To what extent are teaching assistants really managed?: ‘I was thrown in the deep end, really; I just had to more or less get on with it’

ABSTRACT

The main aim of this research was to secure a better understanding of how local authorities (LAs), senior leadership teams (SLTs) and teachers in state schools perceive their responsibilities for the deployment, leadership and management of teaching assistants (TAs). Current research in the field – some of which has been highly influential on policy – has largely focused on aspects of TA performance and pupil attainment. Importantly, we have chosen to investigate how TAs and SLTs themselves describe their experiences of management. TAs, teachers, senior leaders in primary schools and LA advisors, across two LAs, were surveyed. Based on 55 questionnaire responses, 23 interviews and 2 focus groups we found evidence of a dislocation of management priorities for effective TA deployment. What emerged was a strong sense of ‘otherness’ felt by many TAs, who believed themselves to be dissociated from their own management. We conclude that TAs make up a workforce that appears to be closely managed but which is in fact often poorly led, resulting in feelings of detachment.

KEYWORDS:

• Teaching assistants
• school leadership teams
• local authority
• management
• control
• otherness

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Source: House of Commons (2011), Hansard written answer 9.9.11 (Hansard figures have been checked against consecutive government statistical first releases. Figures vary slightly, but the increase is consistent against all records).

2. Additionally, the terms ‘Special Support Assistant’ and ‘Specialist TA’ are also common. Use of the generic term ‘Support Staff’, rather than ‘TA’, in government materials may further illustrate perceived variations the roles of TAs.

3. The plural reflects the common situation of TAs claiming they had two managers – the class teacher and the Headteacher.