SEN0651

Written evidence submitted by Mrs. Aimee Durning

Advancing Teaching Assistants as Educators: Certificated Apprenticeship for Teaching Assistants

My name is Aimee Durning MBE and I work at the University of Cambridge Primary. I have created a national network for Teaching Assistants and my aim is to promote their work in the sphere of inclusive education and to raise their profile as paraprofessionals. Teaching Assistants are the key to the SEND crisis, along with a robust research informed professional development and continuous learning for all TAs who work in education.

Situation In 1978, the Warnock report into Special Educational Needs advocated for children to be fully included in schools. It stated that schools should champion greater integration, and she challenged the deficit narrative about children with special needs. She moved away from labelling children, removed language like handicapped and educationally subnormal, towards language that was more inclusive and aware of the diversities in humanity. Warnock acknowledged that children within schools are on the same educational journey but for some this journey has many twists and turns. Obstacles are plentiful, however progress can be made and their educational needs can be met. Forty years on Teaching Assistants are in the perfect position to improve the outcomes many children in the UK but remain an invisible workforce. Teaching Assistants are vital educators in schools in the UK and support the inclusion of children with learning differences. Without teaching assistants schools would not function, so intrenched are their essential roles.

As a group of professionals, they are the same size as the population of Iceland. And yet, there is no professional body, recognition or status for their contribution to education and the role they play in supporting school to function and in supporting children with all needs to be integrated, included and belonging in education. In June 2016, the UK government commissioned an expert group to devise Teaching Assistant Standards as an attempt to raise their status as educational professionals. These standards were not ratified by the government. During the 2019-2020 COVID-19 pandemic, it was obvious that Teaching Assistants’ play a key role in the sustainability and effective functioning of schools. Without them, many schools would not have been able to remain open for keyworkers and supporting the most vulnerable children. Given the value of their work and contribution to society, there is nevertheless an apparent devaluation of their position as professionals in their own right. There is now an opportunity for innovation to create and deliver a research informed, robust course that transforms and progresses the Teaching Assistant body to reach new standards; and in doing so, the benefit for children and on society have potential advances greater than they are currently. This notion is highlighted in the government document, House of Commons Education Committee report into Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (2019).

A number of alternative training approaches are currently available for Teaching Assistants.

They include:

• https://www.findapprenticeship.service.gov.uk/apprenticeship/-561330

• https://www.openstudycollege.com/teaching-assistant-courses

• https://cambridgeopencollege.ac/faculty/teaching-assistant-courses/

• https://www.reed.co.uk/courses/teaching-assistant

• https://www.stonebridge.uk.com/course/teaching-assistant-specialist-support-for-teaching-andlearning-in-schools-qcf

However, these courses are not as research informed as they could be. They also do not frame the roll of Teaching Assistant that establishes them as educational professionals, co-educating alongside their teacher colleagues. As part of the wider regional and National conversation about education, we at the University of Cambridge Primary School aim to promote the positive strides in inclusive education for all children and hopefully share our successes. As mentioned in our most recent OFSTED inspection.

The future success of education for children with special educational needs lays firmly with a robust, research informed programme of learning for schools, especially for Teaching assistants who as we know support the most vulnerable in society. Which unfortunately has created a two-tier system of education for children. The future should include SEND hubs which must include special schools, alternative provision, primary and secondary schools. With the University of Cambridge working alongside us, we are in a prime position to share our successes and help create a positive narrative about children with learning differences rather than a deficit narrative for children and their families. Furthermore, the government must invest in every school facilitating onsite nurture provision. This would enable all children to attend and to be accommodated.

Currently without government intervention in Teaching Assistants and unknowledgeable SEND leadership, the current education system will continue to fail our children. Investment and interest in Teaching Assistants, a major part of the educational workforce, would be a step in the right direction of solving the SEND crisis.

January 2025