: It Takes a Team: Getting TA Deployment Right Together! It Takes a Team: Getting TA Deployment Right Together!
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It Takes a Team: Getting TA Deployment Right Together!
It Takes a Team: Getting TA Deployment Right Together!
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by Essex Research School
on the
Sarah-Louise Johnston
Director of Essex Research School
About the author As a former Secondary SCITT teacher trainer, an ECT Induction Lead, and co-leader in whole-school CPD in a large comprehensive secondary school in Ipswich, Sarah-Louise has spent nearly two decades helping teachers grow and succeed. Now, as Director of Essex Research School, her passion for supporting teachers and leaders drives her mission: to show that high-quality teacher development doesn’t just improve classroom practice — it changes lives!
At a recent leadership meeting, a headteacher shared a striking story. After investing in targeted TA training and restructuring timetables, early signs of impact were promising. Yet, when visiting classrooms, the head noticed a persistent pattern: some teachers continued to use TAs as general helpers, while others fully embedded them into the learning process. The inconsistency puzzled her until one TA summed it up candidly: “I wasn’t in the loop. Nobody told me the plan had changed.”
This story is far from unique. According to the Education Endowment Foundation’s (EEF) updated guidance on the deployment of teaching assistants (April 2025), making TAs more effective cannot rely on isolated changes or piecemeal training. Recommendation 5 makes this clear: for deployment reforms to succeed, all staff must be actively engaged in the process. It is not just a leadership task or a matter of TA practice. Teachers, teaching assistants, and senior leaders must all be on the same page.
EEF Effective TA Deployment Recommendation 5
Why This Matters
Teaching assistants represent a significant investment, making up a quarter of the mainstream school workforce in England. Despite their potential, impact remains variable often due to inconsistent understanding of their role or limited collaboration with teachers. Engaging all staff ensures a shared language, unified expectations, and, crucially, better outcomes for pupils especially those with SEND or who are disadvantaged.
Recommendation 5 calls on schools to go beyond structural change. It encourages leaders to focus on cultivating the conditions where excellent TA deployment can flourish: clear communication, meaningful collaboration, and shared ownership.
A Shared Vision, not a Top-Down Directive
The first step is to develop a clear, school-wide vision for TA deployment. This vision should clarify how TAs support, not substitute, teacher instruction and how they contribute to the school’s wider learning goals.
Action for leaders: Facilitate a whole-staff discussion around the purpose and potential of TAs. Share insights from the EEF TA Deployment guidance and invite staff to reflect on how TAs currently contribute. Align this vision to school priorities such as improving writing outcomes or promoting independence in learning.
Prompt for discussion: “What does high-impact TA support look like in our context? How can we help it happen more often?”
Effective TA Partnerships
Start With an Honest Review
Before implementing changes, the EEF recommends reviewing existing deployment. This means going beyond line management reviews and involving classroom-level experiences.
Action for leaders: Use the Effective teacher – teaching assistant partnerships guidance and observe how TAs are being used in classrooms. Are they delivering structured interventions or primarily acting as additional adult presence? Seek input from TAs and teachers on current barriers: timing, planning, role clarity.
Example insight: One primary school, after surveying staff, realised that TAs spent over 40% of their day transitioning between roles or waiting for tasks. By adjusting the timetable and improving communication, this time was reallocated to small-group reading support.
Build Time for Collaboration
Time is a major enabler or barrier to success. Without structured opportunities for joint planning, TAs can be left guessing the lesson aims or relying on reactive support.
Action for leaders: Audit the timetable to find protected moments for teacher-TA dialogue. This might be five minutes before a lesson, a weekly slot after school, or built into PPA. Trial small-scale changes in one year group, then scale up.
Practical solution: A secondary science department added a 15-minute debrief slot every Friday for TAs and teachers to review misconceptions that emerged in lessons and plan support for the next week. Over time, this developed into co-constructed scaffolding strategies tailored to class needs.
Train Together, Not in Silos
Professional development has greater impact when it is shared. The EEF cautions against training TAs in isolation, which can leave teachers unaware of what strategies TAs are applying or worse, result in conflicting approaches.
Action for leaders: Deliver joint CPD sessions for TAs and teachers on key classroom strategies: modelling, scaffolding, questioning, and feedback. Use lesson footage or paired practice to model and reflect on shared approaches.
CPD theme example: “From Prompt to Independence: How Teachers and TAs Can Support Self-Regulation.” This could include practical sequences showing how TAs gradually release responsibility, echoing classroom routines.
Monitor and Adapt with Everyone Involved
Engaging staff is not a one-time event. Leaders should create simple, ongoing mechanisms for feedback, so issues can be addressed quickly and good practice can spread.
Action for leaders: Create informal feedback loops. Use part of a staff meeting to reflect on what’s working. Invite TA-teacher pairs to share short case studies or ‘quick wins’. This fosters a culture of learning and mutual respect.
Example prompt: “What helped your TA deployment work better this term and what would you change?”
Final Thoughts
A strong TA strategy is built on shared understanding, joint responsibility, and inclusive practice. As the EEF rightly points out, no matter how well a deployment plan is designed, it will falter if staff do not feel part of the journey. Engaging everyone: teachers, TAs, and leaders is not just a recommendation. It is the foundation of success.
By fostering open communication, building time for joint planning, aligning training, and reviewing progress together, schools can unlock the full potential of teaching assistants and ensure they make the greatest difference for the pupils who need it most.
In short, don’t just inform staff. Involve them. Everyone has a part to play.
