The role of the Teaching Assistant is constantly evolving. Where once, “Non-teaching Assistants” were expected to sharpen pencils, wash paint pots, listen to readers and undertake generic support of pupils, in Kirklees we now find a wide variety of support roles in school, all under the umbrella heading of “Education Teaching Assistant”. Not only do these posts carry a range of add-on definitions, they also have different gradings, under the Single Status arrangements put into place in 2010.

Here are some examples of Education Teaching Assistant sub headings currently listed in Kirklees job descriptions (all available on the Support Staff Advocate website staff/ ) EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT ASSISTANT 5 EMA CAREER DEVELOPMENT EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT ASSISTANT 6 ICT SUPPORT EDUCATIONAL TEACHING ASSISTANT 6 HOME SCHOOL SUPPORT EDUCATIONAL TEACHING ASSISTANT 6 EMA CAREER DEVELOPMENT EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT ASSISTANT 5 EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT ASSISTANT 6

“Senior Education Teaching Assistant grade 7”…the list goes on and on… EXTENDED LEARNING FACULTY SOCIAL INCLUSION BEHAVIOUR /LEARNING HOME SCHOOL COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP NURSERY SUPPORT GRADE 7 PARENT SUPPORT FOREST SCHOOL EXTENDED SERVICES

COVER SUPERVISION BEHAVIOUR SUPPORT COMMUNICATION SIGN INTERPRETATION GRADE 8 LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT AND ACHIEVEMENT

INCLUSION HLTA TASC LEARNING BEHAVIOUR AND ATTENDANCE YEAR GROUP PROVISION GRADE 9 LEARNING AND BEHAVIOUR EMA PROVISION

All of these roles are grouped into one “Job Family” by Kirklees and labelled ETA or Senior ETA but we know that schools have very different names for some of their support staff. Discuss as a group, what job titles you have in your schools, and where they would be likely to fall in the grading structure. Write down the job titles in the graded clouds

Share your table’s thoughts How do people move up the career ladder in school support jobs? What training is available, and how do you access it?

SOME IDEAS Training available in Kirklees: A range of training courses are offered by Kirklees Learning Service (formerly Traded Learning) Qualifications available at local colleges: CHILDHOOD STUDIES - FOUNDATION DEGREE IN CHILDHOOD STUDIES CHILDHOOD STUDIES - CACHE AWARD/CERTIFICATE IN SUPPORTING TEACHING AND LEARNING IN SCHOOLS (QCF) LEVEL 2/3 CHILDHOOD STUDIES - CACHE CERTIFICATE FOR THE CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE'S WORKFORCE (QCF) LEVEL 2/3 Open University courses: SUPPORTING LEARNING IN PRIMARY SCHOOL Thinking of widening your Continuing Professional Development range? Safeguarding training (including free elearning courses “Awareness of Abuse and Neglect”, “Child Development” and “Accident Prevention”) available on the website

The country's 232,000 teaching assistants face the axe after ministers started talks to phase out the so-called 'mums army'. The Treasury and Department for Education are considering getting rid of the classroom assistants in attempt to save some of the £4billion a year spent on them. The number of assistants, who are often used to help children with special needs, has nearly tripled since 2000, but research has found they can have a negative impact on pupils' results. Source: The Daily Mail 3 rd June 2013

Every teacher in this country knows the value of a good teaching assistant. They are not a 'mums' army' of classroom helpers as the Daily Mail patronisingly calls TAs; they are professionals who are trained to support the learning of the students and facilitate the teacher doing the very thing they are trained to do – teach. Anyone (Mr Gove, are you listening?) who thinks TAs just wash up the paint brushes at the end of the day, do a bit of mindless photocopying and glorified babysitting are probably the same myopic people who think teachers head home at 3.30pm every day. Source: The Guardian 7 th June 2013

In 2013, a UNISON led Working Party, including Gill Simpson as a Support Staff Advocate, drew up a questionnaire to find out from Support Staff in Kirklees just what they do, in response to the Sutton Report. As a result of the survey a Support Staff Charter was produced, which outlined the vast contribution made by our Support Staff and highlighted some of the issues raised by the survey, This has been made available to all school staff who are members of UNISON and will be sent to all Headteachers and Governing Bodies. The “Changing Face of the Teaching Assistant” is clearly seen in the Charter. If you would like an electronic copy, please let me have your address so that I can forward it to you.