Teaching assistants and teacher education in England: meeting their continuing professional development needs

Teaching assistants are often the constant adult in classrooms in England today and find themselves working closely with student-teachers. This paper explores the role of teaching assistants in the training and assessment of primary initial teacher education students and considers their continuing professional development (CPD) needs in relation to this. It has arisen out of a research project funded by the government's Training and Development Agency for Schools, from which a mentor training package was developed and implemented, aimed specifically at teaching assistants. Elements of this CPD are delivered to a discrete cohort; others are multi-professional and as such develop collaborative practice. This paper reflects on this CPD initiative and considers its future development.