The Teaching Assistant’s Guide to Effective Interaction: How To Maximise Your Practice

This second edition of The Teaching Assistant’s Guide to Effective Interaction is the definitive guide to teaching assistant-pupil interaction, fully updated with examples from schools that have implemented techniques from the first edition. An invaluable professional development tool for classroom support staff and the teachers who work with them, this new edition answers the need for specific, practical guidance on the role of the teaching assistant.

This practical and accessible guide sets out a role for teaching assistants that focuses on developing pupils’ independence and ownership of learning, with key learning points now summarised in each chapter. Based on a classroom-tested framework and covering the main contexts in which teaching assistants work, it includes a range of strategies and reflective activities to help improve the support provided to pupils in everyday settings. This book sets out successful strategies for:

• Responding to additional needs
• Understanding the principles behind effective classroom talk
• Carefully scaffolding pupils’ learning
• Delivering intervention programmes

The Teaching Assistant’s Guide to Effective Interaction is an essential read for all teaching assistants and will also be of interest to school leaders, SENCOs and teachers in both primary and secondary schools who wish to improve their deployment of teaching assistants and their own interactions with pupils.

Table of Contents

Introduction Teaching assistants and their roles and impact in school

• Chapter 1 The teaching assistant as scaffolder
• Chapter 2 The value of planning the right task and pupils taking an active role in interactions
• Chapter 3 The principles of scaffolding
• Chapter 4 Scaffolding strategies
• Chapter 5 Assessment for learning: Providing feedback for teachers and pupils
• Chapter 6 Promoting effective group working
• Chapter 7 Delivering intervention programmes
• Conclusion A Summary of coverage

"An impressive and important book … I urge colleagues to treasure this as a means of building a rich resource of pedagogical support within the classroom… this book is an essential read."
- Dame Alison Peacock, Executive Headteacher, The Wroxham School, Herts, UK

"A really practical guide to help teaching assistants improve their practice … a must read for headteachers, teachers and teaching assistants."
- Sue Cowley, author and teacher trainer

"This accessible, interesting and well-informed book offers teaching assistants the opportunity to understand, review and plan their interactions with students, so they can offer them the best help with their learning."
- Neil Mercer, Professor of Education, University of Cambridge

"An essential read for all educators but especially Teaching Assistants. Packed with theory, practical strategies and reflective activities. This research informed guide should frame and guide professional development for supporting and educating all children, everywhere."
- Aimee Durning, The University of Cambridge Primary School

"An awe inspiring must read if you play any role in a child’s educational journey."
- Tracy Alcon, Teaching Assistant, Baynards Primary School, Essex

"This evidence-based book is a constant point of reference for TAs and teachers. The scaffolding framework is a game-changer; how TA-pupil interactions, often so intuitive, impact on independence and learning. Embedded in Lincolnshire schools, this practice is now simply ‘what we do’."
- Vanessa Hopkinson, Mobilise TA Project Lead, KYRA Teaching School, Lincolnshire

"This easy-to-read book combines practical everyday examples with clear explanations of current research. It has implications for how TAs can support children to become more independent."
- Heather Lacey, Headteacher and Local Leader of Education, Shirley Manor Primary Academy, Bradford