ATL

Working in tandem

Teaching and support staff have to work closely together, often in pressured environments, so it's no surprise that conflicts and issues arise. A strong relationship between the two can stop those issues becoming crises. Words by Alex Tomlin

One of ATL's most popular training courses is 'Working in classroom teams', which brings teaching staff and support staff together to learn how to best work in harmony. Trainer Caroline Holmes says that almost every person who attends this course does so because they have "issues" with the working relationship.

Looking on the positive side, the consensus seems to show that support staff are a valuable asset to the classroom team. "Support staff are viewed as essential to the teacher," says Liz Alexander, an ATL member who works both as a member of support staff and as a qualified teacher. "They have made teachers feel that they're not alone in the class or without assistance, which has made them feel a lot calmer. I think they have helped teachers' well-being."

However, Liz is not sure whether support staff are always utilised as effectively as they could be. The two main reasons for this — cited on the 'Working in classroom teams' course — are a lack of understanding of each other's roles and poor communication, Caroline reveals.

"Quite often the teacher or support assistant has a different idea of what the other should be doing," says Caroline. "A very common area of conflict occurs when support staff don't think they should be asked to do something and teachers think they should. There's no time spent developing that relationship — talking about what's expected and how they are going to work together; laying down some ground rules. When they do have issues they've got nowhere to go with them because they haven't got that relationship, and then things can escalate."

"Sometimes the teaching assistant (TA) can take over because they don't understand the teaching role. They can suggest things that are not appropriate," says Liz. "Gradually, as the relationship gels, that shouldn't happen because they should work out what each is supposed to do. Then the TA can take the initiative in the right way and make life easier for the teacher."

Better communication is the answer to many relationship problems, but is much easier said than done. "How do you communicate in a way that allows both parties to tackle the difficulties?" Caroline asks. "Some people don't know how to say: 'I don't like the way you're doing this, can we do it a different way?' The course works on communication and assertiveness and addressing issues without making them worse. How do you say something without making it seem like an attack?"

One situation with potential for conflict arises when a newly qualified teacher (NQT) comes into a classroom with a TA who has many years' experience. "A big concern for NQTs is how to work with support staff," Caroline reports, "especially with all the other pressures of dealing with the children as well."
ATL member Hafiz Qarni went on the course as an NQT because he was not confident in directing the learning support assistants (LSAs) with whom he worked.

"I was reluctant to tell them how I wanted things to be done. After the course, I learnt that communication was very important and how to ask them to help me in the way that I wanted. I work out with them in advance how I want them to help me. It helped us to work more as a team. I'd had no training for that before the course."

"I think it's hard for teachers to manage TAs, especially young teachers who haven't had training specifically to do that," Liz adds. "It's difficult to manage the class and tell the TA what you want them to do as well. It can also be difficult if the TA is an older person. I could look like their mother and they don't know how far they can go in directing me."

There is not enough guidance available for support staff either, Liz believes. "TA training out of school is minimal. This would raise understanding among support staff of what teachers do."

Caroline's advice is to spend some time establishing the relationship between teacher and support staff as early as possible. "The teacher should make clear what they expect of the support staff. Say to them: 'These are my concerns, what are yours?'

"Both need to set out how they are going to deal with any issues. Issues are always going to come up, so have ground rules about talking about it straight away," she continues. "Deal with things as they come up rather than allowing things to fester, which will have an impact on the relationship, which will then have an impact on how you work together. If possible, sort out problems between you rather than involving anyone else higher up in the school."

A common response to this advice is that there simply isn't time to sit down to discuss and set ground rules. "My argument is that if you spend that time right at the beginning, it will save time later on when you're spending ages trying to sort problems out. It's a good investment. Put time aside on a regular basis to talk about things," says Caroline.

On a similar theme, Hafiz advocates taking the time to discuss lessons in advance. "It helps if the LSA knows in advance about the plan and structure of the lesson and what [the teacher] expects of them. If they don't know what you're thinking, they just have to do what they think is best.

"If I've had a meeting with them before, I let them know what I want at the beginning and what the pupils should do if they've finished a task. They shouldn't find out on the day, in the lesson. You want the message [to the children] to be consistent — not the teacher telling them one thing and the LSA another. That causes confusion."

That kind of inconsistency can impact on the class, warns Caroline. "Students pick up on any tensions between teacher and support staff and can exploit it. I've heard of students playing staff off against each other and undermining the teacher by going to the LSA."

"Some LSAs think they don't have the right to discipline or reward pupils," explains Haziz. "If you tell them they have as much power to do that as you do as the teacher, that helps. We should be equal to the children — they should take us equally seriously."

Liz agrees. "In our school [the children] react in the same way to TAs and teachers. We've been careful not to have the distinction between support and teaching staff."

Respect between support staff is also vital, believes ATL member Debbie Polwarth, a special educational needs assistant. "I have very good relationships with teachers in the school, who respect my knowledge and expertise. I have members of staff come to me to ask my views. There's no 'them and us'; it's very much a team.

"I've worked in other places where it was more a case of being told what to do: 'you do that'; 'make me a coffee'; generally being given the worst jobs, never getting recognition for doing a good job. I've earned the respect after 15 years; you can't just assume it. I work with professionals who know more than me on some things, but I know more than them on others. It's about recognising each other's strengths and communicating."

The culture of the school is a major factor in fostering positive relationships. "It's got to come from the top down. If there isn't a whole-school approach of taking time to talk, a culture develops where no one talks," says Caroline. "If you've always got pressure from leadership to meet targets then it makes it more difficult.

"Change is a big issue as well," she continues. "How do you implement that change without people feeling insecure about it? The smaller the school, maybe the easier it is to do this. It's more difficult in a big school, which has a series of teams. Support staff can be diving in and out of different dynamics. One set of ground rules in one team may be totally different in another and each has different expectations, which they're expected to just go with. Particularly in a large school, you can get a lot of inconsistency in approach.

"This can be disempowering for the support staff as they don't feel in control. They need the ability to go to the classroom teacher and say there's a problem. And that is not always easy."

Debbie echoes this. "LSAs can find themselves in a difficult situation, because they may be in four or five different classes in a day and have to adapt to the way each individual teacher teaches. Some expect you to be hands-on, some expect you to stand at the back, some expect you to look after behaviour, some expect you to shut up and not say anything. You have to be very astute, which often isn't appreciated."

The relationship between teaching and support staff, like all relationships, needs solid foundations and ongoing work to maintain it. But Debbie believes it is well worth it. "When you see two professionals, one teacher and one support staff, and they're bantering off each other — team-teaching in a way — it's a fantastic thing to see."

To find out more about the 'Working in classroom teams' training course or any other ATL courses, visit www.atl.org.uk/training or contact the training team at training@atl.org.uk.

For more advice on teaching staff and support staff working together, visit www.atl.org.uk/help-and-advice/school-and-college/support-staff-teachers.asp in the 'Help and advice' section of ATL's website.