Unit 2: Teacher–teaching assistant (TA) partnerships

This unit focuses on ways in which teachers and TAs can work together productively to enhance the learning of all children in the class. This is very much in the spirit of the SEND Code of Practice, particularly concerning its emphasis on high-quality teaching and how to differentiate it for individual pupils. It is also about the responsibility and accountability of teachers for pupils in their class, including where TAs provide support.

Whole-school policies will partly determine how teachers and TAs work together. Here, we focus on what teachers and TAs can do to use their relationship in the classroom effectively.

• Identify some key aims of pupil support in the classroom.
• Describe some of the processes that make pupil support effective.
• Trial pupil passports.
• Develop your use of feedback to enhance pupils’ learning.