Large majority of teachers acknowledge they need more training to support teaching assistants.*Select Education poll calls for joint teacher and teaching assistant training*An overwhelming 86% of UK teachers who responded to a recent poll believe that they need more training to get the best out of teaching assistants supporting them in the classroom. The poll, conducted by education recruitment specialist Select Education, asked teachers whether they believe they need to be better trained in order to work effectively with teaching assistants. Surprisingly, less than 10% said no, with these stressing the onus was on the teaching assistants themselves to be better trained, not the teachers. However, the majority of respondents recognised that there needs to be mutual respect for both roles and this is often lacking. All respondents recognised the value of teaching assistants, seeing them as a vital ingredient in providing an individual learning programme to students, but lack of clarity of the teaching assistant role meant that teachers were not making the most of their skills. Some respondents did feel that they were equipped to support teaching assistants, but worryingly this is only because they had insight into the role having been teaching assistants themselves. Teachers cited a lack of leadership training for teachers at NQT stages and throughout their career as a major issue, giving them few of the necessary skills to adequately manage and support teaching assistants. The poll highlighted that lack of training meant that understanding of the role by different teachers was often at opposite ends of the spectrum. Teaching assistants were generally either being significantly over utilised or considerably underused in the classroom or given limited responsibility. Poll respondents had very clear views on the solution to this issue better training for both teachers and teaching assistants and most importantly, that training is undertaken in partnership. Respondents felt that joint training would help teachers and teaching assistants to work together more effectively on lesson planning and assessment and at a more basic level to understand the supportive nature of the respective roles. Peter Flannery, Managing Director of Select Education comments: 'It is encouraging to see that teachers do recognise the value of teaching assistants in the classroom, but quite clearly there is a distinction between this and understanding what their role should be. With an ever greater focus on personalised learning, teaching assistants are a vital component of our education system today and this will only increase in the coming years. It is crucial therefore that we work now to ensure that teachers and teaching assistants understand how to work side by side to create the most effective and dynamic classroom environments.'
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