The role of support staff has changed dramatically in recent times, as schools have moved towards providing extended services and teachers have been freed from administrative duties to spend more time in the classroom. One effect of this change is that there are now more opportunities for the wider workforce to have a direct impact on learning, by employing their specialist skills to assist teachers. This programme looks at how three members of the wider workforce are becoming involved more directly in learning. Science technician Marcus Beasant from Queen Elizabeth Secondary School discusses how his practical skills are often called into use by teachers to bring their lessons to life. Librarian Fay Dowding is much in demand by teachers who want to show pupils how to get the best results from research tasks. Linda Jones, a behaviour support assistant at Kingfisher Primary School in Doncaster, works with teachers to identify patterns of behaviour which could cause barriers to learning.

Video Series: Support Staff - What Matters to You
Release Date 2008