High needs, low profiles: Unlocking the professional identify of teaching assistants

LAURA PAGE, DIRECTOR AND SEND CONSULTANT, SCHOOLS SUPPORTED, UK

Since the Plowden Report (1967) recommended teacher ‘aides’ in primary schools, the role of teaching assistants (TAs) has been consistently present but inconsistently understood. The counterintuitive finding of Blatchford et al.’s DISS  (deployment and impact of support staff in schools) research (2009), indicating that increased time with TAs correlated with worse outcomes, has influenced recommendations that emphasise teacher interaction alongside well-implemented interventions (Davies and Henderson, 2020). This perspective piece, including interviews with voices from across the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) landscape, explores how focusing solely on that finding might overlook the importance of conceptualising TAs as professionals. It also acknowledges that the professional life of TAs is systemically and situationally driven (Webster et al., 2020) and asks whether the sector’s evolved understanding of professionalism can be extended to better utilise the expertise of the TATeaching Assistant - an adult that assists the teacher in the classroom workforce.

The workforce as it stands

Although the DISS research findings might lead some to question the value of TAs, this view is overly simplistic and does not reflect the value that schools and teachers place on a workforce that currently makes up around a third of school staff in England (DfEDepartment for Education - a ministerial department responsible for children’s services and education in England, 2024). The part-time nature of many TA employments can hinder full inclusionAn approach where a school aims to ensure that all children are educated together, with support for those who require it to access the full curriculum and contribute to and participate in all aspects of school life of TAs in school life and professional development. The rise in support staff numbers over time reflects other educational changes, such as:

• early-2000s education reforms, like ‘rarely cover’, leading to the creation of the HLTA (higher-level TA) role
• increased numbers of children with SEND in mainstream schools, prompting re-evaluation of TA deployment (Blatchford et al., 2012; DfE, 2024)
• recognition of TAs’ family-facing roles during the pandemic
• school responses to wider policy demands, such as attendance and mental health support
• reduced retention of teaching staff, increasing reliance on support staff.

The DISS project revealed that over half of the respondents in such roles held GCSEs as their highest level of qualification and, over time, data on TA characteristics indicates that the sector has been largely made up of non-graduate females (Rayner and Gunter, 2005). The role remains low paid, leading to attrition through the pandemic, where some left for similarly (or higher) paid but potentially lower-stakes roles (Fazackerley, 2022). In order to conceptualise professionalism for the TA, it is worth understanding that it is the variation of deployment that typifies this workforce. Understanding the current characteristics of those staff within an individual school might offer a starting point for the development of professional identity.

Conceptualising professionalism in schools

TAs are rarely featured within the established evidence-informed landscape of educational leadership, change and professional development in schools. This position of being ‘invaluable yet silenced, creates a complex sense of professional identity’ (Bradwell and Bending, 2021, p. 122). The importance of distributed leadership for SEND continues to feature in discussions of best practice (for example, Chapman et al., 2011). Yet TAs working on and leading learning with pupils with SEND have not been included in discussions around what expected leadership behaviours and ‘professionalism’ may look like.

To draw on Stevenson’s notion of ‘identity’ being a product ‘of structure and agency… and the interplay between them’ (2006, pp. 414–415), we might conceptualise the idea of professional identity in schools as involving three elements:

1. professional standards: official benchmarks that a person in a role is accountable for reaching
2. professional development (PD): from Sims et al.’s (2021) definition, structured and facilitated activities, intended to increase ability and knowledge in one’s professional domain
3. professional standing: the way in which we view ourselves as professionals and how we are viewed by others – linked to agency and power within an organisation.

Elements 1) and 2) are well established in schools, supported by practice and research. Although professional standards for support staff were formed (Working Group on Teaching AssistantAn adult that assists a teacher in the classroom Standards, 2016), they were never published by the government. Increasingly, the TAs that I speak to report improved PD when SEND becomes a school priority, possibly due to the amplified ‘crisis’ in SEND. These opportunities often focus on specific training courses, like ELSA (emotional literacy support assistant), Attention Autism or Zones of Regulation. However, TAs are not always included in broader PD for teaching and learning, such as the Education Endowment Foundation’s ‘Five-a-day’ approach.

Creating greater consistency for TA conditions and deployment was made a priority in the SEND and AP Improvement plan (DfE, 2023). In the connected report, leaders still acknowledge that skills gaps lead them to prioritise ‘soft skills’ such as empathy being developed on the job (DfE, 2024). Inconsistencies seem to be compounded by levels of experience and training as well as deployment.

Perceptions of power and agency

The third element of conceptualising professional identity for TAs involves reflecting on structural power and agency in settings dominated by graduates and where many TAs are non-graduates. Some TAs feel a lack of power in schools (Lowe and Pugh, 2007). Qualifications aren’t the only factor; a study in Hong Kong found that graduate TAs also felt a lack of credibility (Trent, 2014).

There is an uncomfortable reflection here around whether the hierarchical nature of schools, which might define a perception of what makes ‘good’ pupils or the most ‘professional’ staff, can leave those without access to or knowledge of these norms in a marginalised position. TAs’ proximity to pupils in school who may experience similar disempowerment should also not be ignored.

The need for TAs to be able to construct an ‘identity and status within the school’ was highlighted by Blatchford et al. (2012, p. 130) and remains the case. Schools arguably have an obligation and opportunity to lead in creating the climate to do so; sharing the knowledge and approaches that they may have gained over time is what creates cultures within settings.

The limits of unsung heroism

Although a sense of ‘making a difference’ remains important to school staff (Teacher Tapp, 2019), the combination of lack of power, precarity and pay, plus the needs of vulnerable children, means that TAs may be more vulnerable to this rhetoric, which can have a manipulative effect (Rogers, 2018). Leaders in schools recognise this as an ongoing threat to the recruitment and retention of TAs (DfE, 2024).

The ‘heroism’ of TAs during the pandemic, particularly in pupil- and family-facing roles, is noted by many (Moss et al., 2021) and has continued since (Hall and Webster, 2023). If heroism remains ‘unsung’ and TAs feel limited in their ability to contribute, schools may miss opportunities to collaboratively construct a new professional identity with them.

How might TA professionalism be unlocked?

The following section presents vignettes drawn from interviews I conducted, primarily with leaders across SEND education, offering firsthand insights into their experiences, challenges, and strategies in fostering inclusive education for both staff and students.

Amplify TA voice

• David Bartram, a former TA and leading expert in SEND, highlights that in his SEND reviews of 800 schools, TA voices are crucial: ‘You really get to see the truth of the school… not just whether children are being supported but what the school culture is like. They have a very real understanding.’ 
• Carl Glennon, headteacher of Wargrave House Special School for Autism in Warrington, has formed a working group where TAs contribute to curriculum decisions: ‘They have “frameworked”, professional conversations… TAs can raise their ideas and concerns in a professional manner.’

Reduce gaps in distributed leadership

• Carl’s teachers now oversee TA performance reviews instead of the SENDCo, basing reviews on ongoing professional relationships. This helps teaching staff to understand how TA practices affect wider pedagogical and pastoral practice.

Capitalise on TA positioning in the community

• Like TAs, most parents in the UK are non-graduates (Goodall, 2017). Although parents may be motivated to support their children’s learning, they may lack the specific type of capital to navigate school-system nuances, especially for first-time parents or those dealing with SEND provision. Danielle Thurlow, a headteacher of an alternative provision school on the Isle of Sheppey, says, ‘The knowledge of the community that is held by our TAs is integral… the contextual information they have of the island and its community has to be included in everything we do.’

Raise the profile of TAs

• <Authentic collaboration matters, but intentional profile-raising may also be useful. Jo Carter, SENDCo and former TA at Sydney Russell School, recently held a conference for her LSAs (learning support assistants): ‘The day revolved around what they wanted from us… and what they thought their role was.’ This supported her review of interventions, sharing best practices and role alignment, but she adds, ‘We also wanted to make them feel special.’
• Carl has specialist TAs, now called autism expert practitioners (AEPs), some studying for a Level 5 qualification in autism research. They support through live modelling, particularly alongside ECTs (early career teachers), creating opportunities for deliberate practice while lessons remain supported. The AEPs move from class to class, allowing teachers to embed their learning with others.

Focus on how wider specialist and pastoral expertise supports learning 

• Lily, a Year 11 pupil I spoke to, sees this as particularly distinct in two ways. Firstly, she feels that she has benefited from learning about her own neurodiversity from the AEPs and other support staff, which means that she is better able to self-regulate and get ready to learn. She also sees this in the classroom, where her TAs are able to pre-empt her triggers and use strategies to co–regulate ‘so I feel included and happy and [to] make it easier to do my work’.

Extend NPQ frameworks to include support staff

• Both Jo and Carl lamented the lack of opportunities for their skilled support staff to access the new NPQSENCo (National Professional Qualification for SEN coordinator), despite it being aimed at roles beyond the SENDCo.

Consider the creation of TA professional identity a requirement for the effective implementation of any holistic change

• Danielle includes TAs in the development of the strategy for change; this way, they avoid taking actions without a clear sense of the rationale behind them, and gain exposure to change management.