 Free Training for Learning Support Assistants
Over 80 primary schools in Devon have taken advantage of working with the University of Exeter Medical School on the STARS Programme - which has examined whether attending the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management course can increase teachers’ skills in classroom management, and improve child behaviour and learning.
Following feedback from teachers on the programme, the STARS team are working up their next project, due to start this October, which will explore what the same intervention has to offer for learning support assistants working with children who have SEND. Unlike the original STARS programme, there will be no restriction on class sizes or mixed year groups, which will enable smaller schools to also be considered for this pilot.
The team at STARS are looking for schools willing to take part in a small initial study which would involve;
- Releasing at least one LSA who has some one-to-one time with a child who has behavioural SEND, ideally with the class teacher of that child as well, to attend Incredible Years (IY) TCM (Teacher Classroom Management) training.
- TCM training will involve 6 full days training spread across 6 months from October 2015 to April 2016
- Allowing them to approach the parents of the child/ren with SEND to obtain consent from them for social, emotional and attainment data to be collected about their child on two occasions, including asking the child 7 brief questions about how they feel about school and questionnaire to the parents
- Both the LSA and teacher attending TCM to complete brief measures about their own wellbeing and on the child before and after the course and to attend a focus group after the course to gain their feedback of the training
Funding available;
- The TCM training is provided free of charge to schools
- They fund three half days of supply cover for both the LSA and the teacher for the periods they are completing questionnaires about themselves and the children. They hope to fund most of the supply cover for teachers to attend the course, but this is not secured yet.
If this is something you think your school would be interested in please contact Tamsin Ford, Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Exeter Medical School, to discuss further.
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