Teaching Assistants

Education in Wales: Our national mission (2017) states that that in order for Wales to achieve ‘equity and excellent for all we “... require a high-quality education workforce that is vibrant, engaged and committed to continuous learning for all.”

Whilst we have 26,000 teachers in Wales, we also have 23,700 Teaching Assistants (TAs) which is almost half the workforce in our schools - 8,000 TAs work in the Central South Consortium region. TAs are a valued and integral part of the school workforce and have an important role to play in developing a high-quality education profession.

In Our national mission the Welsh Government state their commitment to continuing to enable TAs to improve their skills and help them to commit to professional learning by facilitating clearer learning pathways including to achieving the status of higher level teaching assistant (HLTA). This is the Teaching Assistant Learning Pathway (TALP).

These colleagues need support to lead learning effectively in what are hugely diverse and often challenging roles requiring considerable skills and expertise. TAs are often required to take a lead in specific aspects of a school’s improvement plan and more experienced TAs often lead teams of colleagues.

Professional learning that improves the skills of TAs as leaders of learning and leaders of staff teams is therefore increasingly important.

The Professional Assisting Teaching Standards have been designed to support TAs to be the best they can be, reflecting practice that is consistent with the realisation of the educational reforms. The standards have been available since September 2019 for use by all teaching assistants (TAs) and higher level teaching assistants (HLTAs) to reflect on their practice and identify their own professional learning.

The world’s highest-performing education systems have vibrant, engaged educators and support staff who are committed to continuous learning.

All professional learning opportunities in Central South Consortium are designed to support schools to develop as learning organisations across the seven dimensions of the framework and/or to support practitioners in the professional standards for teaching and leadership (PSTL). Through the professional learning passport, practitioners can record their professional learning activities.