Introduction

Both the role and image of support staff have changed radically over the last few years. What they do in schools and classrooms and how they are used to raise standards has altered irrevocably. What everyone needs to accept, however, is that these changes are continuing. Fully implementing the National Workload Agreement means that many support staff must develop further skills, techniques and strategies.

In October 2000, the Government provided extra funding and guidance on how schools could use teaching assistants and other support staff more effectively. The Guide to Good Practice in the Deployment and Management of Teaching Assistants (DfES, 2000) made it clear that the Government was financially committed to support more teaching assistants and other support staff. New National Occupational Standards and National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) were created, covering the work of different levels of teaching assistants and other support staff, together with a range of skills-based courses. This has all led towards large-scale development and radical change.

The challenges of really getting to grips with workload reform mean that teaching assistants should be able to use their skills to work more closely with teachers and begin to teach groups of pupils and, possibly, whole classes.

Many schools are already making changes which allow this to happen and the number of support staff has grown quickly:

‘The number of support staff working in our schools has risen dramatically over the last few years and the agreement and workforce remodelling have helped to promote new areas of activity.’

Training and Development Agency for Schools, 2008

The challenge for most schools is to combine the two roles of reducing workload and supporting better teaching and learning, but many support staff are capable of developing the necessary skills to support these roles. All schools should be flexible and innovative about what they expect of support staff. Schools need to do this effectively because they cannot function as successfully as they would like without the support and skills that support staff bring to their job. Ofsted recognises the important roles support staff play and will, during their changed inspection routines, ask more questions about how support staff are used and what effect they have on educational standards. Schools will need to show how support staff are used to raise standards.