Maximizing Support Staff Impact: Narrowing the Gap for Students' Progress

Supporting students in making progress; narrowing the gap for everyone through optimising the use of Support Staff By Gareth D Morewood Director of Curriculum Support, Priestnall School, Stockport 25th February 2013

What is going to happen? • Give you a context where including young people with SEND has recorded some success • Highlight some of the work we do in monitoring and benchmarking Teaching Assistant support & interventions • Challenge and offer ideas as to how you can adapt your own provision to meet modern needs more effectively

Some points to discuss ... • Is it more effective to deploy Teaching Assistants subject-specific or student need-specific? • Record keeping – not enough Teaching Assistants record keep – should they? • Do you have n understanding how TAs impact on student progression to analyse whether strategies are effective? • Is it important to ensure that Teaching Assistants are used most cost-effectively?

Background • My own journey • My current context • Ranges of needs • Structure of Curriculum Support • Provision & Access for ALL • Supporting vulnerable learners in mainstream schools & engaging parents/carers

Does Every Child still Matter? • Being Healthy • Staying Safe • Enjoying and Achieving • Making a Positive Contribution • Economic Wellbeing

Evidence from where… • Success of the young people • Parent/carer feedback • Student’s own views and thoughts • Views of other professionals • OFSTED – June 2011 • SEF and own monitoring and evaluation

Teachers’ Standards - 2012 Two key strands of wider professional responsibilities: • Develop effective professional relationships with colleagues, knowing how and when to draw on advice and specialist support • Deploy support staff effectively

‘One of the major barriers to achievement for pupils with SEND is being rendered dependent on adults to help them learn. Many pupils with cognitive and learning difficulties lack self-confidence. This results in an over-reliance on an adult to support them with their work.’ NS 2005: Maximising progress: ensuring the attainment of pupils with SEN

Ofsted’s view … Ofsted 2004 – ‘Support by teaching assistants can be vital, but the organisation of it can mean that students have insufficient opportunity to develop their skill, understanding and independence’ Ofsted 2006 – ‘teaching assistants provided valuable support and many were taking difficult roles’ ...however they recognised that pupils in mainstream schools, where teaching assistant support was the main type of SEN support, were less likely to make good academic progress than those who had access to specialist teaching.

Ofsted 2010 – Barriers to learning which were observed by inspectors included lack of careful preparation and poor deployment of adults to support children and young people. Where additional adult support was provided in the classroom for individuals, this was sometimes a barrier to including them successfully and enabling them to participate. In too many examples seen during the review, when a child or young person was supported closely by an adult, the adult focused on the completion of the task rather than on the actual learning. Adults intervened too quickly, so preventing children and young people from having time to think or to learn from their mistakes.

Research … • Howes (2003) found that teaching assistants’ support in class increased the amount of time pupils spent on task but did not necessarily result in an increased rate of learning. • Blatchford, Bassett et al (2009) – ‘The more support pupils received, the less progress they made, even after controlling for other factors that might be expected to explain the relationship such as pupils’ prior attainment, SEN status and income deprivation’.

Considering the Pupil Premium … • Additional adults to simply ‘answer’ the deficit in attainment is NOT the key … • ‘Best Buys’ are what works well for you … • Support Staff are essential as part of a whole-school approach; not simply THE answer on its own …

Best Buys…

REMEMBER … effective support is essential for students with SEND and other vulnerable groups to make progress – additional adults form an important part of that support – when used effectively.

Is it more effective to deploy Teaching Assistants subject-specific or student need-specific? • Consider your settings – what have you done/tried? • What are the pros & cons? • Think back to research by Lorenz (1998)... Lorenz, S. (1998) Effective in-class support: management of support staff in mainstream and special schools, David Fulton Publishers

Old-Fashioned TA styles? Do they still have a place? • How many different ‘types’ of TA support can you think of? • Are they all ‘good practice’? • If not what do they still occur? • Think about training and managing performance – then you can match TA skills to different support models ...

Guess the TA style ... • How many different models can you think of? • Lets see some in action ...

Record keeping – not enough Teaching Assistants record keep – should they? • Your thoughts? • What do you do in your schools? • Why are records important? • Joint planning and record keeping always generates debate .... • So here is what we do ... [and why]

How do you know how TAs impact on student progress and analyse whether strategies are effective? • This is very important but often ‘overlooked’ ... • A rigorous system of professional development and impact analysis must be part of whole school systems • It is simply not good enough ‘not to know’; how can you know and what evidence do you need?

We have established a ‘Development Record’ for our staff • This allows for a focus on their skills and aspirations, but also highlights areas of development and training • Providing high quality training supports each member of staff in their personal skill development • When you identify an area for development you need to offer something in support

Daily Record Sheets • Joint planning – impossible?? • How can you gauge progress and successful interventions?? • This is what we do ... • Make sure there is a positive system linked into these outcomes – some ideas ...

Positive messages – postcards... • Simple, yet so effective • Either send with student's knowledge or without • Write the comment and leave for address to be added later • Lots available a increasingly cheap rates from – www.vistaprint.co.uk

Positive messages – letters... • Don’t forget the impact of a positive letter or even e-mail • How do you feel when you receive a letter in the post? • Not to mention a positive one • Don’t forget the obvious...

Positive messages – texts... www.teachers2parents.co.uk Used purely for positive messages about progress and/or achievement, the trial has seen extremely positive feedback from all involved.

Our trial was for a specific purpose, providing positive messages home for vulnerable learners, all messages were individual and personalised. For example: ‘George did an amazing piece of work on Escher in Art today, ask him about it when he gets home. Well done George, Mr Morewood.’

Other possible uses of ‘text-home’ systems could be ... • Reporting Test/Assessment Results • Praising students • Notification of poor behaviour • Reporting Punctuality • Reminding of coursework deadlines/follow ups • Homework • Exam Dates • Detentions • Incorrect Uniform • Equipment • Reminders (parents evening, open evenings, after school classes) • Etc...

Anything positive is helpful... • Any positive contact is immensely powerful • Often schools get into negative spirals • Establish one or two positive mechanisms [some at relatively low cost] and see what the impact is • Never forget how you feel when you are praised

How can support be most effective? • Each school/setting is different, but one thing is for certain we are all accountable to balance resources against outcomes • Evidence is important, as discussed, but also provision • See Morewood (2011) Restructuring in light of budget restraints article & new revised versions

Consider some of the points – can you restructure and be more effective? • Brace yourself for a rapid summary .... • Schools need to develop 21st Century models of support • We MUST consider the ‘modern child’; old fashioned systems do not meet current need • Provision cannot be made when required, with lengthy systems and ‘out-of-date’ process

What is ‘effective support’? • Let us consider our respective schools … • What does ‘effective support’ look like? • Consider developing these ideas within your own teams/faculties/departments …

Partnerships are key... • Vulnerable young people cannot be included in isolation • Partnerships between home and school, in addition to specialist advice/interventions secures a stronger, triangulated approach • Joined up thinking, and advocating for strong partnerships are key elements of the 21st Century skill-set

Using technology • Text-to-speech software; reducing the reliance on TA support for access arrangements • Text-home systems for positive reinforcement • Further screening software developments and testing

Nurture Group • Supporting vulnerable young people develop skills before going to mainstream lessons • Creating a therapeutic milieu – support, structure, repetition and consistent expectations

Understanding themselves ... • Peer support and ‘Notions of Self’ • This makes good inclusive sense: it reduces the need for Teaching Assistants in ‘outdated roles’, allows for more creative working arrangements and also educates peers and others in the community

Reducing dependency … • Differentiate the learning objectives, if appropriate • Brief the teaching assistant on what students are to learn, as well as the task they have to complete • Modify/adjust aspects of the lesson to promote independence rather than using support from the teaching assistant • Find opportunities for students to work with other adults or peers • Ask the teaching assistant to model a task, answer students’ questions, then move away to allow them to work independently • Model ways of encouraging students to be more independent

‘Parenthood is the passing of a baton, followed by a lifelong disagreement as to who dropped it.’ Robert Brault When we are in loco parentis at school, ensuring you monitor and benchmark Teaching Assistants’ impact on progression will reduce the risks associated with you being blamed for ‘dropping the baton’ ... Good luck!

Consider 3 things ‘to do’ … • Write down three things you are going to do or explore further … • Try and do something tomorrow … then another next week … • How will you measure impact and report back to colleagues?

Thanks for listening... Gareth D Morewood Director of Curriculum Support [SENCo] Priestnall School Stockport www.gdmorewood.com

Maximizing Support Staff Impact: Narrowing the Gap for Students' Progress