Working With Parents

Teaching Assistants support classroom management and assist with general administration. They help manage pupil behaviour and support pupils’ health, safety and emotional/social development. Teaching assistants establish relationships with learners and help pupils to access the curriculum. They support the development and effectiveness of work teams, work with other professionals and liaise effectively with parents.

Schools employ and have teaching assistants, to again, create the best possible learning environment for the pupils. As a teaching assistant I will work as part of a team working to make the pupils learning journey, a successful one. I will attend staff meetings and continue to develop my skills through in-house training and other relevant courses. I will maintain and contribute to school policies and procedures, and work in partnership with parents and carers on behalf of the school.

A teaching assistant plays an important role for the standards of behaviour expected in the classroom.

The teacher's role is to plan lessons, direct and assess pupils learning. The role of the teaching assistant is to support the teacher in planning, delivering and evaluating learning activities and also, under the teacher's direction to give support to the class, whether it is the whole class, small groups or individuals.

Providing children with the materials and knowledge of how to work independently and encourage them to participate in their own learning. The teaching assistant can show the importance of this and how it can benefit them throughout their whole life.

Although the class teacher is primarily responsible to plan, deliver and review all learning activities for the class, a teaching assistant can work alongside the teacher and make contributions that can improve the teachers plan, alter the delivery to make it more effective for pupil attainment and extend the teachers initial review. “Planning, teaching and evaluation follow a cycle which gives structure to the learning process” (Baker, B., Burnham, L., 2010) and is vital in my role as a teaching assistant. I aim to describe how I aide the teacher to plan and deliver lessons and how I give feedback to the teacher about individual pupils, in order for the teacher make improvements in her planning and to be able to target individual

My role as a teaching assistant is to take on tasks such as preparing the classroom for lessons and clearing up afterwards, which allow the teacher to concentrate on teaching. To support pupils with particular individual needs, sometimes my role is to work one to one, while others work in small groups or work with one of these groups. The teacher is not able to give every pupil individual attention, assistants provide essential support to the pupils and the lead teacher. My responsibilities also include:

The reputation of the teacher is possibly one of the most fickleof all professions, the reason for this being the closed environment to which they work. As in all professions, reputation is important so to be able to carry this reputation forward it is important to earn the respect of not just pupils but colleagues, peers and the local education authority. Experience within local education authorities creates local professionals, as easy as this is to state it is just as easy to understand because of the relationships built between the teacher and other local professionals within the professional environment of the

Social work is a career that I have always been interested in, especially working with children and families. Helping people overcome obstacles and making the most of themselves is a very rewarding and yet a challenging career. I’ll have the chance to meet a variety of different people with different problems from cases of abuse and neglect as well as supporting those in the care system. I am particularly interested in working with children and families who often form the most vulnerable service users, developing a professional and trusting relationship with them, hopefully enabling them to participate fully in society.

My own role and responsibilities as an assistant is to work under the instruction and guidance of the teaching and senior staff. Usually within the classroom with the class teacher, supporting learning for the pupils and providing general support to the teacher in the management of the pupils and the classroom.

The key aspects of the role of a teaching assistant are to help raise educational standards in the classroom by providing support for the pupils, the teacher and the school. They must also promote a quality learning environment and contribute to making a positive, quality and effective classroom environment. Which in turn shall maximise learning, minimise behavioural problems and help to create a safe and positive environment.

In the role of a teaching assistant, you will be contributing to planning, delivery and reviewing of learning activities alongside teachers. When planning takes place there should be some opportunity to discuss and review pupils’ work with teachers. Panning, teaching and reviewing follow a cycle which gives structure to the learning process.

The class teachers’ main role is to monitor and assess pupils’ achievement. They need to be aware of the progression made by all the children in their class and be able to report back to both the parents and other staff. As a Teaching assistant my main role is to support the class teacher whilst this ongoing assessment of pupils takes place. The teacher can measure the progress of each pupil by carrying out lessons and setting the children clear objectives. At the start of each lesson so that the children are clear about the objectives the class teacher writes

Both the teachers and the teaching assistant main role is to monitor and assess pupils achievemnets in the class, but the main teacher has overall responsibility for recording and making the decisions that may be needed for example moving a child into a different group to match their ability levels. The teacher needs to be aware of the progression made by all the children in their class and be able to report back to parents and other members of staff.

As a future educator, I am mindful of the fact that it’s my job to find out why my student is struggling. Sitting down with the child may help me determine the problem. Parents are also one of our greatest resources at our disposal, and I plan to take advantage of that. Parents see different things at home than in the classroom. Conversing