After the Bell

Since the year 2000, the number of TAs working in schools has more than trebled from 79,000 to more than 243,700. They now make up about a quarter of the full workforce in schools, with schools spending £4.4 billion pounds each year on TAs. With this level of spending, and the fact TAs are often working with the most vulnerable students in schools, it is crucial that all TAs are highly trained and deployed well by leaders to allow them to have the biggest impact possible in their role. In this Podcast series, our host Georgie McIntyre, explores some of the legal frameworks regarding SEND, considers what EEF research tells us about how TAs can support learning and considers how proposed changes to SEND nationally may affect this.

The SEND Code of Practice is statutory guidance for any organisation that works with children with special educational needs and disabilities. The current version of the Code was introduced in 2015, and covers almost 300 pages of crucial information. This podcast helps to summarise some of the fundamental guidance covered in the Code, supporting Teaching Assistants to have a good understanding of the legal frameworks and good practice that underpins their work.

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As a teacher, we are expected to meet and maintain a series of professional standards, as well as recognise the importance of other roles within children’s lives such as TAs, careers advisors and parents. This podcast explores good practice in terms of fulfilling wider professional responsibilities.--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thirstyscholars/message

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Behaviour management is a persistently challenging aspect of teaching. Yet, if we strive to develop a positive, safe learning environment; embed consistent routines; build trusting relationships and motivate students, we can transform our classrooms. This podcast explores how to do this, and considers how some of these challenges can be overcome.

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Both formative and summative assessment are important aspects of a teacher’s work. If not carefully managed though, it can take time away from learning as opposed to contributing to it, and marking and feedback can become a burden, destroying work-life balance. This podcast explores what strong practices look like for formative and summative assessment, and how marking and feedback can be completed to a high standard in a manageable way.

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Adaptive teaching is about acknowledging that all students learn at different rates, and require different amount of support. Managing this, whilst also maintaining high expectations for all students, is a real challenge. This podcast explores how teachers can teach in a responsive way, supporting all students to make excellent progress including those with SEND and low prior attainers.

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We all have our own style and persona in the classroom, but there is a clear research base about which aspects of teaching combine to make an effective lesson, or series of lessons. This podcast explores a wide range of pedagogical approaches to planning and delivering highly effective lessons, including modelling, scaffolding, high quality explanations, metacognition, classroom talk and homework.

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Even if we have studied our subject at degree level, our studies are likely to have been very specialised in great depth, on a narrow aspect of the curriculum. Whilst many teachers love their subject, this does not necessarily translate into a strong knowledge of all aspects of the curriculum across the key stages. This is even more of a challenge for teachers in primary schools who need to master the subject knowledge of multiple disciplines. This podcast explores the importance of subject and curriculum knowledge, and considers how we can always strive to enhance our confidence with this.

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It is only in the last few years that many educational researchers have really engaged with cognitive science, but it is now very clear that an understanding of the brain and how learning happens is essential for teachers.  This podcast looks at what cognitive science tells us about long term memory, and how we can maximise the information students can store and retrieve from it.

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As a teacher, our students’ behaviour and progress is influenced by what our expectations of them are. We are role models and communicating our expectations is crucial in influencing students to behave well, make academic progress and generally have a higher level of wellbeing. This podcast explores what high expectations in the classroom looks like and considers strategies that we can use to embed these in our practice.

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NQTs have always had mentors, but the role of mentoring is really emphasised in the ECF, with schools receiving funding for reduced timetables for mentors of ECTs across their 2-year induction. What’s clear though, is that ECTs don’t just need mentors, they need great mentors. This podcast explores the requirements of mentors in the ECF, and what the research suggests makes really effective mentors have the greatest possible impact on teacher development.

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