Drawing on the lessons from one of the world’s leading research and development efforts involving teaching assistants (TAs), this book is the authors’ most authoritative text yet on how to design a whole school plan to improve TAs’ deployment, practice and preparedness, and put it into action. The authors use robust theories and original research to explore an innovative and integrated approach to making the most of TAs, and recognising the valuable contributions they make to the classroom and the school. Structured around a unique and empirically sound conceptual framework, this book provides essential principles, practical tools and workable strategies, developed through collaboration with hundreds of UK schools. It focuses on ensuring TAs can thrive in their role, and presents the tools and techniques needed to do so accessibly, and is illustrated with case studies on school and classroom practices. Essential reading for all primary school leaders and SENCOs responsible for training and managing TAs, this book is also a useful resource for teachers and teaching assistants looking to optimise the TAs’ contributions. Used in combination with The Teaching Assistant’s Guide to Effective Interaction, Maximising the Impact of Teaching Assistants in Primary Schools is a comprehensive and unrivalled guide to supporting school workforce improvement.

Teaching assistants are an integral part of classroom life, yet pioneering research by the authors has shown schools are not making the most of this valued resource. Evidence shows the more support pupils receive from TAs, the less academic progress they made. Yet the reason for this has little to do with TAs. It is decisions made about them by school leaders and teachers that best explain this provocative finding. The fully updated second edition of this book draws on the experiences of schools that have put this guidance into action via the Maximising the Impact of Teaching Assistants programme. Revised to reflect the latest research evidence and changes within education, including the 2014 SEND Code of Practice, this book will help school leaders and teachers in primary and secondary settings to rethink the role, purpose and contribution of TAs, and add real value to what can be achieved in classrooms. Setting out a field-tested process, structured around a coherent and empirically sound conceptual framework, this book: helps school leaders review, reform and reenergise their TA workforce provides practical strategies to implement in the classroom illustrates key points with new case studies provides photocopiable templates and resources to support decision-making and action. Maximising the Impact of Teaching Assistants provides much-needed and evidence-informed guidance on how to unleash the huge potential of TAs, and is essential reading for all school leaders.

Teaching assistants have become an integral part of classroom life, yet pioneering research by the authors has shown that school leaders and teachers are not making the most of this valued resource. Results from the Deployment and Impact of Support Staff (DISS) project showed that the more support pupils received from teaching assistants, the less academic progress they made. Yet it is not decisions made by the teaching assistants themselves, but decisions made by school leaders and teachers about how their support staff are used and prepared, which explains these provocative results. Prompted by the wake-up call the DISS project findings provided, this timely book of guidance will help school leaders and teachers in primary and secondary schools improve the way they use teaching assistants, and will add real value to what can be achieved in the classroom. Based on the authors' collaborative work with schools in the Effective Deployment of Teaching Assistants (EDTA) project, this book provides essential, practical tools and classroom-tested strategies that will allow schools to conduct a fundamental review of current practice and provides a framework for reforming teaching assistant deployment and preparation, and the way they interact with pupils. Maximising the Impact of Teaching Assistantsprovides much-needed and well-informed guidance on how to unleash the huge potential of teaching assistants working in schools and is essential reading for all school leaders.

This second edition of The Teaching Assistant’s Guide to Effective Interaction is the definitive guide to teaching assistant-pupil interaction, fully updated with examples from schools that have implemented techniques from the first edition. An invaluable professional development tool for classroom support staff and the teachers who work with them, this new edition answers the need for specific, practical guidance on the role of the teaching assistant. This practical and accessible guide sets out a role for teaching assistants that focuses on developing pupils’ independence and ownership of learning, with key learning points now summarised in each chapter. Based on a classroom-tested framework and covering the main contexts in which teaching assistants work, it includes a range of strategies and reflective activities to help improve the support provided to pupils in everyday settings. This book sets out successful strategies for: Responding to additional needs Understanding the principles behind effective classroom talk Carefully scaffolding pupils’ learning Delivering intervention programmes The Teaching Assistant’s Guide to Effective Interaction is an essential read for all teaching assistants and will also be of interest to school leaders, SENCOs and teachers in both primary and secondary schools who wish to improve their deployment of teaching assistants and their own interactions with pupils. Used in combination with Maximising the Impact of Teaching Assistants in Primary Schools, The Teaching Assistant’s Guide to Effective Interaction is a comprehensive and unrivalled resource for supporting school workforce improvement.

Inclusion conjures images of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) learning in classes alongside peers in a mainstream school. For pupils in the UK with high-level SEND, who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (formerly a Statement), this implies an everyday educational experience similar to that of their typically-developing classmates. Yet in vital respects, they are worlds apart. Based on the UK’s largest observation study of pupils with high-level SEND, The Inclusion Illusion exposes how attendance at a mainstream school is no guarantee of receiving a mainstream education. Observations of nearly 1,500 lessons in English schools show that their everyday experience of school is characterised by separation and segregation. Furthermore, interviews with nearly 500 pupils, parents and school staff reveal the effect of this marginalisation on the quality of their education. The way schools are organised and how classrooms are composed creates a form of ‘structural exclusion’ that preserves mainstream education for typically-developing pupils and justifies a diluted pedagogical offer for pupils with high-level SEND. Policymakers, not mainstream schools, are indicted over this state of affairs. This book prompts questions about what we think inclusion is and what it looks like. Ultimately, it suggests why a more authentic form of inclusion is needed, and how it might be achieved. Praise for The Inclusion Illusion 'This timely book presents clear challenges to the limits placed on progress for children with SEND in mainstream schools. It stands alongside calls, back to Warnock’s vision of every teacher being a teacher of SEN, for an end to “exclusion within inclusion”. It urges us to develop all staff to fulfil their roles with pupils with SEND. Acknowledging the value of TAs, it urges schools to ensure children who most need a teacher, get the teacher. Based on rigorous research, it rightly calls for bravery. For honesty. For action.' Professor Maggie Atkinson, Safeguarding consultant, adviser and leader, and Children’s Commissioner for England (2009–2015)'This is an important and valuable book which … has the potential to improve the educational experiences of pupils with significant learning and related difficulties. It combines an insightful account of the many issues and difficulties surrounding inclusion with a rigorous analysis of the outcomes and implications of large scale empirical work.' Professor Paul Croll, University of Reading 'I love this book! It tackles the structural challenges of inclusion head on and sets out what must change to create a fairer future for children with SEND. This is essential reading for all evidence-led school leaders, teachers and policymakers who believe in better.' Margaret Mulholland, SEND and Inclusion Policy Specialist, Association of School and College Leaders 'Rob Webster has deepened our understanding of how mainstream schools fail to address the needs of children with SEND. Distilling the crucial insights from years of work, he has thrown down a challenge to policymakers that for many children with SEND, simply having a mainstream placement is not the same as inclusion. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in what needs to change to ensure better futures for children with SEND in mainstream schools.' Brian Lamb OBE, Visiting Professor of Special Educational Needs and Disability, Derby University "This book brilliantly demonstrates the kind of education children with special educational needs in mainstream classroom, with the legal entitlement of an Education, health and care Plan actually experience. Despite talk of inclusion the classroom settings and organisation ensure that the children are excluded and marginalised from actual mainstream teaching. The over- use of Teaching Assistants, however well intentioned, is no substitute for the attention of qualified teachers. There is a separation in mainstream classes that ensures that inclusion is indeed an illusion. The book should be read by all teachers, parents and policy makers who care about the education of all children, not just those who are regarded as 'typical' or non-problematic." Professor Sally Tomlinson PhD FRSA

This book offers the first collection of international academic writing on the topic of teaching assistants. It serves as an indicative summary of current research and thinking in this field and as a point of departure for future research and development. With contributions from leading researchers, the book draws together empirical work on the deployment and impact of teaching assistants from various perspectives and from a range of methodological approaches. It highlights and celebrates the vital everyday contributions teaching assistants make to their schools and their communities: from their role within classrooms, to their moment-by-moment interactions with pupils and teachers. The book examines the effect that teaching assistants can have on pupils’ learning and wellbeing, and considers issues of over-dependence on classroom paraprofessionals and the unintended consequences to which this can lead. Bringing together work from a journal special issue with brand-new and updated chapters, the contributions offer insight into the liminal space between educator, caregiver, behaviour manager, and facilitator of learning and of peer relations, which characterizes the teaching assistant role. This timely and important book will be essential reading for academics, researchers, and students interested in special educational needs, disability, and inclusion, and those interested in the wider topic of paraprofessionals in labour markets.

Behaviour Management and the Role of the Teaching Assistant draws on the latest research as well as teaching assistants' own views to enable readers to reconsider TA deployment and to maximise the benefits TAs have to offer in supporting children’s behaviour. It considers the difficulties facing TAs, summarises the key stages in the evolution of their role in the classroom and highlights the significant challenges of TAs’ role definition. Using current research findings, this book provides guidance and practical activities to support schools in empowering TAs to work with children whose behaviour challenges. Each chapter considers a range of strategies for working with TAs, as well as the strengths and limitations of these approaches. There are also a range of self-/school-auditing and self-evaluation tasks with key points to consider and practical in-school suggestions at the end of each chapter. This is essential reading for professionals at all levels working in schools wanting to understand how teaching assistants can best be supported to successfully manage behaviour in schools.

Thoroughly revised throughout, this bestselling book returns in a new edition to take an even more comprehensive look at the question: How can teachers and schools create genuinely inclusive classrooms that meet the needs of every student? Inclusive Education for the 21st Century provides a rigorous overview of the foundational principles of inclusive education and the barriers to access and participation. It explores evidence-based strategies to support diverse learners, including specific changes in curriculum, pedagogy and assessment practices, and the use of data. It addresses the needs of children with physical, sensory and intellectual disabilities, as well as those with complex learning profiles, including mental health issues. This second edition is rich with new content, including six new chapters which address learning from international experience, multi-tiered systems of support, leading inclusive education reform, the importance of language and supporting friendships. A new section has been added to provide explicit support for implementing systemic inclusive education reform from the policy level right through to classroom practice. A new series of podcasts, featuring interviews with expert chapter authors, offers an engaging complement to the chapter topics and content. With many schools still operating under twentieth-century models that disadvantage students, this book presents the deep knowledge, tools and strategies to better equip pre- and in-service teachers and leaders to make inclusive education a reality in all schools.

A selection of essays from leading educationalists and school leaders with a track record of improving outcomes for children and young people with additional needs, highlighting the significant role that school leaders play in shaping effective practice in SEND. Based on the SEND Review Guide, a national self-evaluation framework part-funded by the DfE and authored by David Bartram and Vijita Patel, downloaded by over 3000 schools, the book is divided into eight sections: Leadership; Teaching and Learning; Working with Pupils and Parents; Identification and Assessment; Monitoring and Tracking; Efficient Use of Resources; Developing Provision; Improving OutcomesEach section includes 3-4 essays. The opening essays offer a broad national perspective on the focus area, authored by a leading educationalist. The following essays, authored by school leaders from a range of educational settings including secondary, primary and special schools, highlight practical examples of how they have improved outcomes for this group of pupils, often in particularly challenging contexts. There will be a strong focus on impact of the approach.

researchED is an educator-led organisation with the goal of bridging the gap between research and practice. This accessible and punchy series, overseen by founder Tom Bennett, tackles the most important topics in education, with a range of experienced contributors exploring the latest evidence and research and how it can apply in a variety of classroom settings. Literacy is one of the most powerful and transformative learning tools: making changes and improvements in Literacy will have a direct impact on your work, your learning and your aspirations across all subjects in the curriculum. In this book, Stephen Lockyer brings together contributions from expert writers, including Clare Sealy, Emma Stokes, Neil Almond and Andrew Percival, to show how making tiny, incremental changes with consistency and genuine purpose can have a big effect on your students, their literacy, and their learning. Each chapter has an abundance of ideas to take into your classroom and have a direct impact on the pupils.