Make The Best Use Of Teaching Assistants

TAs cost schools a great deal, and a good share of your pupil premium probably pays for them. Yet one large study found that the pupils who had the most TA support made the least progress. That usually comes down to how TAs are deployed rather than to the TAs themselves.

Here the Education Endowment Foundation's guidance on teaching assistants becomes a set of decisions you can make as a leader. Sending a TA out of the room with the lowest attaining group has to stop. Instead, TAs can rotate groups with the teacher or work as "teaching triage" around the room. A simple scale of support, from self-scaffolding up to modelling, helps TAs give the least help first so pupils stop leaning on them.

There's also a health check for your interventions, and ways to find planning time when teacher and TA hours don't overlap.