The role and effects of teaching assistants in English primary schools (Years 4 to 6) 2000-2003. Results from the Class Size and Pupil-Adult Ratios (CSPAR) KS2 Project

It is widely assumed that increasing the number of Teaching Assistants (TAs) in the classroom will be beneficial to children, and this is one important aim of the recently implemented Workforce Agreement. But there are still significant gaps in knowledge about many aspects of their deployment and impact. The Class Size and Pupil-Adult Ratio (CSPAR) KS2 study built on earlier findings when the pupils were in reception and KS1 and investigated: 1. the deployment of TAs in classrooms and how key parties involved perceived this; 2. the effect of TAs on interactions involving pupils and teachers in the same classrooms, and on pupil attainments. The study had a longitudinal, mixed method and multi-informant design. There were 202 schools, 332 classes and 8728 pupils in Y4. Methods of data collection included: for the whole sample) questionnaires completed by TAs, teachers and head teachers, assessments of pupil attainments in mathematics, English and science, data on pupil background, and (for a sub-sample) case studies and a systematic observation study. This study found that the TA’s role in KS2 is predominantly a direct one, in the sense of face-to-face interactions supporting certain pupils. There was no evidence that the presence of TAs, or any characteristic of TAs, had a measurable effect on pupil attainment. However, results were clear in showing that TAs had an indirect effect on teaching, e.g., pupils had a more active form of interaction with the teacher and there was more individualised teacher attention. This supported teachers’ views that TAs are effective in supporting them in this way. We conclude that more attention needs to be paid to what we call the pedagogical role of TAs so that they can be used effectively to help teachers and pupils, particularly in the context of the enhanced roles for TAs being introduced as part of the Government’s remodeling agenda

Rethinking Class Size: The complex story of impact on teaching and learning

The debate over whether class size matters for teaching and learning is one of the most enduring, and aggressive, in education research. Teachers often insist that small classes benefit their work. But many experts argue that evidence from research shows class size has little impact on pupil outcomes, so does not matter, and this dominant view has informed policymaking internationally. Here, the lead researchers on the world’s biggest study into class size effects present a counter-argument. Through detailed analysis of the complex relations involved in the classroom they reveal the mechanisms that support teachers’ experience, and conclude that class size matters very much indeed. Drawing on 20 years of systematic classroom observations, surveys of practitioners, detailed case studies and extensive reviews of research, Peter Blatchford and Anthony Russell contend that common ways of researching the impact of class size are limited and sometimes misguided. While class size may have no direct effect on pupil outcomes, it has, they say, significant force through interconnections with classroom processes. In describing these connections, the book opens up the everyday world of the classroom and shows that the influence of class size is everywhere. It impacts on teaching, grouping practices and classroom management, the quality of peer relations, tasks given to pupils, and on the time teachers have for marking, assessments and understanding the strengths and challenges for individual pupils. From their analysis, the authors develop a new social pedagogical model of how class size influences work, and identify policy conclusions and implications for teachers and schools. The book is an invaluable contribution to the international debate on class siz

Performing against the odds: developmental trajectories of children in the EPPSE 3 to 16 study

The Effective Pre-School, Primary and Secondary Education (EPPSE 3 to 16) research project is a large scale, longitudinal, mixed-methods research that is following the progress of 3,000 children since 1997 from the age of 3- to 16-years-old. A focus for EPPSE has been the extent to which pre-school, compulsory education and children’s home learning experiences (HLE) can reduce inequality. Earlier EPPSE found that what parents did with their children was important in terms of the children’s outcomes, not simply ‘who they were’ in terms of social class and income. Following a pilot study with disadvantaged children who were ‘succeeding against the odds’ towards the end of primary school, this study provides in-depth exploration and explanation of how risks and protective factors in the lives of children shape their learning life-courses, and why they lead to academic resilience for some but not for others

Recovery in Teachers: Barriers, Facilitators and the Relationship to Physical Stress Symptoms

Previous research has shown that teachers are at risk of experiencing significant work-related stress. Recovery is seen as a way to unwind from work stress caused by a myriad of stressors. This study examines the mechanisms of teacher recovery and their relationship to physical stress symptoms. Fifty high school teachers were recruited to participate from schools in South Florida. Physical stress symptoms were measured using a self-report survey called the Physical Symptoms Inventory (PSI) , which took place directly after the open-ended question portion of the survey. A multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to assess any connection between the appearance of barrier and facilitator related words in the open-ended questions to the rating of physical symptoms. The analysis showed that facilitators did not significantly predict PSI scores (β = -.17, ns). However, barriers did significantly predict PSI scores (β = .49, p \u3c .001). Grounded theory was used alongside theoretical sampling to develop themes related to the barriers and facilitators of recovery from participant open-ended question answers. Data was analyzed and coded using constant comparison tactics. After data analysis, data showed that the most prevalent barriers described by teachers were workload, off-job workload, the constant need to plan, and constant rumination. These results can help pave the way for future research in this area, as well as the development of comprehensive intervention programs used to assist in promoting recovery in teachers

Parasitic mites alter chicken behaviour and negatively impact animal welfare.

The northern fowl mite, Ornithonyssus sylviarum, is one of the most common and damaging ectoparasites of poultry. As an obligate blood feeding mite, the northern fowl mite can cause anaemia, slower growth, and decreased egg production of parasitized birds. However, the impact of mites or other ectoparasites on hen behaviour or welfare is not well studied. Here, we use activity sensors (three-axis accelerometers) affixed to individual birds to continuously record hen movement before, during, and after infestation with mites. Movements recorded by sensors were identified to specific bird behaviours through a previously trained algorithm, with frequency of these behaviours recorded for individual birds. Hen welfare was also determined before, during, and after mite infestation of hens using animal-based welfare metrics. Northern fowl mites significantly increased hen preening behaviour and resulted in increased skin lesions of infested birds

Understanding teaching assistant self-efficacy in role and in training: its susceptibility to influence

There has been a noted growth in the number of teaching assistants (TAs) in mainstream schools (DfE, 2013a). Research is inconclusive about their efficacy at changing outcomes for children (Alborz et al 2009; Blatchford et al, 2009) and has proposed more training for TAs (Russell et al, 2005). Generic training models have suggested that enhancing self-efficacy in turn improves performance. This exploratory study investigated factors that may influence TAs’ sense of self-efficacy and its susceptibility to influence in training. Following two modes of mode of school-based training by Educational Psychologists (EPs) data were collected from 14 mainstream secondary school TAs using focus groups. A thematic analysis noted themes regarding self-efficacy, aligned with Bandura’s (1977) sources of information, outcome expectations and whole school support and norms. Review of the data is likely to be able to guide potential trainers to coach consult strategies which are self-efficacy supportive and which address contextual factors including the perceived status of TAs in schools

Race and sex: teachers' views on who gets ahead in schools?

The research reported here was part of a large study of the impact of age, disability, race and sex on the teaching profession in England. The basic question asked in this research was how do these factors interact with career aspirations and achievements of classteachers, promoted teachers and headteachers? There were three different data sources: a large postal survey drawn from diverse geographic regions across England with over 2000 respondents; face‐to‐face individual interviews with over 100 teachers in 18 case study schools from across all of the main regions of England; discussions with special interest groups of teachers. Not surprisingly, the answer to the above question was complex. Nonetheless, the paper's conclusion highlights some of the noteworthy themes across this broad sample of teachers from primary, secondary and special schools

Theory of Exciton Migration and Field-Induced Dissociation in Conjugated Polymers

The interplay of migration, recombination, and dissociation of excitons in disordered media is studied theoretically in the low temperature regime. An exact expression for the photoluminescence spectrum is obtained. The theory is applied to describe the electric field-induced photoluminescence-quenching experiments by Kersting et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 73, 1440 (1994)] and Deussen et al. [Synth. Met. 73, 123 (1995)] on conjugated polymer systems. Good agreement with experiment is obtained using an on-chain dissociation mechanism, which implies a separation of the electron-hole pair along the polymer chain.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX, 2 Postscript figure