Research School Network: Developing Effective Leadership of Teaching Assistants (DELTA) – Launch A ground-breaking project aimed at breaking the link between family income and educational attainment across Bristol.

We were delighted to welcome so many colleagues from across Bristol to the successful launch of the DELTA programme on June 11^th2021. Working together with the Education Endowment Foundation and in close partnership with Bristol City Council, this ground-breaking project is aimed at breaking the link between family income and educational attainment across the city.

Delivered alongside West Somerset Research School, the programme will draw on national and local expertise and provide follow-up support to help schools explore, prepare, deliver and sustain the approaches most likely to impact on pupil outcomes in their setting. This exciting project is part of Bristol’s innovative approach to mobilising evidence for the benefit of all children.

We know from the evidence that Teaching Assistants can play a key role. Despite this, the everyday challenges facing busy schools often means that TA deployment practices are not levering maximum benefit for their pupils. 

EEF projects elsewhere in the country have shown that when schools embark on an in-depth and sustained focus on faithfully implementing the recommendations around TA deployment with strong fidelity to the evidence, further gains can be made for children who, despite great effort, have historically underachieved and not yet reached their full potential.

We look forward to working together throughout the next academic year and sharing the findings from the evaluation of the DELTA project in Bristol which will feed into the national picture on how best to utilise our TAs now and into the future.

Please get in touch with us if you have any further enquiries on this or any other programmes with the West Somerset Research School.