INVESTING IN OUR TEACHING ASSISTANTS WHY THIS IS SO IMPORTANT
BY : PETER HOGAN
Although sector-wide research into TA training is not apparent , McKinsey management consultants have investigated the impact of training front line staff in the not-for-profit education sector . As is the case with many schools , they identified a lack of funds to build the capabilities of staff and in most cases , training was seen as an overhead . In a separate global survey , they found that 90 per cent of respondents felt that building capabilities was a top-ten priority for their organizations while only a quarter thought that their training programmes were effective and only 8 per cent tracked the training ’ s return on investment . When they looked at the impact of training the nonteaching staff working with young children in America , they found that over time , front line training yielded a 400 per cent return on its investment . Similarly , the performance of those trained was seen as improved 3 to 5 times compared with those who had no training . Clearly survey and research results are not directly comparable for all schools everywhere . However , I cannot help feeling a good deal of sympathy with the findings . The more we train our staff , the better we become and although we won ’ t see an immediate payback , it comes in time .
You can learn a lot about a school and its culture by looking at the way it approaches training and who is included . Is it top-heavy with all the money spent on the senior , promoted staff ? Is it need-driven and only happening when there is a change in legislation or a problem ? Is it frugal or a generous part of the budget ? Inevitably , investing in training is a reflection of what the school believes about its people .
One of the really important measures of a school ’ s true commitment to its people is how far training extends . Does all the budget go on the teachers ? How much is spent on training support staff ? When running schools in the UK , I was used to allocating suitable funds to Teaching Assistants ( TAs ) but was both shocked and saddened to see that there was no culture of doing this in many international schools . These TAs are not very well paid , they take on a massive array of duties , some are bilingual or trilingual , called upon for translation and interpreting and many are graduates in their home countries .
International school TA development was in stark contrast to my UK experiences and it never felt quite right . However , there is often no appetite to invest in their training at board level and if the labour supply is plentiful , it is not always easy to justify more money in an area that seems well staffed . When less attention is paid and bespoke training is not forthcoming , our TAs can become less visible . We can suffer some form of inattentional blindness . However , I don ’ t think that schools should shoulder all the blame . If tailor-made TA training is not readily available , then perhaps this is one reason why we haven ’ t looked at the costs and benefits in detail .
I have been lucky enough to spend 20 years running very diverse schools in England , Scotland , Wales and Bangkok . Separately these schools have been a second home for young people from the UK ’ s most socially deprived regions , for members of the so-called aristocracy and most recently for 40 nationalities ranging from Armenia to Australia . From ultra-modern Academies to traditional boarding , my schools have all been very different , but I have found the best and most challenging part of my professional life has been the same everywhere . It ’ s the people . I am regularly reminded of the words of Henry Ford who said , “ The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave , is not training them and having them stay ”. Regular , high impact training is essential in schools , enlivening for staff and , most importantly , beneficial for the children .
TAs are massively important in the lives of the children at our schools , they forge strong bonds with families and every teacher who has worked with a highly professional and competent TA knows just how precious they are . Investing in such assets has to be to everyone ’ s benefit .
Peter Hogan has been the Head of schools in the UK and Asia for 20 years . He writes about schools , teaching and learning at hogan . education and is Director of the Association of International School Teaching Assistants . He can be contacted at peter @ hogan . education
44 Term 3 Apr - Jun 2021
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