Portfolio of Professional Development

for Support Staff in Schools

1

Produced by officers in Barnet, CEA@Islington ,Enfield, Haringey and EduAction (LBWF) 2007

Developing a

Professional Development Portfolio

for Support Staff

‘Schools are changing – and the pace of that change is fast. More people are working in our schools than ever before, including almost half a million support staff. Schools are becoming more complex organisations and the work of support staff is becoming more varied and demanding.…... Our aim is that all support staff have access to high quality training and development that meets their needs and allows them to contribute fully to raising standards in schools and ensuring children’s well being.’ (‘Building the school team’ TTA* 2005)

‘To provide the best possible outcomes for children, schools must create conditions that enable all staff to realise their potential: a culture where all staff are valued and enjoy high morale and job satisfaction. Support staff who are well trained and developed, fairly rewarded, and clear about their distinctive contribution, can be instrumental in the work of raising standards and enriching the lives of children.’ (‘Developing people to support learning’ TTA* 2006)

*Now known as the Training & Development Agency for Schools (TDA)

A Professional Development Portfolio is a confidential and voluntary collection of material that reflects your own work and experiences. It should demonstrate and reflect the skills you have learnt and identify your future development needs and priorities.

You may choose to share your portfolio with your line manager or ‘Appraiser’ as part of the Performance Management/Appraisal. In addition, you may wish to use your portfolio to support an application for a new post. In such cases, it would be beneficial to have some form of validation[1] of your activities. You will need to decide who would be most appropriate for this role e.g. a supervisor, senior playleader, a teacher or another member of support staff that you work with or your line manager.

This portfolio has been compiled by Local Authority staff in Barnet, Enfield, Haringey, Islington and WalthamForest. It includes specimen proforma that you may like to use. It is not necessary to complete all the pages – they cover a variety of different job roles and you can select and adapt them to suit your particular needs/role. A list of possible contents can be found on pages 4, 5 & 6.

For further information about CPD opportunities, please contact:

Angela Jackman

Workforce Development Officer

Haringey Professional Development Centre

Downhills Park Road

London N17 6AR

Email:

Tel: 020 8489 4683 Fax: 020 8489 5099

Your portfolio might contain some or all of the following:

Section 1

Personal Details

  • Name
  • Contact details (home and/or school)
  • Experience, qualifications etc
  • Curriculum Vitae

The following proforma might be useful for this section:

  • Title Page
  • Personal Details

Section 2

Current Role

2.1 Job Description

  • Copy of your current job description

2.2 Support for Teaching and Learning Activities e.g.

  • Evidence of planning and preparation, IEPs etc
  • Pupil profiles
  • Pupil observations
  • Assessment, monitoring and evaluation
  • Evidence showing pupil progress e.g. samples of work, data prepared
  • Preparing materials and resources
  • National strategy work e.g. ELS, Springboard programmes etc

2.3 Work with the Children and Young People’s workforce e.g.

  • Evidence of participation in multi-agency meetings
  • Evidence of work with other professionals such as speech and language therapists, Education Welfare Officers, school nurses etc
  • Links with other services

2.4 Mentoring e.g.

  • Mentoring student or volunteer support staff
  • Mentoring work placement pupils
  • Involvement in delivering in-house induction programmes
  • Mentoring colleagues

2.5 Extra Curricular Activities e.g.

  • Involvement in residential trips
  • Educational visits
  • Breakfast and after school clubs
  • Relevant voluntary work
  • Union activities
  • Representative on the Governing Body

2.6 Links with parents/carers e.g.

  • Involvement at parents’ evenings
  • Involvement in home/school association
  • Family learning programmes

2.7 Job specific roles not mentioned above e.g.

  • Evidence of tasks completed e.g. samples of work, records of Health and Safety checks made etc

The following proforma might be useful for this section:

  • Current role
  • Routines, Roles and Responsibilities

Section 3

Training Needs Analysis

If you have carried out a training needs analysis, this could be included in your portfolio e.g.

  • NAPTA professional profiling tool
  • Local Training Needs Analysis disc
  • Matching your skills and experience to the national standards for support staff – see website details on page 7 for further details.

Section 4

Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

Your local authority has produced a CPD map for some groups of support staff which lists possible options under the following headings:

4.1 Options for the individual e.g.

  • Maintaining a professional reading record
  • Being observed and receiving feedback

4.2 Opportunities provided by the school e.g.

  • School induction programme
  • Shadowing colleagues
  • Opportunities to support/mentor other colleagues
  • In-service training sessions
  • Opportunities to visit other schools
  • Opportunities to network with colleagues in similar roles in other schools

4.3 Opportunities provided through the local authorities central provision e.g.

  • National Induction programmes devised by the TDA (Training and Development Agency for Schools) for Support Staff (non-class based) or Teaching Assistants
  • Courses on a wide range of subjects such as Health & Safety, Child Protection, Special Educational Needs, National Strategies etc

4.4 Opportunities provided or brokered by the local authority and/or individual schools e.g.

  • Accredited courses such as the Support Work in Schools Vocational Qualification, NVQs, Vocational Certificates, Foundation Degrees etc
  • The Higher Level Teaching Assistant programme

4.5 Opportunities through national programmes e.g.

  • Adult literacy and numeracy programmes through LearnDirect
  • Open University courses

The following proforma might be useful for this section:

  • Reflecting on CPD (2 pages)
  • Professional Development Undertaken
  • Learning from experience

Section 5

Professional Review

You may wish to include a copy of your current Performance Management/Appraisal documentation here (while recognising confidentiality issues). Collecting some of the following information may support this process.

  • Identifying areas of strength
  • Identifying areas you feel you need to revisit and refresh
  • Identifying areas you feel you need to develop
  • Further training or qualification opportunities
  • Evidence of taking on board new roles or responsibilities
  • Research carried out

The following proforma might be useful for this section:

  • Strengths and weaknesses
  • Aspirations
  • Personal and professional development plan
  • Long-term vision
  • Personal qualities (2 pages)
  • Self-audit of a teaching assistant’s classroom contribution (3 pages)
  • Self-evaluation action plan arising from a self-audit
  • Self-recognition chart
  • Skills audit (3 pages)

Section 6

Documentary Evidence

  • Certificates
  • Letters of recommendation
  • Witness Statements
  • Ofsted reports identifying contributions made by support staff
  • Headteacher report to Governing Body

Useful websites

Training and Development Agency for Schools:

The National Occupational Standards for Teaching Assistants (2001) can be found at: Please note that both the NOS and the HLTA standards are being revised – final versions will be available through the TDA website once they have been agreed at:

UNISON and TDA website to promote school staff skills:

Information on the National Adult Literacy and Numeracy Tests can be found at:

You can also try out a sample test on-line at:

Teacher’s TV includes some useful video clips relevant to a range of support staff roles::

Suggested resources/further reading

TDA ‘Support staff file’ accompanying the Induction Programme detailed on page 5 (available from TDA Publications: t 0845 6060 323 e )

TDA ‘Primary teaching assistant file’ accompanying the Induction Programme detailed on page 5 (available from TDA Publications: t 0845 6060 323 e )

TDA ‘Secondary teaching assistant file’ accompanying the Induction Programme detailed on page 5 (available from TDA Publications: t 0845 6060 323 e )

S Rose ‘A Handbook for Lunchtime supervisors and their Managers’ (David Fulton)

G Fox ‘A Handbook for Learning Support Assistants’ (David Fulton)

A Watkinson ‘The Essential Guide for Competent Teaching Assistants: Meeting the National Occupational Standards’ available for Levels 2 & 3 (David Fulton)

L Burnham ‘The Teaching Assistant’s Handbook ‘ available for primary at Levels 2 & 3 plus a secondary version at Level 3 (Heinemann)

L Hryniewicz ‘Support Staff: the complete handbook’ (Adamson Publishing)

Behaviour

G Fox 'Supporting Children with Behavioural Difficulties' (David Fulton)

Inclusion/SEN

Wave 3 folder for primary 'Including all children in the literacy hour and daily mathematics lesson' (DCSF reference number 0465/2002*)

M Alcott 'Introduction to Children with Special Educational Needs' (Hodder & Stoughton)

J Lovey 'Supporting Special Educational Needs in Secondary School Classrooms' (David Fulton)

Literacy/Numeracy

K Grant 'Supporting Literacy' (Routledge Falmer)

M Lewis & D Wray 'Writing frames: scaffolding children's non-fiction writing in a range of genres' (ISBN 0-704-91064-0)

M Whitehead 'Supporting Language & Literacy Development Early Years' (OUP)

G Fox & M Halliwell 'Supporting Literacy and Numeracy: A guide for Learning Support Assistants' (David Fulton)

R Headington 'Supporting Numeracy' (David Fulton)

R Aplin 'Assisting Numeracy: A handbook for classroom assistants' (BEAM)

'Mathematical Vocabulary' ISBN 08 55229 551 (a Numeracy Strategy booklet available from the DCSF*)

* The Department for Children, Schools and Families (formerly the DfES) publications telephone number is: 0845 602226

Title Page

Name:
Job title:
School
Address:
Date portfolio started:
Updates of your portfolio:

Personal details

Name
Address
Telephone numbers / Home:
Mobile:
Email address(es)
Date of birth
National Insurance number

Education

School(s)

Dates / Name of school / Qualifications / Grades

Further/Higher education

Dates / Name of institution / Qualifications / Grades

Other awards/certificates

Dates / Name of institution/
awarding body / Qualifications / Grades

Produced by officers in Barnet, CEA@Islington ,Enfield, Haringey and EduAction (LBWF) 2007

Employment and experience

Dates / Employer/organisation / Job title / Tasks undertaken / Skills used
From:
To:
From:
To:
From:
To:
From:
To:
From:
To:
From:
To:

Produced by officers in Barnet, CEA@Islington ,Enfield, Haringey and EduAction (LBWF) 2007

Current role

You may want to refer to your job description

Job title
Date started
Main tasks
Skills used

Produced by officers in Barnet, CEA@Islington ,Enfield, Haringey and EduAction (LBWF) 2007

Routines, Roles and Responsibilities

Tick
Task / I perform this routinely / This aspect is causing me concern

Produced by officers in Barnet, CEA@Islington ,Enfield, Haringey and EduAction (LBWF) 2007

Reflecting on CPD (Page 1)

After a professional development activity, consider the following questions. Make notes in the boxes provided.

Date:......

What was the activity?

Why did you undertake the activity?

What have you learnt from it?

What will be the benefit to you, the school, and the children?

Reflecting on CPD (Page 2)

What aspects of the activity were relevant to your work?

What will you now do differently in your role?

How will you know that you are being more effective?

Produced by officers in Barnet, CEA@Islington ,Enfield, Haringey and EduAction (LBWF) 2007

Professional Development Undertaken

Course title & overview / Date / Duration of course / Led by:

Learning from experience

Date / What happened? / How did you respond? / What issues did the incident raise? / How has it changed the way you work?

Produced by officers in Barnet, CEA@Islington ,Enfield, Haringey and EduAction (LBWF) 2007

Strengths and weaknesses

Summarise the points which are demonstrated in your CPD portfolio in the following key areas:

My major strengths are:

I can contribute to the effectiveness of the school in the following ways:

My major weaknesses are:

To change these weaknesses into strengths, I need help in the following ways in terms of staff development:

Produced by officers in Barnet, CEA@Islington ,Enfield, Haringey and EduAction (LBWF) 2007

Aspirations

What do you enjoy about your job?
What do you dislike about your job?
What are you good at?
What do you find challenging?
Do you have any skills from previous employment(s) or other outside interests that you would like to use more?
How would you like your career to progress in the next five years?

Produced by officers in Barnet, CEA@Islington ,Enfield, Haringey and EduAction (LBWF) 2007

Personal and professional development plan

Target / Planned action to achieve this target / Timescale / People who can
support me / How will you know you have achieved this target

Produced by officers in Barnet, CEA@Islington ,Enfield, Haringey and EduAction (LBWF) 2007

Long-term vision

How do you imagine your life in five years’ time? Complete the following boxes:

Personal aims

What changes do you envisage in your family life? Do you want to be living in the same house/town/area? Is there anything that you have always wanted to do?

Professional aims

Do you envisage being in the same job in five years’ time? If so, what aspects of your job would you like to be different? If not, what job do you want to be doing?

Produced by officers in Barnet, CEA@Islington ,Enfield, Haringey and EduAction (LBWF) 2007

Personal qualities (page 1)

Last updated on (date):......

Consider times when you have done the following things particularly well and write a short description of each one.

Working in a team

Time management

Creative thinking

Personal qualities (page 2)

Taking responsibility

Other qualities

Record any other qualities you consider of importance in the box below:

Produced by officers in Barnet, CEA@Islington ,Enfield, Haringey and EduAction (LBWF) 2007

Self-audit of a teaching assistant’s classroom contribution (Page 1)

Tick the appropriate boxes:

Behaviour and attitudes

/ Always / Sometimes / Never
  • I help set high standards of behaviour in the classroom.

  • The quality of relationships in terms of politeness and friendships that I expect from pupils I work with is high.

  • I have effective strategies for helping the teacher achieve good behaviour and relationships.

  • The pupils I work with respect each other.

  • The pupils I work with respect their own and each other’s property.

  • I encourage pupils to be responsible.

Teaching in the classroom

/ Always / Sometimes / Never
  • I help the teacher with lesson planning.

  • I help mark homework positively so that it has a positive effect on pupils’ learning.

  • I try to use ‘teaching’ styles that match how individual pupils learn.

  • The work that my pupils do is matched to their ability.

  • I attend courses to improve my work.

  • The classroom resources that I provide for pupils are appropriate.

Self-audit of a teaching assistant’s classroom contribution (Page 2)

Assessment recording and monitoring

/ Always / Sometimes / Never
  • I help the teacher monitor pupils’ progress.

  • I help keep and organise samples of pupils’ work.

  • I understand and use appropriate assessment guidelines.

  • I help keep records of individual pupil performance.

  • I help write accurate and helpful reports for parents/carers.

  • I am able to discuss pupils with parents/carers in a sensitive and professional way.

Planning the curriculum

/ Always / Sometimes / Never
  • I help plan the curriculum in the medium and short term.

  • I help plan to meet the needs of the pupils I work with.

  • I help with extra-curricular activities.

  • I am able to plan short-term objectives for the pupils I work with.

Equal opportunities

/ Always / Sometimes / Never
  • I make provision for equality of opportunity.

  • The resources that we use in the classroom reflect the gender and ethnicity of the pupils.

  • The outcomes that are expected in the classroom do not disadvantage any group of pupils

Self-audit of a teaching assistant’s classroom contribution (Page 3)

Special educational needs

/ Always / Sometimes / Never
  • I work effectively with SEN pupils in the classroom.

  • I am able to understand instructions from external support agencies.

  • I take part in appropriate SEN meetings with parents/carers.

  • I help integrate pupils with SEN into everything that happens in the classroom.

Teaching and school management

/ Always / Sometimes / Never
  • I know what my performance management targets are and how I am going to meet them.

  • I know what is in my job description.

  • I know what my commitments are in terms of which teachers, which pupils and which classes I work with.

Produced by officers in Barnet, CEA@Islington ,Enfield, Haringey and EduAction (LBWF) 2007

Self-evaluation action planarising from a self-audit

What can the school do to help?

What can I do to help myself?

Produced by officers in Barnet, CEA@Islington ,Enfield, Haringey and EduAction (LBWF) 2007

Self-recognition chart

Read each of the words below and mark where you think you are between each extreme with the letter ‘R’. This is how you really feel when you are working. Now read each one again and this time mark yourself on the scale with the letter ‘I’. This is how you would ideally like to be and how you would like your colleagues to see you.

Attractive / Unattractive
Active / Passive
Quiet / Loud
Fair / Unfair
Kind / Unkind
Happy / Sad
Intelligent / Unintelligent
Introverted / Extroverted
Humble / Boastful
Relaxed / Nervous
Strong / Weak
Trusting / Sceptical
Independent / Conforming
Powerful / Weak
Sensitive / Insensitive
Polite / Impolite
Hard working / Lazy
Generous / Mean
Gregarious / Solitary
Tolerant / Intolerant
Friendly / Unfriendly
Interesting / Boring

Produced by officers in Barnet, CEA@Islington ,Enfield, Haringey and EduAction (LBWF) 2007