Reform, an independent right-leaning think tank co-founded by Conservative Policing Minister Nick Herbert, before he was a Minister, has published a report calling on the Government to go further with its education reforms. The report calls for:
- The scrapping of national pay and conditions agreements, allowing head teachers the freedom to ‘set the right balance between pay, staff numbers and quality’.
- A radical programme for improving teacher quality.
- Limiting the use of teaching assistants; the report suggests that extensive use of teaching assistants could even be damaging, particularly in the case of children with Special Educational Needs.
The report does not reflect Government policy, but Reform does have a lot of influence with the Government.
At the NAS, we agree that improving standards in teaching is important. We know that expertise among teaching professionals, including teaching assistants is crucial in making sure that children with autism get the help they need to fulfil their potential.
However, we have concerns about the impact reducing the numbers of teaching assistants may have on the support children with autism receive in the classroom and will make this clear in any discussions we have with Government.
Please leave a comment below to let us know what you think of the findings of the report.
The latest Education report ‘Every Teacher Matters’, issued by Reform, in the last two days or so, calls worryingly for a limitation of teaching assistant involvement in schools. They claim that their use in schools could be damaging to children, particularly those with SEN.
ReplyDeleteThis is not something that I recognise. My children’s darkest days at school were when they were undiagnosed, unstatemented, and had no access to the invaluable support that comes with TA hours of support. Their best progress was made when these became available to them through the statement of SEN. TAs are not there to teach children, they are there to enable children to access the curriculum. Without them many children with SEN, indeed, those with the most severe SEN, will be unable to access the teaching in their class, no matter how good it is. I am extremely worried by any move to remove TAs from the classroom.
Reform present ‘evidence’ from reports from the Institute of Education. But what they do not do is to consider other evidence. It appears that they have then drawn conclusions which fit their own ideological standpoint. This is why we cannot take their report seriously as an independent examination of what is happening in classrooms.
I think the bottom line is this: the report is being produced to meet an ideological requirement to justify cost-cutting. We do need an examination of what is going on in our classrooms, but it must be a serious examination, and not done to justify any particular political viewpoint.
If you feel the same about TAs, please feel free to write a message of support on my blog.
http://guerrillamum.wordpress.com/
Ellen Power
Fully endorse the comments above. Our daughter had a disastrous start to her schooling, was at risk of permanent exclusion from Reception, and only managed to access the curriculum at all once 100% Band D funding was obtained (for a short while she was on 200%). This enabled her to have a dedicated TA which helped her to access the curriculum while minimising disruption to her classmates. Her ASD diagnosis was not made until Y4, and although this helped in terms of knowing how to address her problems, she would not have survived in mainstream education without the continued support from some excellent TAs (some of whom were considerably more able and effective than the classroom teachers).
ReplyDeleteThanks to continued TA support, my daughter is now thriving in a mainstream high school and is at last functioning at or above national expectations for her age and sees herself as a learner. The school's aim is to adapt her support as she gets older and more independent, with a view to her leaving with qualifications and the ability to function in society. They, and we, see this as a 5 year plan, which can only be achieved with continued support. As your post suggests, I think this is an ideologically-driven initiative which flies in the face of recent, demonstrable good classroom practice. TAs support not only the child in their charge, but augment the learning of others and allow teachers to teach more effectively. Everybody benefits from TAs in schools.
The formal education process serves autistic children (and, indeed, most children) very poorly; it is politically fashionable to hark back to 'traditional' methods of teaching, but in reality this is the exact opposite of what is needed for all our children. TAs are vital, their pay is abysmally low for the benefits they bring to the whole school and this report should be vigorously opposed.
TA's are the unsung heros of education.
ReplyDelete@Guerrillamum and @JHayward, I could not have said it better myself! Here here and Thank you!
ReplyDeleteAs a mum of a nine year old on the spectrum, I can not even come close to singing the praises of the TA's that have supported him from year one, of his mainstream school, until now. If it were not for the support of the school and these incredible Trained in Autistic Spectrum, TA's my son would Not be progressing as he is continually doing and to be honest, I'm not sure he would actually IN school..
Not only that, but these TA's led me to become a TA myself, specialising in Autistic Spectrum Conditions, working as well in a mainstream school for over 4 years now and Loving every minute of it, though it is hard work- It is Amazingly rewarding. As said, I am not there to "teach" the children I work with as such, but rather to "bridge" their "world" to ours to enable them to access the curriculum and make it meaningful for them and to them.
I just wish that these people that make these decisions would spend One WEEK in a mainstream school with SEN children, specifically Autistic Spectrum, and see what exactly these children face, deal with and are expected to meaningfully learn in, and then see the work that the TA's actually do and how a child can not only progress, but Thrive and completely surpass any expectations that were placed...
Take away these children's "link" in the mainstream classroom, to me, means you take away the real chance these children have to access the curriculum in a meaningful way and excel as they can and are already doing.
as a mum, i am absolutely Terrified at the thought of my son entering secondary school with out a qualified and Autistic Spectrum conditions trained TA. All the work we have all done as well as the incredible progressions he has made would be in vain. he would regress. He could not cope by himself in a secondary school environment. I know this for an absolute fact. He is high functioning, as they call it, however he requires a lot of continual support to be able to function let alone progress.
He can be capable of university level education, he actually wants to go as well. His future is bright and he can prove to be a valuable member of society, if i do say so myself. However, He will need continued support to do so. what face will this support take if it not a Teaching assistant/Learning support assistant or even eventually a "personal" assistant??
How hypocritical for a government who is cutting everywhere and desperately trying to get people back to work and "off the state" to cut the support that can and does allow children with SEN to become valuable contributors to society? It makes no sense to me at all.
The above posts are about mainstream schools but my son with ASD has always attended special schools and the cost of these would be even more if TA's are removed. The small class sizes which are prescriptive for the clientele can only function with the teacher and 3-4 TA's. Surely one is not thinking of bringing more "teachers" in to be supernumery? A teacher is required to plan the execution of the curriculum and the TA's are required as previously mentioned to bridge the gap between young person and the curriculum. They are not teaching they are facilitating learning on an individual basis.
ReplyDeleteNice post. I like the way you start and then conclude your thoughts. Thanks for this information .I really appreciate your work, keep it up.
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