How Teaching Assistants Can Develop Their Own Practice?
Developing one’s own practice in any career is essential for successfull professional development and job satisfaction.
Every practitioner needs “ Self Evaluation” to help improve their own practice and develop their ability to reflect upon activities and modify plans to meet the individual needs of the children they work with (Teena Kamen) Teaching Assistant’s (TA’s) should set their own SMART targets(See B1) by developing their knowledge to update the existing skills and acquiring new skills to support the school and activities. TA’s can prepare their own personal development plan based on their prior knowledge, qualification and experience gained. They will make “Effective use of people, resources and other developmental opportunities” available to them to achieve their personal development objectives (Skills4schools).They can monitor their progress on a regular basis to fit the job requirement of the specific role and the particular needs of the children they support.
There will be constraints in achieving their own practice like time constraints, resources and different priorities for different agencies. For e.g. the school environment could be so busy due to requirements from external agencies like ofsted. In those circumstances, achieving one’s own practice may appear impossible. There may be occasions when TA’s skills are needed in an area which may not be of primary interest to the TA’s however these instances should not be seen as constraints but rather as opportunities to develop new skills in new areas.
Effective reflection requires you to be open-minded and to examine, question and assess your own practice, so as to develop your skills and knowledge. To develop your skills as a reflective professional, you should:
• listen openly to the ideas of others
• reflect on your own work and on the work of those around you
• consider and implement ways to develop your
Every practitioner needs “ Self Evaluation” to help improve their own practice and develop their ability to reflect upon activities and modify plans to meet the individual needs of the children they work with (Teena Kamen) Teaching Assistant’s (TA’s) should set their own SMART targets(See B1) by developing their knowledge to update the existing skills and acquiring new skills to support the school and activities. TA’s can prepare their own personal development plan based on their prior knowledge, qualification and experience gained. They will make “Effective use of people, resources and other developmental opportunities” available to them to achieve their personal development objectives (Skills4schools).They can monitor their progress on a regular basis to fit the job requirement of the specific role and the particular needs of the children they support.
There will be constraints in achieving their own practice like time constraints, resources and different priorities for different agencies. For e.g. the school environment could be so busy due to requirements from external agencies like ofsted. In those circumstances, achieving one’s own practice may appear impossible. There may be occasions when TA’s skills are needed in an area which may not be of primary interest to the TA’s however these instances should not be seen as constraints but rather as opportunities to develop new skills in new areas.
Effective reflection requires you to be open-minded and to examine, question and assess your own practice, so as to develop your skills and knowledge. To develop your skills as a reflective professional, you should:
• listen openly to the ideas of others
• reflect on your own work and on the work of those around you
• consider and implement ways to develop your