THE
4Cs of High Impact Teaching Assistants & EARLY YEARS PRACTITIONERS
The 4Cs of High Impact Teaching Assistants & Early Years Practitioners
Spotlight on Best Practice In our experience working with schools and early years settings since 2006, it’s clear that there is no magic recipe of what makes a fantastic practitioner. Of course, loving your job and putting the children at the centre of everything you do will always give you a really good chance of being awesome. However, there are four key areas we have found that to form the basis of the great practice we’ve observed.
Where all of these areas are embedded throughout the practice of every professional and throughout the setting as a whole; this is where the magic really happens! This is an overview of our 4Cs that we embed in all our qualifications, INSET and resources. If you’re not working with children yet, but considering starting a new career, this is still for you… you’ll be really well prepared for when you do!
These four key areas are our 4Cs Commitment, Communication, Consistency and Collaboration.
Follow Us On Social Media
The 4 Cs
Communication Communication with the class teacher and other professionals will ensure your classroom runs like clockwork. Teams who spend time together are happier and more successful in achieving positive outcomes with the children.
Great communication means setting time aside to talk about what will be happening during the day, discussing possible issues that may arise and deciding upon key responsibilities with activities.
Essentially great teacher and TA teams work well when they share responsibility for the teaching and learning. They share the highs and lows together, talk openly together about what’s working and what’s not. This level of reflective communication is crucial to genuine teamwork.
Collaboration Once we have effective communication, we can collaborate together to share ideas that enhance the classroom learning experience for the children. Collaborating in planning meetings, reflecting together after learning activities can help us gain insight into the real successes and challenges that are happening in the classroom.
Collaboration means the high levels of communication enable professionals to build confidence, worry less about making mistakes and learn together.
Schools and early years settings where teachers, TAs and Early Years practitioners collaborate effectively, there is a sense of equality as professionals, there is no fear in sharing an idea, or discussing a challenge, or making a mistake.
Consistency Ultimately, great communication and collaboration lead to wonderful consistency. When adults are consistent, children know what to expect, they know the boundaries and that every adult will talk to them with the same respect and positivity as well as the same expectations.
The children then see the teacher and TA as team, some fabulous schools we work we’ve heard TAs being referred to as another teacher in the classroom. It’s often difficult to tell who is who when we walk in the classroom because both are using the same language and teaching strategies and quality of support with the groups they are working with.
Real collaboration enables the impact of teaching and learning to become a ripple effect of positive outcomes!
Commitment Commitment is vital in helping us become the best practitioner we can be and it’s what separates average practitioners from the truly exceptional. Without being truly committed to making a genuine positive difference to the children we work with every day; we might even be in the wrong job!
It’s also really important to have the commitment to creating a positive working environment for other adults in our setting, a commitment to professional approachability and going about our work with cheerfulness that encourages teamwork.
Reflection Reflection is a fantastic way to ensure you keep growing as a professional, always looking for ways to improve and be the most inspirational practitioner you can be for the children you work with.
Follow Us On Social Media
The TA College Unit 36 Staffordshire Business Village Dyson Way Staffordshire Business Park Stafford ST18 0TW