ARTICLES & MEDIA

Press coverage, articles and blogs about our work


How COVID revealed the essentialness of teaching assistants, and how they can help pupils survive and thrive – edpsy.org.uk, October 2023 


Teaching on the cheap? The extent and impact of teaching assistants covering classes and leading lessons – BERA blog, July 2024


Why schools should rethink teaching assistants' role – Tes (Sept 2021) 


Improving the connectivity of research on teaching assistants: Creating a new space for researchers – BERA blog (June 2021)


Why Ofsted is wrong about TA support for SEND pupils – Tes (May 2021)


Addressing the international data gap on teaching assistants – Education International (May 2021)


Internationalising research on teaching assistants: A call for expressions of interest in creating a research network – European Educational Research Association (May 2021)


Why the drive to inclusion depends on improving our understanding of the lives and work of teaching assistants – Global Education Monitoring Report blog (April 2021)


Who benefits from inclusive education – and how? – Special Needs Jungle (March 2021)


What can international data tell us about education paraprofessionals? Almost nothing – European Educational Research Association (March 2021)


The aim of the game is to support kids –The Psychologist (February 202)


SNJ in Conversation: Teaching assistants, their role and how schools can use them effectively – Special Needs Jungle podcast (October 2020)


In the Covid-19 catch-up, beware intervention traps – Tes (September 2020)


Teaching assistants are pivotal to a successful catch-up strategy – The Psychologist (July 2020)


Proceed with caution: Unravelling the evidence behind the DFE’s Covid guidance on teaching assistants – IOE blog (July 2020)


Inspiring and supporting schools to maximise the impact of teaching assistants – BERA Research Intelligence (June 2020)


Research for the Real World: Rob Webster talks to Humera Iqbal about the role of teaching assistants and SEND – IOE podcast (May 2020)


Project to improve how schools use teaching assistants wins public engagement and impact award – IOE News (Nov 2019)


Teaching assistants and behaviour – Tes podcast (Nov 2019)


How to make the move from TA to teacher – Tes podcast (July 2019)


DfE research: Mainstream teaching assistant cuts negatively impacting SEND pupils – Special Needs Jungle (July 2019)


Exclusive: First ever drop in TA numbers a 'serious problem' - Tes (Dec 2018)


Next week, there will be no TAs - Tes (Dec 2018) 


What Ofsted needs to recognise about inclusion - Tes (Oct 2018)


Investigating classroom contexts for learning for pupils with special educational needs: Class size, groupings and interactions - BERA blog (Aug 2018)


Large classes for primary SEND pupils ‘troubling’ - Tes (July 2018)


Strictly classroom: Why knowing your dance routine can help you maximise the contribution and impact of teaching assistants - The Profession (June 2018) 


Why the Warnock report still matters today - Tes (May 2018)


Our route to 2026 is a challenge, not a crisis, but we need to act now - Tes (May 2018)


Tes Podagogy: Why you're (probably) not making the most of your teaching assistant
- podcast (March 2018)


Rob Webster talks to Iesha Small from LKMCo about teaching assistants and inclusive education
- podcast (Nov 2017)


There can be no hiding place for schools that don't meet their responsibilities to children with SEND - Tes (Oct 2017)


Rob Webster talks to Marc Rowland from Rosendale Research School about MITA - podcast (Oct 2017)


'Significant proportion' of SEN teaching is being delivered by TAs - Sec Ed (July 2017)


The myth of inclusion - Tes (June 2017) 


SEND education ‘too dependent on teaching assistants’, researchers say - Tes (June 2017)


The Tes blog series (March-May 2017)

  1. Schools don't use TAs effectively – here are four ways to get the most out of your TAs

  2. The five steps TAs must follow to increase student independence | 5 Steps
    sketchnote by @olivercaviglioli

  3. Four steps to more effective joint planning between TAs and teachers

  4. Six steps to ensure effective TA-led interventions

  5. Teaching assistants are being overstretched and exploited


TAs: superheroes sold short | Editorial It’s time to end TAs’ classroom identity crisis - Tes (Feb 2017)


Teaching assistants: how can the role be developed and why aren't they appreciated more? Tes Facebook chat with Rob Webster - 
video interview (Feb 2017)


Side by side. Three schools making the most of their teaching assistants - Nursery World (Jan 2017)


TES talks to... Rob Webster - Tes (Nov 2016)


Teaching assistants are winning praise but losing pay - Nursery World (Oct 2016)


TA standards ‘nothing to do with us’, says Gibb – as unions publish report - Schools Week (June 2016)


Help needed - The Economist (June 2016)


Is the solution to the teacher supply crisis already in our classrooms? - IOE blog (June 2016)


'A worrying proportion of teaching assistants go into the classroom not knowing what's going to happen in the lesson': Sir John Dunford - Tes (March 2016)


The Teaching Assistants Standards report that Nicky Morgan doesn’t want you to see - Schools Week (Oct 2015)


Teaching assistant standards still delayed after six months - Schools Week (Sept 2015)


How teaching assistants can make a real difference in the classroom - The Guardian (Apr 2015)


Most schools failing to use teaching assistants effectively, report says - Tes (Feb 2015)


How to use TAs more effectively - Schools Week (Feb 2015)


The best ways to work with teaching assistants - The Conversation (Feb 2015) 


Teaching assistants to have new set of standards - BBC News (Oct 2014)


Teaching assistants: New revolutionary model for effective use of support staff - Tes (Sept 2014)


TAs: only a research-policy-practice trialogue will lead to evidence-based policy-making - IOE blog (June 2014)


North Carolina pay raise is more important than teacher assistants - The News & Observer, USA (June 2014)


Relying on teaching assistant support for SEN students is a false economy - The Guardian (April 2014)


Be careful what you wish for: Parents, professionals and the new SEN system - IOE blog (March 2014)


What's the evidence on… the impact of teaching assistants? - Education Media Centre (March 2014)


Pupils with special needs 'separated' from teachers - Tes (Feb 2013)