Session Information
04 SES 10 A, Collaborative Teaching
Paper Session
Contribution
This paper adds to the debate following the presentation to ECER 2010 (Devecchi & Dettori, 2010) on the deployment and impact of support staff across European countries. Much has been written recently on the changing roles and responsibilities of school support staff, in particular of those whose work is positioned at the edges of professional responsibilities. HLTAs occupy a liminial (Mansaray, 2006) role of para-professional standards between that of teaching assistants and of teachers. The need to establish and HLTA ‘status’ came to be in response to the need to tackle teachers’ workload (PriceWatherhouseCooper, 2001), but also to upskill and professionalise the TAs’ workforce. Cast within the two competing policy agendas of raising standards and promoting social and educational inclusion, the establishment of a new category of support staff was seen by the former Labour government as an effective solution to sustain the need for a professional and competent workforce able to support both the teachers and the children. However, the future of all support staff and in particular that of HLTAs is at present unsure. Besides a number of reports which have cast doubts on the effectiveness of TAs and HLTAs in raising children’s attainement (Blatchord et al, 2009; Farrell, et al 2010), the present coalition government has set out budgetary policies of austerity which will have consequences on the ability of local authorities and schools to finance the employment and future training of support staff. It is within this problematic context that the present paper is located.
HLTAs were established in 2004 following the signing of the Workload Agreement (DfES, 2003) which provided a list of 25 activities which teachers were not any longer responsible for. The then Teacher Training Agency published a list of required professional standards (TTA, 2003) which formed the basis for the programme of professional development leading to HLTA status. Envisaged to relieve and support teachers by taking on responsibilities such as covering classes during teachers’ absences, or to allow teachers time for planning, preparation and assessment (PPA), the roles and responsibilities of HLTAs have grown beyond initial expectations to include administrative and managerial roles at times overlapping with those of the Special Needs Coordinator (SENCo). Not unlike the working conditions of TAs, describing their deployment practices is highly challenging and complex (Hancock, et al, 2010; Kerry, 2005). Individual school practices and needs, compounded with ever changing policy agendas mean that the roles and responsibilities of para-professional staff is dynamic, at best, and confused, at worst. Likewise, evaluating the impact of gaining HLTA status is fraught with both methodological and factual challenges. While Burgess and Shelton Mayes (2009) positively comment on the impact of gaining the status on the professional self-esteem and enhanced deployment of HLTAs, our study of HLTAs’ employment and deployment in one English local authority paints a more complex picture. While positive about the personal impact of gaining the status on their personal knowledge and understanding, the HLTAs also raised issues about the fairness of the actual employment and deployment practices.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
BLATCHFORD, P., BASSETT, P., BROWN, P., KOUTSOUBOU, M., MARTIN, C., RUSSELL, A., WEBSTER, R. & RUBIE-DAVIES, C. (2009) Deployment and Impact of Support Staff in Schools. The Impact of Support Staff in Schools (Results from Strand 2, Wave 2) London: DCFS DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION AND SKILLS (DFES) (2003) Raising standards and tackling workload: a national agreement. London: HMSO. DEVECCHI, M. C. & DETTORI, F. (2010) Inclusive classrooms in Italy and England: supporting children, supporting teachers. ECER, University of Helsinki, 23-26 August 2010 FARRELL, P., ALBORZ, A. HOWES, A. PEARSON. D. (2010) The impact of teaching assistants on improving pupils’ academic achievement in mainstream schools: a review of the literature. Educational Researcher, 62, 4, 435-448 HANCOCK, R., HALL, T., CABLE, C. & EYRES, I. (2010) 'They call me wonder woman': the job jurisdictions and work-related learning of higher level teaching assistants. Cambridge Journal of Education, 40, 97-112. KERRY, T. (2005) Towards a typology for conceptualizing the roles of teaching assistants Educational Review, 57, 373-384. TEACHER TRAINING AGENCY (TTA) & DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION AND SKILLS (DFES) (2003) Professional Standards for Higher Level Teaching Assistants. London: TTA
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