Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the role of teaching assistants in supporting children with special needs; and if he will make a statement.

The Department has not made a formal assessment of the role of Teaching Assistants in supporting children with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) to date.

The Department has funded the development of a number of good practice guidance documents through its SEND schools’ workforce contracts, including a guide on the Effective Deployment of Teaching Assistants, available at: https://www.sendgateway.org.uk/whole-school-send/find-wss-resources.html.

The Department’s Rapid Evidence Assessment (2017) (available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/628630/DfE_SEN_Support_REA_Report.pdf) on effective practice for supporting children and young people on SEND support in mainstream schools and colleges also includes an overview of available evidence on a range of specific interventions delivered by teaching assistants.

The Education Endowment Foundation’s guidance report; “Making best use of Teaching Assistants” (available at: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/tools/guidance-reports/making-best-use-of-teaching-assistants) offers the latest evidence and makes a number of recommendations to help schools make best use of their teaching assistants.