Policy Hub
On 5 November 2008, the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) published a report (The deployment, training and development of the wider school workforce) which suggests that pupils are benefiting from school workforce reforms which have seen the introduction of staff from a wider range of backgrounds, skills and life experiences.
The report highlights the significant expansion of the wider school workforce; people other than teachers who are employed in or to work with schools. These individuals include staff managing school systems (such as bursars and data managers), those supporting teaching and learning (higher level teaching assistants, teaching assistants, cover supervisors and specialist coaches), and those supporting pupils’ personal development and welfare (attendance and welfare officers, learning mentors and inclusion coordinators).
The report notes that learning mentors and higher level teaching assistants are among the roles that have made a particularly positive impact on pupils’ achievement, especially among those likely to truant, underachieve, or be excluded from school. They also played a valuable role in reaching out to parents previously reluctant to come into school or unsure how to help their children.
Amongst its recommendations, the report suggests that schools should:
The deployment, training and development of the wider school workforce