Yesterday the government announced a review of the standards for teaching assistants. You can read the press release at this link:

Press release – DfE 3rd October 2014

The review is expected to report back to the Secretary of State in spring 2015.

 

The review will be chaired by Kate Dethridge, Principal of Churchend Primary Academy in Reading. She will be supported by an expert panel listed below.

As you can see, some of them are Teaching Assistants and HLTAs.

Kathryn Booth is @kathrynsa1 on twitter. Her school is in Dorset.

Kath Robinson is a Senior teaching Assistant. Her school is in Sheffield.

Karen Jackson is a HLTA at a Specialist Science Collge in Gatehead.

Daniel Macafee is a Graduate Teaching Assistant at a secondary school in Manchester.

It would be interesting to know if any of the TAs or HLTAs are or have been on Foundation Degrees and also if any of the teachers on the panel were TAs and followed a foundation degree route into teaching.

As TAs, HLTAs and people who work with TAs and HLTAs in schools and at university this will be an interesting process and we need to be aware and look out for opportunities to contribute. If you were on the panel what would your views be?