Can the teachers out there answer this honestly?

Question

What do you think about Support for learning assistants? Do you think they do a valued job? Do you feel comfortable with the SLA being in your classroom?
Do feel you don't have to interact with the supported pupil because the SLA is with the pupil.

Answer 1

As long as they (sla) know that the teacher is the head of the class, and do not undermine what the teacher wants, consider them a blessing. Any good help is appreciated.

Answer 2

Well, you just can't generalise. Some are excellent - have very good subject knowledge and communicate really well with youngsters (I teach in an 11-19 school), and make your job easier because you know you can rely on them.
However some of them are terrible - no common sense, zero intellect and interact with the kids as though they are still in the playground - and that kind of SLA is a liability.
The biggest problem is that too many people think they know what's right for a school...without having any experience, qualifications or evidence backing up what they say...and these idiots often get jobs like SLAs.

Answer 3

The quality of an SLA is really dependent on thge individual teacher and the school adminstration. Any job will have slackers and people who are constantly trying to get over on the system. If you are the teacher in the classroom, then don't let it slide. Call them on the carpet about it. If they can't do what needs to be done to help kids (i.e. their job) then take them to task about it. Building adminstrators should have an evaluation tool at their disposal that allows them to make judgements about the effectiveness of SLAs.

An SLA is a valuable tool. Especially in a crowded classroom. However if they are not doing they're job then they are just as detrimental, if not more, than a disruptive student.

Answer 4

I worked with with SLA's for 3 years. 2 were fantastic, 1 was extremely hard work. For the 2 who were great I made sure that they actively took part in the planning for the class as a whole and so we were able to adapt several activities and lessons for the whole class to take part, including the child with special needs. This meant that the child was not singled out, but just had the additional help.

The other SLA was a different matter. She was more of a hinderance to the class and the child. Despite lots of training and additional support she was still unable to support the child adequately and I found her to be very disruptive and so not comfortable at all.

In all 3 experiences though I spent as much time with the the child as I did with the other children. Listening to them read, working on sentence structure etc.

Answer 5

It really depends on the SLA in question!
Sometimes it works very well because the sla and the teacher work in the same direction. They know what to expect from each other.
Othertimes it is destructive for the dynamics of the class.
In my experience, it worked most of the time and i think we need more of them if we continue towards complete integration of all pupils.

Answer 6

An assitant with initiative and common sense, who is willing to try to help the child, even if they are not confident themselves in the subject is great. It is brilliant if they take the time to find out what the lessons will be about and engage in a bit of joint planning, so that both teacher and assitant are clear about roles etc.

Lazy assistants that just turn up (often after the kids) and talk to the pupils when the teacher is trying to settle the class, undermine your subject by saying they don't get it are a complete waste of time. To me this type of assistant is worse than having a naughty pupil in the class, because it is be unprofessional to tell them off in front of the class, however tempting it might be!

Answer 7

I am a Classroom Assistant in a reception class. I think that we do a very worthwhile job indeed. When a child wets or messes themself, no teacher will sort it out it is left to the assistant. When they miss the toilet, as lots do at that age, again it is the assistant who has to deal with it. I help set up at the beginning of the session and tidy away at the end. I bring the teacher coffee and cover so she can go to the toilet. I do my fair share of playground duty, work at least half an hour unpaid overtime each day, take the register, lead the morning session for the first 15 minutes, take focus groups of children to work with throughout the day, lead the ICT lessons, get involved in planning, make numerous observations throughout the day, run and fetch, copy, laminate, tend to children when they miss mummy, get paid approximately £20K LESS than a teacher AND my grammar is a lot better than some who have answered this question!
Get in the way do we? I would like to see some teachers try without them!

Answer 8

Learning support assistants, in my opinion as a teacher, do a very valuable job. They are often very experienced in their field .
Sometimes 'she' would work with the child with needs and I the rest of the class and other times, I would work with the child once I had set the class to work and 'she' would field the class.
We always talked at the end of each session about the child with needs and how they had coped with the task. I have always felt 100% comfortable with a learning assistant in my class though for others, this is not always the case, I know. Having a sound knowledge of what you are teaching leaves you feeling confident to 'perform' in front of anyone.

Answer 9

i am a student and i find it really useful having a SLA in da room. u can get more done and there is 2 people in the room so you can get seen to quicker. bring on the SLA's!!

Answer 10

i believe SLA do a tremendous job in general, however that all depends on how good the individual is, for example are they able to work on their own initiative or do they require you to aid then daily.