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The increase in the number of Teaching Assistants (TAs) in schools from 1997 to 2011 and the blurring boundaries between their role and that of teachers. the dimensions of the TA role, including support for pupils, teachers, curriculum, and schools. It also touches upon the potential for TAs to take on teaching responsibilities and the power dynamics between TAs, teachers, parents, and children. The document suggests that effective communication and collaboration between TAs and teachers are essential for a successful educational environment.
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Abstract
This qualitative research study explores Teaching Assistants’ perceptions of their work within mainstream primary schools, reflected in the substantive research question:
Working within a national framework – what are teaching assistants perceptions of their working lives?
The voices of the TAs themselves are privileged within a field of study where research is mainly undertaken from the viewpoint of the researcher or other stakeholders in schools. This research is set within the context of national frameworks and the discourses surrounding the work of teaching assistants.
Whilst this study seeks to read the world in a post-structural manner, it is set within the everyday life of schools alongside the contingencies and national frameworks surrounding it and a critical methodological approach is used. Interviews providing qualitative data are the chosen method for providing an opportunity for TAs to describe their experiences and voice their perceptions, and the study deploys a thematic analysis of this data.
Three dominant themes emerge, National Frameworks, Interactions with Parents and Children, and School Environment. The study suggests that both commission and omissions of national policy affect the work of a teaching assistant and that the implementation of these policies presents complex relations of professionalism, identity and positioning in schools.
List of Abbreviations
DCSF Department for Children, Schools and Families DFE Department for Education DFEE Department for Education and Employment DFES Department for Education and Skills GCSE General Certificate of Secondary Education HLTA Higher Level Teaching Assistant INSET In-Service Training Day NNEB National Nursery Examination Board NUT National Union of Teachers NVQ National Vocational Qualification
OFSTED Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills
QTS Qualified Teacher Status SDP School Development Plan SEN Special Educational Needs SENCO Special Educational Needs Coordinator SSSNB School Support Staff Negotiating Body TA Teaching Assistant TDA Training and Development Agency
Preface
Remodelling the roles, responsibilities and working practices of all school staff has been central to the government's modernisation agenda for English state schools and the last twenty years have seen a significant change in a fundamental restructuring of the school workforce (Watson et al., 2013). This workforce has been widened to include many different roles working directly supporting teaching and learning including roles of teaching assistants, along with those supporting teaching and learning more indirectly such as those involved in pupil welfare, other pupil support, facilities, administrative, site staff and technicians (Blatchford et al., 2009). Beeson, Kerry and Kerry (2003: 3) provide a definition of these support staff:
The fundamental role of support personnel is to support learning. Anyone in a school who is not a qualified teacher but who supports learning as part or whole of their role is therefore a member of the support staff and of the total learning resource of the school. In practice, such staff can be paid or unpaid, full-time or part-time, professionally qualified or not professionally qualified.
This study has a focus on staff paid to work to directly support the teaching and learning of children in primary schools in England, and who over the years have been given different titles such as ‘Classroom Assistants’ or ‘Non-Teaching Assistants’ (Balshaw & Farrell, 2002). I suggest that these titles imply that they are an aide to a specific teacher and that their contribution to teaching children and supporting their learning is negligible. I will refer to this group as Teaching Assistants (TAs) throughout this study, not only because it is the government's preferred term for ‘those with a general role and others with specific responsibilities for a child, subject area or age group’ (Department for Education & Skills, 2000: 4), but also because the term TA is in common usage.
Chapter 1 An Introduction To The Research Question
1.1 Introduction
“She treats me like a lesser being”. This comment was made by Jean, a TA in a primary school, taking part in an informal discussion with other TAs during a training session I was facilitating for TAs in 2010. Jean was talking about her relationship with the primary school teacher she worked with in the classroom and some, but not all of the other TAs in the room nodded in seemingly empathetic agreement. My initial reaction was one of concern that a TA could be treated with disrespect within what seemed to be such a hierarchical relationship. I wanted to explore this further, so this comment was a pivotal moment in my decision to carry out a study of teachers and TAs working together in the classroom.
This chapter explores the wider context within which these words were spoken, by providing a concise exploration of both my own professional history and an overview of the development of the TA role through national policy and legislation. These then provide a backdrop that showed how initial discussion with TAs, and reading the work of Stephen Ball suggested that was likely to be a complex story. The chapter ends with a clarification of the aims of this project.
1.2 My Own Personal and Professional History
I qualified as a teacher in 1975, working in various Lancashire primary schools and first worked with TAs from the mid-1990s. These TAs were parents of children who attended the school where I taught and like them I returned to work following a period of being a full- time mother. I had empathy with these TAs who wanted work that fitted in with school life, providing both greater financial security and personal development. Some of these colleagues had started as volunteers following attendance at courses that I had facilitated in school for parents, with the aim of increasing their involvement with their children’s learning and well-being (Bastiani & Wolfendale, 1996). Through this involvement they were appointed as TAs and as Special Needs Coordinator (SENCo), I was their line manager because they were supporting children with Special Educational Needs (SEN). I became their mentor both officially when they undertook qualifications and through working closely
My interest in the work of TAs in mainstream primary schools has therefore been embedded in my life over a span of more than twenty years and I had also experienced first- hand how national policy can affect the working lives of individuals. There was therefore a personal and professional agenda in researching the working lives of TAs within national frameworks.
1.3 Teaching Assistants and National Frameworks
Through my personal and professional life I had witnessed the rise in the numbers of TAs in schools, which has been well documented (Farrell et al., 2010). In 1997 there were 24, full-time equivalent TAs working in mainstream schools (Department for Education & Employment, DfEE, 1997), by 2010 there were 190,400 TAs in schools (Department for Children, Schools and Families, DCSF, 2010) and by 2011 32 per cent of the nursery and primary school workforce was comprised of TAs (Blatchford et al., 2012). This growth has therefore been rapid and relatively recent.
The previous section explained that my role changed as the remodelling agenda and National Agreement (2003) began to be implemented in schools and this section explores an account of earlier policies and legislation that are particularly relevant to the rise in numbers of support staff to provide a context for this study. This will lead up to the National Agreement which will be explored further in Chapter 2, the Literature Review. These historical events can then, ‘piece together to help us understand circumstances and policy contexts of the context of the study’ (Clough & Nutbrown, 2010). This is a chronological account, but there is no intention of suggesting the development of TAs is a straightforward story. I accept that whilst policy and legislation form part of the picture there are complex narratives surrounding restructuring (Gunter, 2008), but this account provides a useful tool to further understanding of the background to the work of TAs. This section therefore has the aim of exploring the wider political and educational emphases (Burgess, 2008); following Ball (2009) who suggests that many single focus studies which attempt to explore the impact of practice of one policy neglect the general picture.
The work of TAs and their increase in numbers is relatively new. The National Nursery Examination Board (NNEB) established the profession of Nursery Nurses in 1945 to support young children under 5 years of age in schools and nurseries. Despite this, it was
documented over 20 years later in the Plowden Report (1967) that only 22% of schools had any assistants to assist teachers in caring for the needs of young children, though it did consider that the role of these extra staff was limited:
There is no reason why they should not prepare materials for art and craft, look after plants and animals, help with displays and exhibitions and record school broadcasts (Plowden, 1967: 329).
The Plowden Report (1967) envisaged that TAs would provide help of a practical, creative or sporting nature – in effect they would provide the teacher with an extra pair of hands. This expectation continued through the 1970s, for example with Kennedy and Duthie (1975) recommending that TAs should not plan activities, organise or manage classrooms and their role should be restricted to encouraging students and helping when they had difficulty. Kolvin et al. (1981) described the TA as a 'domestic helper', but the need for additional support in the classroom particularly began to grow from the 1980s. It has been argued that as TA numbers have increased, so the role has had a rapid transformation:
…from one of classroom helper – assisting the teacher in general classroom organisation – to one that is more specifically directed to supporting the teaching and learning process (Groom, 2006: 199).
Literature suggests that there were two main causes in the increase of TAs, the use of TAs within the policy of inclusion of pupils with SEN in mainstream schools, plus concerns over teacher workload and teacher retention (Blatchford et al., 2012). The Warnock Report (Department Education & Science, DES, 1978) and the subsequent Education Acts 1981, 1993 and 1996 began and developed national recognition of the role of assistants in the classroom to support pupils with SEN, to assist with meeting the different abilities of individuals and groups (O’Brien & Garner, 2001). The introduction of Local Management of Schools meant that funding went directly to schools, including funding for statemented pupils, which facilitated the employment of TAs to provide Special Educational Needs support (Swann & Loxley, 1998). This supported the idea that TAs should be employed to help statemented pupils and that those children in mainstream schools who did not require a Statement should also have their needs formally recognised, met and regularly reviewed. Between 1991 and 2000 the balance of pupils with a statement between mainstream and
introduced in September 2003, administrative and clerical tasks were removed from teachers with the intention of improving their work-life balance. In addition a time allowance was introduced for all teachers with management responsibilities. Phase two, a year later, limited the time any teacher could be asked to cover classes for absent colleagues. Phase three in September 2005, brought in Planning and Preparation and Assessment Time (PPA) for all teaching staff to be taken during the school day. In addition invigilation of exams was removed as a responsibility for teachers and dedicated headship time was introduced.
Stevenson (2007) suggests that pivotal to the agreement were changes that allowed support staff to undertake a range of teaching duties, including taking whole classes, though this was expected to be carried out in special circumstance by Higher Level Teaching Assistants (HLTAs), under the direction of a qualified teacher. However, this concern about teaching of whole classes by TAs led to the National Union of Teachers (NUT) not signing this National Agreement. It considered it undermined the years of work by unions to achieve an all- graduate status for the teaching profession because they considered that it would legitimise the employment of unqualified persons to teach whole classes (McAvoy, 2003). This questioning by the NUT was the first doubt, or niggle, in my mind that the work of TAs could be seen as anything else than a good thing. As a member of the NUT I felt I should take their concerns seriously, but my role as Teacher Adviser was to promote the use of TAs in schools. I began to feel confused about what this increased role of the TA would mean to the practice of TAs and teachers in schools.
1.4 Delving Deeper into Policy
I was beginning to feel confused about the role of TAs, despite having extensive experience and interest in their work. I had also found the comment, ‘She makes me feel like a lesser being’, very unsettling. I had an itch in my head that I wanted to scratch because I had a dawning realisation that the development of TAs was not as straightforward as simply being a response to a set of legislation that I had thought of as being for the common good of children, teachers and this relatively new group of TAs. During my years of teaching in the classroom and then working as Teacher Adviser both myself and my colleagues accepted policies and changes at face value, embracing the development of TAs. My role as Teacher
Adviser was funded by the government to enact and promote this legislation and policy so looking back over the years of policy change, I was very aware that the government had great influence over the developing role of the TA and that government policy could change. I also found differences between schools and staff in Lancashire in how the policies regarding remodelling and TAs were enacted in practice.
Reading the work of Stephen Ball was particularly useful in making sense of things. Stephen Ball has been at the forefront of the field of educational policy analysis and theory for many years and his work resonated with my initial ideas because he suggests that any theory of education policy must attend to the workings of the state, but should not be limited to this state perspective. Ball (1994) suggests that policy is what is enacted as well as what is intended – control can never be totally secured because it will be open to erosion and undercutting by the action, embodied agency of the people who are its object. In other words, there are concerns, demands, pressures and relationships within practices and it is this key idea that underpins my whole research project. Ball conceptualises policy in two different ways that he calls policy as text and policy as discourse and I suggest this is a helpful notion in providing an insight and understanding of the policies surrounding TAs.
Ball suggests that the text of policies does not normally tell you what to do, but instead they create circumstances giving a range of options or particular goals or outcomes. I had personal experience of this when I was the main contributor to writing Lancashire’s Workforce Strategy for Practitioners Working with Parents because whilst it contained ideals, aims and general guidance, it had no clear additional guidance on how these could be achieved. A response to policy therefore needs to be put together, constructed in context and Ball suggests that whilst textual policy can bring change, we should not ignore the way in which changes are different between settings or different to the policy intentions. Policies present a restructuring, redistribution and disruption of power relations and therefore ‘there is a complexity of the relationship between policy intentions, texts, interpretations and reactions’ (Ball, 2004: 20). These notions resonate with my research project, as I examine the policy texts surrounding the work of TAs, whilst observing the varied interpretations that emerge as they unravel within schools and classrooms.
1.5 Delving Deeper into Research
Along with academic ‘unsettling’ I experienced a sense of unease on a day to day level. My initial feeling of concern and unfairness triggered by the opening comment, “She treats me like a lesser being”, began to change. Further informal conversation with Jean weeks later, revealed that she was a qualified teacher who had decided to become a TA following early retirement. Also, despite offering negative views on school systems and teachers, many TAs told me they loved their job and that the job was very rewarding. It was apparent that the situation of teachers and TAs working together was more complex than the hierarchy suggested by Jean’s comment. I was also concerned that as a Teacher Adviser I had become removed from the day to day lives of the TAs because I was becoming increasingly strategic in decision making about the training and development of the TA role in Lancashire. I had developed an assumption that because of imposed changes to my role as Teacher Adviser that I was part of a large organisation, funded within a structure of government which was far removed from my interests or any individual’s interest within it (Guba & Lincoln, 1989). I saw myself as a small cog within this machine which not only ruled my own professional life, but everyone within the educational system, including TAs. As a Teacher Adviser I was delivering the messages of government policy and felt part of the government structure, attending meetings to discuss TA training rather than meeting TAs themselves. I had a growing awareness that perhaps I was doing things to and about them rather than with or in consultation with them and ironically was dealing with them in a way that seemed external to them and beyond their control. Decisions about what courses to run were made and imposed on the basis of what we thought they should be and also on what areas interested us rather than through consultation. I wanted to begin to make sense of the growing confusion of my thoughts around the role of TAs so during a short group session I was running on the role of the TA; I asked them to state their perceptions of the rewards and challenges of their role. They discussed this in small groups then fed back their ideas to the whole group. I found that this simple exercise provided an interesting insight into their ideas about their working lives and the results are in Table 1. Nearly all the rewards related to their contribution to the wellbeing and achievement of pupils, for example ‘seeing pupils smile/enjoy being at school’ and ‘seeing young people develop’ and also to their own
feelings of happiness and self-worth, for example, ‘making a difference’ and ‘helping others’.
REWARDS CHALLENGES Helping others Lack of understanding of role Teachers/colleagues Meeting new people Variations in roles Making a difference Behaviour – what is our role? Working in partnership with family friendships Not being able to do job Building trust Can't have children out of class/curriculum comes 1st Trust Support Good relationships Supervision Building good relationships Guidance Working in partnership Being there Not being able to make a difference Working with families Time Integration Time (lack of) Breaking down barriers Not enough hours in the day Personal development Managing time – equal time? Successful transitions Different targets than SMT Successful reintegration Parents School holidays off Speaking to the right person in school/agency Seeing young people develop Inter-agency working plus many more!! Finding the moment you connect with that Young Person Knowing where to go and who to contact Seeing happy, healthy children Information (lack of) Seeing pupils rise above the challenges they face Resources Exam results/college places Support from staff Working with children & young people Draining – emotionally, physically Seeing them change/make progress Parents – co-operation/lack of support Seeing children Teachers Seeing pupils smile/enjoy being at school Trust both from children & parents Seeing pupils developing relationships with other pupils Grief off parents Children’s achievement Communication Making a difference Childs achievement Satisfactory outcome Table 1. Rewards and Challenges of the TA Role.
