The Teaching Assistant's Guide to Effective Interaction

This second edition of The Teaching Assistant’s Guide to Effective Interaction is the definitive guide to teaching assistant-pupil interaction, fully updated with examples from schools that have implemented techniques from the first edition. An invaluable professional development tool for classroom support staff and the teachers who work with them, this new edition answers the need for specific, practical guidance on the role of the teaching assistant.

This practical and accessible guide sets out a role for teaching assistants that focuses on developing pupils’ independence and ownership of learning, with key learning points now summarised in each chapter. Based on a classroom-tested framework and covering the main contexts in which teaching assistants work, it includes a range of strategies and reflective activities to help improve the support provided to pupils in everyday settings. This book sets out successful strategies for:

• Responding to additional needs
• Understanding the principles behind effective classroom talk
• Carefully scaffolding pupils’ learning
• Delivering intervention programmes

The Teaching Assistant’s Guide to Effective Interaction is an essential read for all teaching assistants and will also be of interest to school leaders, SENCOs and teachers in both primary and secondary schools who wish to improve their deployment of teaching assistants and their own interactions with pupils.

Used in combination with Maximising the Impact of Teaching Assistants in Primary Schools, The Teaching Assistant’s Guide to Effective Interaction is a comprehensive and unrivalled resource for supporting school workforce improvement.

Paula Bosanquet is a Senior Teaching Fellow in Special Educational Needs at UCL Institute of Education, London. A former primary teacher, she has worked extensively as a trainer with teaching assistants, schools and local authorities.

Julie Radford is an Associate Professor at UCL Institute of Education, London. She researches classroom interactions involving children with special educational needs and disabilities. Julie has authored 30 academic publications and has supervised several doctoral students on this topic.

Rob Webster is an Associate Professor at UCL Institute of Education, London. He researches and writes about special educational needs and inclusion, and he developed the Maximising the Impact of Teaching Assistants programme.