Frequently Asked Questions on the Role of the Higher Level Teaching Assistant
1) What is a Higher Level Teaching Assistant (HLTA)?
An HLTA is a teaching assistant who has demonstrated that they have met 31 nationally recognised standards. HLTAs have demonstrated that they are able to work at a higher level in supporting learning and teaching, making a significant contribution to the life of the school, the work of the teacher and to pupils’ attainment. They always work under the direction of teachers. HLTAs are integral to the long term workforce development strategy for schools.
2) Why is there an HLTA status?
HLTA status was introduced in 2003 to support workforce reform. This was as a result of broad consultation with professional associations, employers, headteachers, teachers and teaching assistant representatives. A prime aim of the initiative is to provide skilled teaching assistants with the opportunity to achieve a nationally recognised status.
3) How could an HLTA benefit my school?
There is no standard HLTA model. The role of an HLTA is flexible enough to adapt to the needs of the school community. In some schools HLTAs could be responsible for developing the delivery of a curriculum area otherwise under resourced. In others they might support a subject coordinator in developing and designing schemes of work or they may be utilising their specialist skills and knowledge in taking a leading role in pupil support. They might fulfil a focused role in raising standards in learning and teaching. An HLTA has the capability and capacity to work across the school providing continuity and maintaining high expectations of behaviour and learning.
4) What does supervision of an HLTA doing ‘specified work’ by a qualified teacher require?
School support staff, when undertaking specified work, must be subject to the direction and supervision of a teacher in accordance with arrangements made by the headteacher of the school. The headteacher must be satisfied that support staff have the skills, expertise and experience to carry out a range of activities at different levels – including, for some staff, working with whole classes. Headteachers should have regard to the national HLTA professional standards in considering whether a member of support staff has the necessary skills and expertise to undertake an HLTA role even though they may not yet have achieved HLTA status. Many school support staff are already working at the level of the HLTA professional standards
A system of supervision is required for each HLTA who undertakes ‘specified work’. The system should not be bureaucratic and should include:
a) Which elements of the ‘specified work’ can be carried out by a particular HLTA documented in their job description;
b) Which teacher is responsible for managing, supervising and monitoring the work of the HLTA and how that supervision will be delivered.
4) What ‘specified work’ can be carried out by an HLTA?
Specified Work is:
a) Planning and preparing lessons and courses for individual pupils, groups and whole classes;
b) Delivering lessons to pupils including delivery via distance learning or computer aided techniques;
c) Assessing the development, progress and attainment of pupils; and
d) Reporting on the development, progress and attainment of pupils.
The teacher will exercise their professional judgement, based on what is best for pupils, as to whether it is more appropriate for them or an HLTA to carry out particular ‘specified work’ depending on the level to which the professional judgement and expertise of a teacher is required:
e.g. b) “Delivering lessons to pupils.” could include anything from an ‘A’ level class in Further Maths to practising times tables facts. A higher level of professional expertise and judgment of a teacher is required in the former whilst the latter could be delegated to an HLTA of sufficient competence.
or
c) “Assessing the development, progress and attainment of pupils” could include anything from the formal assessment of coursework to marking and collating scores from a multiple-choice test. The former is a more complex and demanding task that requires the skills of a teacher, whilst the latter could be delegated to an HLTA.
HLTAs work under the direction and guidance of a teacher within the framework of management and supervision of their school but the experience and competence of the particular HLTA or the complexity of the task being undertaken determines the level of supervision necessary.
The responsibility for teaching, learning and outcomes remains with the teacher and ultimately, the head.
5) Should an HLTA undertaking ‘specified work’ have support in the classroom when the teacher is not present?
The use of HLTAs to undertake ‘specified work’ is not intended to worsen pupil-teacher ratios but improve them so in a situation where support is normally present the level of support should not be reduced, therefore, if the HLTA or other TA is normally present in the classroom when the teacher is present, there should be additional support for the HLTA when the teacher is not present.
6) Should HLTAs providing ‘specified work’ receive PPA time?
Yes - HLTAs who undertake specified work should have an appropriate % of paid time within their contracted hours set aside to enable them to plan and prepare for their own role in lessons and liaise with their class teacher/s.
7) Can an HLTA be appointed as an unqualified teacher?
No - An unqualified teacher works independently i.e. not managed by a teacher but HLTAs only work under the direction and supervision of a teacher who remain the leaders and the experts in the classroom. HLTAs are there to support teachers, not replace them.
NB There are also restrictions on the deployment of unqualified teachers.
8) Is the role of the HLTA limited to their work with whole classes?
WAMG is keen that the skills of an HLTA are not limited to working with whole classes and wants to see the development of wider roles for HLTAs. A more effective deployment of HLTAs throughout the school will make better use of the skills of HLTAs and can thus help raise standards of achievement. This will be increasingly crucial when developing personalised learning strategies for pupils.
HLTAs can take on higher level tasks and responsibilities that reflect their level of expertise – this includes working with individual pupils, small groups and whole classes. However, many schools only seem to see the role of HLTAs in connection with a teacher’s PPA time, when an HLTA may take responsibility for a whole class in the planned absence of a teacher. This narrow view of the HLTA role has a number of potential drawbacks, because the skills demonstrated by HLTAs against the national standards are not being fully utilised.
These drawbacks include:
· teaching assistants (TAs) or other members of support staff with HLTA status find that there is no role for them when schools use other strategies for managing teachers’ PPA time. This can mean that the HLTAs level of skills and experience are not being fully deployed to raise standards;
· HLTAs find themselves taking whole classes all or most of the time because they are exclusively deployed during the PPA time of different teachers. This means that schools are unable to also deploy HLTAs in other roles that, together, make better use of HLTAs’ range of skills and experience.
9) Should HLTAs be expected to work outside normal school hours?
HLTAs may undertake work outside normal school hours but in this situation their salary should be adjusted to reflect the extra hours worked. There is some evidence that on occasions, support staff with established contractual arrangements are being expected to undertake ‘unpaid overtime’.
This is unacceptable. If it becomes clear that an individual’s working arrangements do not fully take into account the work required of the post, then a proper discussion must take place between them and their line manager to resolve the issue.
This might mean:
· Paying overtime;
· Extending, by agreement, the hours required under the contract, with the
appropriate increase in salary;
· Allocating the additional work to other members of staff.
10) Should HLTAs be employed on split contracts being paid at a lower rate for part of the
week?
Sometimes TAs with HLTA status are issued with split contracts where a TA is deployed to do higher level work with a whole class for part of the week and paid a higher rate for this and is then deployed the rest of the week as a general TA at a lower level of pay.
This is based on the assumption that HLTA work only relates to working with a whole class. However, if a TA has the skill and knowledge to take a whole class they clearly have a range of skills that can also be used in a variety of settings supporting the work of teachers.
Previous WAMG advice on this states that casual arrangements – which give to TAs who meet the HLTA standards enhanced pay only for those hours when they are deployed with whole classes to provide PPA time for teachers – are not in line with the aims of workforce reform and the principles of the National Agreement. Therefore, schools should consider whether they have a broader range of work that would enable them to maximise their use of an HLTAs skills or, indeed, whether these resources could be used more widely in collaboration with other schools.