Planning, Preparation and Delivery of work

My first impression was that planning was solely the role of the teacher, but delving deeper, I realised that the TA too, contributes to planning. My reason for thinking this is because in my experience I have not been involved much in the planning. Usually the teacher tells me what topic we will be discussing, on the day, in small group time, where I will be responsible for delivering this to a group of about 10 pupils. I was not shown the plans, until recently, having started the course, I asked if I may see them.

The teacher will be responsible for long term planning and short term planning. She may or may not choose to do these with the TA. The may not be time for the teacher and the TA to sit down together to plan. The TA may be responsible for simplifying a lesson for less abled pupils or extension work for the more abled. The TA may also be working with a pupil with special needs and will be required to adapt lesson to suit the specific pupil.

I was asked to plan an activity to assess the level of number skills the pupils were at. I had time to plan and prepare, and make it an exciting activity for the pupils, so it went very well. The pupils were eager to participate, and this was a result of the planning and preparation that had gone in before.

PREPARATION
In my opinion, preparation is the role of both the teacher and TA. The Teacher is required to prepare delivery of lessons to the class as a whole. She needs to be aware of VAK learning preferences, and prepare to deliver lessons appropriately. The teacher may ask the TA to work one to one with pupils who have specific VAK learning preferences. It could be that there are pupils with special needs and the TA may be responsible for preparing lessons to suit those pupils individually. The teacher may ask the TA to have resources and spaces ready for teaching, and so the TA will be doing the preparation before the learning. So even if the teacher has done the planning, the TA will be playing a big role in the preparation.

For example: when we are going to have discussion time, the TA is responsible for getting the seating, projector, white screen, lighting etc. ready. So in a sense she is doing the preparing for the delivery of the learning. The teacher will be leading the discussion, and she will have done the planning, but the TA will be responsible for the preparation work beforehand.

DELIVERY
The teacher is there to deliver the learning but the TA is there to support the teacher. It could be that the TA is asked to deliver part of the lesson. The TA will be responsible for delivering to SEN pupils. The TA may be required to take over the delivery of a lesson should the teacher be called off on an emergency.

The teacher may ask the TA to deliver a specific topic, drawing on her strengths, knowing that the TA has more experience in that area.

In my opinion, both the teacher and the TA are responsible for the delivery of learning, which is a very important part of learning.

P Clarke