Teacher aides an integral part of learning teams

Teacher Kris McLennan with Arlo and Hazel and TA, Keely Halligan have fun and learning together at Abbotsford School.

New research from ERO commissioned by Ministry of Education and NZEI Te Riu Roa has shown that teamwork between educators and teacher aides (TAs) empowers them to make the biggest difference for learners. 

“Traditionally, teacher aides worked side-by-side with students who needed extra help, and those learners didn’t spend much time with teachers or their friends. We now know that this is actually linked with poorer outcomes,” says Ruth Shinoda, head of ERO’s Education Evaluation Centre.

“With around 25,000 teacher aides across Aotearoa New Zealand, we need a team approach where whole schools get behind teacher aides,” she adds.

Collaborative support

The research included kōrero with TAs, teachers, principals, special education needs coordinators (SENCOs), learning support coordinators (LSCs), resource teachers: learning and behaviour (RTLBs), learners, and whānau, from 11 diverse primary and secondary schools. 

“We found that it is much better for learners to have times where they work with the classroom teacher, times where they work with a teacher aide, times when they work with their peers, and times working by themselves. This report sets out how to do this.

Ana Pene reads Roman and Nixon’s karakia, using repetition and recitation as a strategy for learning.

“We know that responding to the diversity of learners in classrooms takes teamwork. Teacher aides work at the heart of schools in diverse roles to meet the needs of a classroom, so it is important that school leaders and teachers value their expertise and include them in planning,” says Ruth.

The report looks at four key areas of TA practice: generalised classroom support; delivering structured interventions; te ao Māori cultural leadership and support, and collaboratively supporting students with learning support needs.  

A series of practical guides(external link) have been produced for teacher aides, school leaders, teachers, school boards and whānau.  

Generalised classroom support

The ERO research found that when TAs work with learners across the class, teachers can then work more regularly with those learners who need extra support. For this to work well, TAs need regular opportunities to talk with teachers about lesson plans, share information and work together. They also need support from their school to build a good skillset of quality interaction practices, including culturally responsive practices.

Teachers need support to build the knowledge, practice and confidence to work with the diverse range of learning needs in their class, however, it’s difficult to shift practices that have been around for decades. Time and resource pressures, low teacher confidence, and parent expectations can make it difficult for schools to embed this model in practice.

Worth the investment

Dunedin’s Abbotsford School has seen the difference that teamwork between teachers, TAs and specialists can make. Last year’s Year 1 class had quite a large cohort of tamariki with high needs, says principal, Stephanie Madden.

Ana Pene and Stephanie Madden at Abbotsford School.

“Last year we had team meetings every fortnight that included teachers, the TAs and Ministry specialists like the Ministry psychologist. It was a whole team approach to that group of children.

“It’s made a big difference: because they are meeting regularly the TAs have a really good understanding of the needs of the whole class and are much more able to support and intervene if needed,” she says.

The teacher aides have become an integral part of the teaching team because they better understand the programme and how and why particular children are being managed. 

However, financial constraints mean that many schools can’t afford to prioritise TAs being included in planning.

“Schools are stuck with: ‘I can’t afford to pay for an hour’s planning a week, when these students need someone with them’. That’s the dichotomy of being able to provide time for the TAs to do that really important work, and the pressures on resourcing and actually needing them working directly with students in classrooms.

“I’ve seen the difference of working in that way. Last year we included TAs because the need was great and we decided we had to prioritise  those students. I’ve seen a significant difference in how the TAs are operating and how successful it is. It’s well worth the investment,” says Stephanie.

Advocating for teacher aides

NZEI Te Riu Roa president Liam Rutherford welcomed the report and said that it further reinforced the long-held knowledge by teachers about the value of teacher aides to a classroom and why they are a vital part of the education system.

“It’s why NZEI Te Riu Roa continues to advocate for the inclusion of a teacher aide in every classroom alongside greater job stability and professional learning. NZEI Te Riu Roa members will continue to advocate for more time in the system so that teachers and teacher aides can plan together in work time,” he says.

Note: The TA role may have different names at different schools, for example, kaiāwhina, teaching assistant, learning assistant, or inclusive learning assistant.  

Teachers and teacher aides at Abbotsford School meet regularly in a whole team approach.

Practical strategies for supporting TAs in schools

ERO spoke to schools that use a generalised classroom support approach to discover strategies they have found to be useful. They include:

• carefully plan timetables so that TAs work with a range of learners and teachers
• arrange for TA-teacher meetings within TAs’ work hours
• support teachers to reflect on the pros and cons of using a portion of TAs’ work hours for collaborative planning, compared to maximising in-class time
• include TAs in staff meetings, training, professional learning and development, kāhui ako meetings, and staff-only days
• make small changes that affirm TAs as part of the teaching team – like adding them to email chains and social media, ensuring they have access to resources and databases, having a consistent approach to addressing staff (by first name or by title), and not putting TAs’ names last in lists or on newsletters
• provide opportunities for TAs to share their expertise, for example presenting to teachers, or putting together resources about specific diagnoses
• talk to parents and whānau about the value of generalised support over traditional one-on-one TA support, focusing on the benefits for their child.

ERO has put together targeted guides for teachers, leaders, and teacher aides. These include practical strategies in four key areas: generalised classroom support, delivering structured interventions, te ao Māori cultural leadership and support, and collaboratively supporting students with learning support needs.

You can download the guides here: 

• Practical guide for teachers (external link)
• Practical guide for school leaders (external link)
• Practical guide for teacher aides(external link)

Ana Pene and tamariki use waiata to remember words and the stories behind them.

Space to contribute and grow

Ana Pene has been involved with te reo tutoring and kapa haka at Abbotsford School in Dunedin for about 10 years. In the past 18 months, her role has evolved to provide support as a teacher aide to Māori students.

Principal Stephanie Madden says knowing the strengths and valuing the skills and experience of teacher aides and utilising them has been the best way forward for the school.

“Ana has supported our teaching team to develop their cultural competency to develop programmes  that have a Māori lens to them. She’s a resource that teachers can go to for her expertise,” she says.

“It’s at a point now where we are really focusing on Māori students to ensure that we can develop that sense of identity and belonging in our school. Her understanding of what that needs to look like is invaluable for us.”

Creative space

Ana was raised in kapa haka at the urban Araiteuru Marae in Otepoti Dunedin.  

“Steph allowed me a lot of creative space to see what would work the best. We both decided that as kapa haka was working so well, it was a key thing for starting to get our Māori families feeling comfortable that they could walk into the school and be involved,” says Ana.

For the past five to six years, Abbottsford School – a MAC (Māori Achievement Collaborative) school – has been committed to improving the cultural competency of its workforce and Ana has been a valuable part of that journey.

“Ana’s teacher aide mahi started out with us wanting to provide additional support for written language for our Māori boys because their achievement levels were lower in that area. Then it evolved as we started to talk about what was going to make a difference. We believed it was going back to the children exploring their own identity. Ana really delved into the children’s whakapapa.  Now we can take that and apply it to our curriculum, hopefully, in a context that is more meaningful to our Māori students,” says Stephanie.

Abbotsford School’s Learning Support Team:  Front row from left: Ana Pene, Jenny Maclaren, Virginia Walker, Susan Chilcott; Back row from left: Sarah McInnes, Judith Turnbull, Keely Halligan, Kathryn Goldthorpe.

Evolving mahi

Ana had been working with a number of whānau Māori around their pepeha, when she noted that many of the school’s Māori families were unfamiliar with elements of their whakapapa and recognised this was having impacts on their children. This insight into Māori learners’ cultural context was valued by leaders, who advocated for a reconfiguration of her roles and responsibilities.

“After a couple of years of just kapa haka, Steph approached me again. This time it was really looking at the literacy of our Māori children because one in four children at Abbotsford were Māori – a high ratio for Dunedin. 

“The work I’m doing now has been such an evolution and probably the best that we’ve come to. It’s looking at the identity of the Māori children. I have observed over the years that the more they knew about themselves, the more interested they were in the work they were doing,” explains Ana.

As many of the Māori students are not mana whenua, Ana researched the pepeha of each tamariki and wrote karakia for each of them. They have now been grouped into seven broad iwi groups.

“I’ve tried to group them into their area and I’m telling stories about their ancestors now through art and play and song. It’s given them content for their literacy. We thought that could happen, but we didn’t think that would happen so fast. Not only can they stand up and tell their story in their own way, but they’re still reading and writing. 

“The teachers are saying: ‘OK, now they’re telling different stories and they are interested in it because it’s about them’. They’re the main star of their life and their story. I’m so looking forward to doing it again this year, because we ended on such a high with them. To push it even further, Steph has allowed me the space and resources to put on plays/whakaari because that’s how they learn the language but they also get to share their stories on the stage,” says Ana.

Using the tikanga around teaching kapa haka, Ana says she is able to help teachers reach a child who may be having difficulties in the classroom.

“If a child is acting up and can’t sit still, it’s not because he can’t sit still, because I can play a game with this child and he is so focused and still. How do we get into that space with them? So, I play a lot of games and tell a lot of stories. I realised that was what my ancestors did, and how they passed down knowledge,” she explains.