoric to say that we create a culture of CPD for our workforce at King Edward VI School? And if it isn’t, just what does it mean? So often we hear people talk about the ethos of a school but it can seem so intangible, so impossible to distil into real examples of practice that can be adapted for use elsewhere.

CPD in the classroom - the Teachers Learning Academy (TLA)

scameron — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 11:05:39 +0000

That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something you’ve understood all your life, but in a new way.
Doris Lessing

Sara Morgan, Head of Professional Learning at the GTCE gives us the lowdown on the TLA.

Workforce reform: giving support teams a voice

scameron — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:53:01 +0000

In 2005 the Education (Review of Staffing Structure) Regulations 2005 placed a duty on school governing bodies to review the school’s staffing structure, consult and prepare, by 31 December that year, a plan for the full implementation of any changes arising from the review by 31 December 2008 (1). Valley School began their initiative – Valley TEAM: Together Everyone Achieves More – to address issues using their own staff.

The role of school business manager in support staff CPD

scameron — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:29:14 +0000

Effective CPD is a fundamental part of a successful school. All too often, it can be approached in an inconsistent and ad hoc manner, which is why a good CPD framework is crucial. And with the increasing professionalisation of support staff, such a framework must take note of their needs as well as those of teachers. In this article I describe my contribution as SBM in the reframing of our school’s policy and how I have been able to advance the position of support staff in relation to training.

Equal CPD opportunities for teaching assistants

scameron — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 11:35:26 +0000

If a man walks in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer; but if he spends his whole day as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making earth bald before her time, he is esteemed an industrious and enterprising citizen. As if a town had no interest in its forests but to cut them down!
Henry David Thoreau

CPD coordinators' role in professional development portfolios: part 2

scameron — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:22:46 +0100

All progress occurs because people dare to be different.
Harry Millner

Getting staff enthusiastic about portfolios
It can be hugely beneficial for a school to get all staff on board when it comes to developing their portfolios. Prioritising this issue will not only help individuals focus on their own learning, but it will benefit the school in turn through their staff’s enhanced professionalism. Here are some strategies for achieving this which may work in your setting:

CPD coordinators' role in professional development portfolios: part 1

scameron — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:03:11 +0100

Progress comes from the intelligent use of experience.
Elbert Hubbard

Informing your colleagues of CPD opportunities: part 2

scameron — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 10:13:50 +0100

As a general rule, the most successful man in life is the man who has the best information.
Benjamin Disraeli

Informing your colleagues of CPD opportunities: part 1

scameron — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:44 +0100

There is no delight in owning anything unshared.
Seneca

Cascading information

Online learning for teachers

scameron — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:43 +0100

Any fool can know. The point is to understand.
Albert Einstein

Introduction
It isn’t always easy to find practical and workable solutions to the frustrations of professional development delivery. Competing demands and personal learning preferences make it virtually impossible to satisfy everyone, but could the virtual world hold the key?

Practical tips: Online learning for teachers

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Including teaching assistants in CPD provision

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:41 +0100

Quote of the Week

"Never look down on anybody unless you're helping them up."

The Reverend Jesse Jackson

Practical tips

Including teaching assistants in CPD provision
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Using Professional Learning Teams

sara — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:38 +0100

"Learn everything you can, anytime you can, from anyone you can − there will always come a time when you will be grateful you did."

− Sarah Caldwell

Practical Tips
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Focus on well-being for professional development

sara — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:35 +0100

It seems that the nation is run down. Bugs are taking hold and many schools appear to be operating on a fraction of full power. There's only one obvious solution: a fresh focus on well-being, this time blending it with our quest for professional development. This week we provide eight practical, easy tips for achieving that blended solution. We also explore what the GTCE Connect Network can do for CPD coordinators.
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CPD: the new professional standards

tina — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:34 +0100
Last week saw the Optimus Education Teacher’s Development Summit in London. It was another superb day, packed with thought-provoking presentations and discussions, which gave everyone attending much inspiration and food for thought. Further to those discussions, this issue of CPD Week explores how we might take the new professional standards for teachers and link them directly to professional development agendas in schools, around the key themes of professional and personalised learning. We also take a look at the consultation on the apprenticeship framework for teaching assistants.
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Tool for CPD: Teachers TV

tina — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:34 +0100
We may not always make the best use of it, but Teachers TV is an immense resource for CPD in schools. This week, we take a look at just some of the ways in which CPD leaders might start to use Teachers TV as a tool for development for whole schools, departments and faculties and individuals – and it’s not just for teachers either! We also explore the state of child mental health and look at some of the support that exists for teachers in this all-important field.

Quote of the Week

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Training and managing teaching assistants

sara — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:34 +0100

Teaching assistants (TAs) contribute an enormous amount to SEN provision in schools today and their training and management is a key part of the SENCO role. After Christmas, the next two issues of SENCO Week will provide some reminders of how to ensure that this valuable resource is used to best effect.

Support for SENCOs

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Different ways of deploying teaching assistants + Help Sheet 6

sara — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:34 +0100

Support for SENCOs

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Maximising the effectiveness of classroom support

sara — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:34 +0100

Support for SENCOs

Establishing a positive and mutually respectful relationship between a class or subject teacher and a teaching assistant or support teacher, is the key to successful working.
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Generating ideas from staff

tina — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:33 +0100
Generating ideas for development, growth and effectiveness is essential and yet how often do we devote time to it as individuals and as institutions? This week's CPD Week looks at how we might blast ideas out for the benefit of the development of ourselves, each other and our schools, with more frequency and finesse!

We also take a look at the changes to the rules concerning the employment of overseas trained teachers.

Quote of the week

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We are all teachers of behaviour

tina — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:33 +0100
Everyone had a favourite teacher at school. No doubt there was also one that was equally revered. Thinking back, what separated the good from the bad and led you to form this opinion? Be honest! Was it because the favoured teacher was genuinely better, or was it because the one whose lessons you dreaded was stricter in terms of punishment? Without realising it, these feelings of negativity would have had a direct impact on your learning. How could this have been avoided? Behaviour Matters investigates!

Introduction

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Individual Education Plans (IEPs): are they useful?

sara — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:33 +0100

IEPs – a useful way of focusing on a child’s needs and how to meet them, or just another bureaucratic chore? This week we reflect on how IEPs, and IBPs (‘behaviour’) can be used sensibly as a means to an end, rather than an end in themselves!
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Harnessing ambition: want to get a-head?

tina — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:33 +0100

A key responsibility of any school, and in particular CPD coordinators, is to respectfully help members of staff to work towards achieving their ambitions. With recent news of incredibly healthy headship ambitions from the National College of School Leadership, how might we ensure that all these aspiring heads are supported in the best possible way? This issue of CPD Week takes a look at the latest NCSL research and offers suggestions for helping teachers to keep their eyes on that headship prize.
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Reflection and reflexivity: linking these skills to classroom practice

cassandrafaria — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:32 +0100
Reflection and reflexivity are frequently used words in connection with professional and personal development. Often we think that what we are doing is reflective or reflexive, but is it really? Are we even sure of what these terms mean when related to our work in schools? Do we have a full appreciation of the fact that every staff member, including volunteers such as governors, can have their contribution enhanced by reflection and reflexivity?

If you want to go back to basics − and it is always worth doing this with CPD − try these practical tips:

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Strategies for cognition and learning difficulties

sara — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:32 +0100

Children with cognition and learning difficulties make up the largest group of pupils with special educational needs in mainstream schools. Each is an individual and particular strategies will be valuable, but there are some generic approaches to share with colleagues that may help them to differentiate effectively for children who find it hard to learn.

Support for SENCOs

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Reviewing your school's CPD policy

cassandrafaria — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:32 +0100
Reviewing any kind of school policy is always going to be an ongoing process. While it may seem logical to do this towards the end of an academic year, the sheer number of policies in schools now means that this is simply not feasible. A staggered approach is far more manageable. There is no right or wrong time in the year to review CPD policies. This can be a fruitful exercise at any stage with one or two provisos:

the review should be reflective

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School workforce reform: taking it further

cassandrafaria — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:32 +0100
A recent Ofsted report, Reforming and developing the school workforce, has found that schools and their teachers are now able to devote more time to pupils as a result of reforms to help 'reduce paperwork and refocus workload'. Three quarters of the teachers interviewed by Ofsted for the report believed that they have 'greater control over their work and more time to plan lessons, mark books and collaborate with colleagues'.

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Making the most of your Teaching Assistants

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:31 +0100

Here we look at ways of monitoring the work of TAs and maximising their effectiveness.

Monitoring the effectiveness of support staff is an essential part of ensuring quality provision, but it is an aspect of the management role that many SENCOs find difficult to fit in. On a basic level, simply talking to staff about how a TA works in their classroom is a good start. This can be done incidentally in the staff room and can provide useful feedback, but it’s surprising how seldom this sort of informal monitoring is used.
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Behaviour support from teaching assistants

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:30 +0100

Teaching assistant, classroom assistant, HLTA, behaviour support assistant, parent helper, learning support assistant, are all (and there are more!) posts which have appeared in schools over the last few years. Referred to as TAs, LSAs, BSAs, the roles and perceived hierarchy in the classroom are often difficult to understand.
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Managing lunchtime behaviour

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:30 +0100

'It can take the best part of an hour to sort out all the problems and upsets that have happened during the lunch break!'

Sound familiar? Lunchtime is often fraught with frustration and arguments, to such an extent that some schools choose to restrict the length of the lunch break 'to prevent problems occurring'.

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Great ideas for making a fresh start – at any time of year

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:30 +0100

Teaching

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Empowering teaching assistants: case study

scameron — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:58 +0100

I was appointed to the post of learning support coordinator in September 2000. Only two teaching assistants (TAs), who were called classroom assistants at that time, were in post and so I was able to build up the team gradually, as additional money became available. A part-time teacher (0.4) with expertise in literacy was also an invaluable support.

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Helping hands: making best use of TAs

scameron — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:57 +0100

In today’s world, change is so rapid that schools need to be willing to regularly embrace new initiatives, discoveries and technologies, adapting themselves to the needs of pupils who come from an ever-changing and evolving multicultural and often fragmented society. What might have been appropriate in school classrooms 10 years ago is unlikely to be so today. To prosper in this climate requires schools to make optimum and innovative use of all staff. One sector of your workforce that has moved more centre-stage in recent years is teaching assistants.
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Assisting the assistants: CPD for teaching assistants

scameron — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:57 +0100

CPD for the wider workforce, in particular for teaching assistants (TAs), remains a key dimension of the work of professional learning leaders in schools. Yet CPD for TAs does present certain challenges which need to be overcome if schools are to move towards realising their greater potential for the benefit of the pupils they serve.

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Understanding classroom practice – what school financial managers need to know

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:42 +0100
Financial managers in schools, especially those aspiring to be leaders, now play an increasing part in every aspect of whole-school management. The growing tendency for financial managers to be part of a school’s senior management team means school administration and financial strategy can no longer be separated from the day-to-day business of a school, which is generally seen as providing young people with the chance to develop and achieve both inside and outside the classroom. In this article we will explore this classroom dimension in more detail.

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Planning and delivering CPD for TAs: different kinds of support

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:33 +0100

The role of the teaching assistant (TA) has developed rapidly in recent years. As well as offering direct support to pupils, TAs may now also be involved in preparing resources (including technology), conducting individual assessments, observing and recording achievements in lessons, writing individual education plans (IEPs) and helping SENCOs with administrative tasks.

However, the main part of a TA’s job in most cases is still to support pupils in their learning – whether inside the classroom, or outside.
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Examining the impact of postgraduate professional development

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:24 +0100

Evaluating the impact of professional learning is not straightforward but it can be rewarding. It is always likely to bring to the surface unexpected evidence for unintended outcomes and to make use of a variety of perspectives. Sometimes we have to wait for the impact to develop.
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Making the most of your TAs

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:23 +0100

Teaching assistants can provide valuable help to hard-pressed teachers – if only they are used properly. Unfortunately this is not always the case. Young, inexperienced teachers can find it difficult organising other adults within the classroom especially while they are trying to find their feet in their first job. After all, the teaching assistant will probably know more about the class than they do! While some teachers who have been around for longer regard the teaching assistant as just a pair of hands to do the dogsbody work or help out a particular child.
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Creating support staff development plans

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:09 +0100

For schools, long- and medium-term strategic planning is extremely important to ensure that they identify, anticipate and prepare for change, and that they maintain a culture of continuous self-review and improvement. In keeping with this, all schools are required to go through an annual self-evaluation and improvement planning cycle in which the headteacher and leadership team evaluate the school’s performance in key areas. From this, they should identify a number of aims and objectives for development and specify how they will act to achieve these.
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Developing a high-performance culture

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:19:39 +0100
The current era of objective measurement and relentless public accountability has brought unprecedented pressure to bear on school leadership teams and their governing bodies. To borrow from a now-famous dictum, they know only too well that to ensure their survival their three priorities must be ‘performance, performance and performance’.
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Six keys to effective support teams

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:19:26 +0100

Behaviour and Education Support Teams (BESTs) are multi-agency teams, which bring together a range of professionals, working to support schools, families and children, who present or are at risk of developing emotional, behavioural and/or attendance problems.

The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) has examined key operational issues, gathering data on the impact and effectiveness of the teams*. BESTs were seen as having a positive impact on:
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