FURTHER GUIDANCE ON COVER SUPERVISION AND SPECIFIED WORK
Please note that this guidance is not statutory but is available to head teachers and their Governing bodies for information. This guidance is to be read in conjunction with the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea summary table of Job Descriptions, Pay and PPA/Cover. Each school is different with its own unique support staff team and may choose to develop their own customised guidance making explicit their school based arrangements to be used with the RBKC summary table.
Clarification
This guidance refers to Cover Supervision, Specified Work and examples of the deployment of classroom based Support Staff in Schools.
The guidance in this section outlines the differences between cover supervision and specified work. In primary schools cover supervision involves specified work. In secondary schools, cover supervision is often a more discrete activity. National Occupational Standards (NOS) and Job Descriptions for these roles are provided and these are generally secondary school focused roles. It is hoped that that this guidance will provide flexibility for schools to deploy the most appropriate members of the support staff team into these roles, if these duties are required within the school.
Cover Supervision
This supervision is required when the teacher normally responsible for teaching a particular class is absent from the classroom during the time they have been timetabled to teach. Cover supervision should only be used to cover short-term absences and should not be used as the remedy for the medium or long term absence of a teacher.
Activities undertaken by a cover supervisor include:
· Supervising work that has been set in accordance with school policy.
· Managing the behaviour of the pupils whilst they are undertaking this work to ensure a constructive environment.
· Responding to any questions from pupils about process and procedures.
· Dealing with any immediate problems or emergencies according to the schools policies and procedures.
· Collecting any completed work after the lesson and returning it to the appropriate teacher.
· Reporting back as appropriate using the school’s agreed referral procedures on the behaviour of pupils during the lesson/session, and any issues arising.
Specified work
Specified work is usually carried out by qualified teachers or appropriate support staff. Examples of support staff who may undertake this work are experienced Teacher Assistants (Level 3) usually with a specialism, Higher Level Teaching Assistants and Nursery Officers. According to the National Agreement, there are limitations on the specified work carried out by support staff which are:
· Work must be carried out in order to assist or support the work of a qualified teacher and,
· Work must be subject to the direction and supervision of a qualified teacher in accordance with arrangements made by the Headteacher of the school and,
· The Headteacher must be satisfied that the support staff member has the skills, expertise and experience required to carry out this work and advance the learning of the whole class.
Where more demanding aspects of ‘specified work’ are carried out by support staff (particularly when working with a whole class ), it is strongly recommended that the Headteacher should have regard to the HLTA standards in determining which staff are able to undertake this work.
Unlike cover supervision, specified work requires a greater depth of planning and preparation by a support staff member undertaking the work. This work is not seen as the solution to short term cover but strategic and long-term deployment of support staff in the school in order to support their teacher colleagues. Often support is available in the form of additional Teaching Assistants in the classroom, in a similar way to the normal classroom deployment arrangements.
If support staff are being used to provide PPA it is very important that there is absolute clarity about their role in the planning and preparation and the marking/processing of the learning. Likewise arrangements for feeding back to the class teacher need to be clear. Different types of PPA will require different arrangements but it is very important that the additional time required is factored in and reflected in the pay. Generally speaking if undertaking the role of providing cover/PPA this will be reflected in your JD. If not a feature of your JD, very explicit arrangements outlining of rates of pay for delivering PPA will be made available.
Often it will be appropriate and indeed necessary for the lead TA to be supported by another TA to ensure all the needs of the different groups of learners are met and to ensure the quality of teaching and learning has not been compromised
Cover Supervision / Specified Work - Level Descriptions
The role for teaching assistants in cover supervision will vary from being purely supervisory in nature to undertaking elements of specified work. Headteachers should determine which of the elements of specified work (please see below) are suitable for each teaching assistant and should ensure that an appropriate arrangement for supervising those tasks is in place. It is strongly recommended that headteachers should have regard to the standards for Higher Level Teaching Assistants when deploying teaching assistants for specified work.
The following brief Level Descriptors which build on the previous one have been developed to help headteachers identify the skills, knowledge and experience that teaching assistants will need to provide cover, whether this is basic supervision or a higher interventionist role. Please use this in conjunction with the revised Job Descriptions and Summary Guidance Document.
LEVEL 3 – SCALE 4 (point 18 -21) – Teaching Assistant with Specialism / Specialist TA JD will reflect this element of role
(Sometimes an experienced TA will fulfil this role where it is not reflected in JD)
The teaching assistant providing cover at this level will supervise learning and ensure that there is good order in the class. They will have a full working knowledge of policies, legislation and the curriculum and be able to give feedback to the senior teacher.
Required skills and competencies
1) To have very good numeracy and literacy skills.
2) To have the ability to maintain a supportive and calm working environment for a large group of children.
3) To understand and be able to use a range of strategies to deal with classroom behaviour as a whole and also individual behaviour needs.
4) To have the ability to manage the necessary resources for the lesson, having taken instruction from the senior teacher on the lesson plan/activities.
5) To have the ability to respond to any questions from pupils about the plan for the lesson.
6) To have a working knowledge of National / Foundation stage curriculum and relevant learning strategies.
7) To have an understanding of the principles of child development and learning processes.
8) To have a full working knowledge of relevant policies / codes of practice and an awareness of relevant legislation including child protection, health and safety, equal opportunities issues and special educational needs.
9) To have the ability to give feedback on the behaviour of the children and any other issues arising, to the senior teacher.
LEVEL 4 – SCALES 4-5 (point 18 – 25) Cover Supervisor JD will reflect this element of role
The member of support staff providing cover at this level will also be able to encourage the pupils to interact and work co – operatively. They will be able to explain and demonstrate tasks to children based on their thorough understanding of child development. They should be able to advance the learning of individual children, groups of children and whole classes.
In Addition To Level 3
1) To have excellent literacy and numeracy skills, (GCSE grade C or equivalent qualification )
2) To have the ability to create a supportive and calm working environment for a large group of children.
3) To have a working understanding of the teaching strategies and aims for the class.
4) To have the ability to encourage pupils to interact and work co- operatively.
5) To have experience of implementing the National / Foundation stage Curriculum and other relevant programmes for learning.
6) To have a working understanding of the principles of child development.
7) To have the ability to explain and demonstrate the tasks required to the children, on an individual basis if required.
8) To have the ability to monitor and evaluate pupils’ responses to learning activities and to feed back to the senior teacher.
LEVEL 5 – SCALES 5-6 (point 22-28) HLTA/Nursery Officer JD will reflect this element of role
The member of support staff providing cover at this level will also be able to work more closely on a one to one basis with individual children and to use their specialist knowledge to support learning.
In Addition To Level 4
1) To have the ability to use a range of assessment strategies to evaluate and monitor pupils learning.
2) To have the ability to work with individual pupils to help them thoroughly understand the work they have been given.
3) To have the ability to select and prepare the resources necessary to deliver the lessons, taking into account pupils interests and their abilities.
LEVEL 6 – SCALE SO1 (point 29 – 31) Senior HLTA/Senior Nursery Officer JD will reflect this element of role
The member of support staff providing cover at this level will also be able to adjust learning techniques to match the individual needs of children and be able to give the supervising senior teacher suggestions of new work for the children.
In Addition To Level 5
1) To have the ability to deliver lessons/sessions to groups of children with different abilities, under the supervision of the senior teacher.
2) To have the ability to be responsible for planning the work of the class, confirming and agreeing these plans with the senior teacher.
3) To have the ability to be able to adjust learning techniques to match the individual needs of the children.
4) To have the ability to give the senior teacher suggestions of new work for the children.
5) To have the ability to design and implement additional work tasks for the children.
The revised Job Descriptions more strategically incorporate elements of PPA, Cover Supervision and Specified Work. The only exception to this is the Level 3 TA who under certain circumstances may agree to do occasional cover/PPA and who will be paid at SO1 point 29 per session (See summary table Note 1 for full guidance). If a Level 3 TA is regularly asked and agrees to do cover/PPA, it is important to revisit the Job Description to ensure that the Job Description reflects their regular role in the school and that fair play is guaranteed.
If providing cover at any level is not specifically mentioned in a JD a suitably experienced and qualified TA may still be asked to fulfil this role. However, the TA is fully entitled to decline this opportunity for any reason. If accepting the request the TA should be encouraged to identify any necessary support required, e.g. preparation time, resources and/or additional TA support.
Last Updated 15 October 2010