Effective use of teaching assistants to support students with disability

Key messages:

• Effective use of teaching assistants can benefit several student cohorts, promote more inclusive environments and enable students with disability to access education.
• However, some teaching assistant deployment models can reduce a student’s interactions with teachers and peers. This can impede a student’s academic and socio-emotional progress.
• Teachers should remain responsible for pedagogical content knowledge and differentiation required for students with disability.
• Teaching assistants predominantly improve student learning outcomes through the delivery of evidence-based interventions they have been specifically trained to deliver, including both learning and behaviour-based interventions.
• Professional learning for both teachers and teaching assistants is one way to ensure clarity of roles in supporting students.

Introduction/why read:

Making the most of teaching assistants. Teaching assistants are central to supporting student learning, particularly for students with disability. Clear guidance, role clarity and strong collaboration make a real difference for learners, teachers and schools.

An evidence-informed Spotlight report, Effective use of teaching assistants to support students with disability, offers practical, actionable advice and recommendations to optimise impact across schools.