Teaching assistants (TAs) have a vital role to play in classrooms, yet understanding how teachers make the best use of them - for their benefit and that of pupils - remains low.

For example, despite the Deployment and Impact of Support Staff (DISS) Study conducted in UK schools between 2003 and 2008 (Blatchford et al, 2015) and its subsequent recommendations to maximise TA impact, recent studies have shown little improvement in outcomes of TA supported pupils (MAST, 2013 and SENSE, 2017).

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Assuming the recommendations were clear to school leaders, what other factors could be inhibiting progress? Perhaps austere school-budgeting has dictated the recommendations as too costly to implement, rendering them both impractical and unworkable?

However, the following guide - based on the DISS study’s key findings - shows there are creative, budget-friendly ways to enhance interactions between TAs, pupils and teachers.

1. Preparedness

The study found that TAs feel unprepared in their role, with 75-95 per cent of teachers reporting no allocated planning/feedback time with their TA. This is a huge wasted opportunity.

To enhance preparedness without impeding the school’s budget, schools need to look to create opportunities for structured meetings between teachers and TAs, eg in assembly time, PPA time or at the beginning/end of the school day.

This can allow for meaningful discussions regarding pupils’ learning, feeding back on completed interventions and ensuring adequate lesson and intervention preparation.

2. Training

The costs of external training are often too prohibitive for school budgets, yet it seems evident that training and support are of paramount importance - especially as TAs are expected to successfully achieve a predominantly pedagogical role, without qualifications.

Furthermore, the study also showed 75 per cent of teachers were without prior training in coordinating, managing and organising the work of TAs.

As such, a collaborative approach with other schools could be a great way to share best practice and how to approach the partnership between TAs and teachers.

These collaborations/partnerships could be incorporated into development days, staff meetings or twilight training, allowing the growth of valuable skills to support learning - assuming that all staff will be keen to share skills without coercion or reluctance.

3. Deployment

Finally, the study observed that school leaders often deployed TAs in instructional, pedagogical roles to​ educate special educational needs or lower attaining pupils outside of the classroom.

This means the pupils lack direct interaction with the teacher and TAs are left having to try to teach the pupils most in need of a more holistic approach to ensure their progress within school is maintained (Webster, Russell and Blatchford, 2016).

To overcome this, schools should look to implement approaches such as team teaching. For example, on the first day pupils are split into groups and the teacher works with one, the TA works with another and the other groups work independently.

Then, on day two, the groups move around so the teacher and TA work with a different group - enabling all the pupils to receive equal time with the teacher, TA and peers.

This can also be done with cooperative teaching, where the teacher delivers to the whole class while the TA scribes, demonstrates equipment or carries out a science experiment.

Antoinette Frearson works at a special school in Gloucestershire and is also doing a master’s in education (special education and inclusion). Find her on Twitter @AntoinetteFrea1