Sarah O'Malley has been a teaching assistant at Corpus Christi Catholic College in Leeds for a year. During this time she has been able to develop her skills through a wide range of training opportunities at the school. This programme follows her during sessions of peer assessment, paired working in booster groups, and discussions of effective practice with colleagues. Support staff at Corpus Christi are also encouraged to carve their own career paths. We see Sarah having an annual appraisal where she chooses areas in which she would like to concentrate her time. Opportunities such as these are becoming more widespread since the introduction of the workforce agenda and push for schools to use teaching assistants more effectively. The aim is to establish a system of professional development for support staff enabling them to bring a wider range of skills and expertise to the classroom but also to enjoy a satisfying career in their own right.

Video Series: Secondary TAs
Release Date 2006