Celebrating National Teaching Assistants' Day!

When you think of a school, what are the first three things that come to your mind? Sadly, teaching assistants aren't often thought of in the same spotlight as teachers and other staff members, which can lead to the amazing work they perform being overshadowed or forgotten.

For one day, the nation will unite to celebrate National Teaching Assistants' Day and recognise the dedication these amazing people have towards creating positive and engaging learning environments.

What is National Teaching Assistants Day?

Held on the 27th September, National Teaching Assistants' Day is an event that recognises the invaluable contributions of teaching assistants (TA's) in schools, highlighting their essential role in supporting teachers and students alike.

Teaching assistants are often the unsung heroes within the school environment, taking on a wide variety of different responsibilities within the classroom. From cleaning and organising the classroom to educating and supporting the students, teaching assistants aim to provide essential support through the completion of these tasks.

Established in 2012, Teaching Personnel created the first National Teaching Assistants' Day after they noticed the absence of a dedicated day to honour the essential role of teaching assistants in education. This celebration is exclusive to the UK, but there are hopes that the day will become internationally recognised in the future.

The Aims of the Day

National Teaching Assistants' Day aims to acknowledge the fantastic work TA's carry out for a school, whilst encouraging other staff members to show appreciation and hold celebrations for their teaching assistants.

The celebration isn't just exclusive for schools either. National Teaching Assistants' Day provides an opportunity for local communities and stakeholders to express their gratitude towards TA's for their dedication and hard work in creating a positive learning environment.

Through this celebration, Teaching Personnel hopes that the role of teaching assistant will be more recognisable and appreciated across the UK. From this, they hope that more people may look into the role as a potential career and possibly boost the staff numbers of the education workforce.

5 Reasons to be Grateful for Your Teaching Assistant

National Teaching Assistants' Day should be a time for staff members to reflect over the past academic year and remember of all the amazing things they've accomplished, due to the wonderful work of their teaching assistants.

After speaking to a group of teachers and teaching assistants, we created a list which showcases the five main reasons as to why staff should be grateful for their teaching assistants. Of course, there's a lot more reasons as to why people should be grateful, but we didn't want the article to be too long!

They Provide Support for Individual Learning Needs

Students all have their own unique way of learning, with some students having diverse learning needs and a member of staff to address them. Teaching assistants are often the staff who solve these issues, offering personalised support that helps these children thrive academically.

Whilst teachers are focused on providing a lesson to the general class, teaching assistants are working quietly in the background to also make sure that children who may have learning disabilities are given adequate support during the lesson.

For example, if a child has an IEP, they will need to receive a certain amount of support from a teaching assistant every week. This often leads teaching assistants to educate themselves on a variety of special educational needs and how they can support SEN students.

They Enhance a Classroom Environment

Creating a positive learning environment can be a tiring task, requiring a lot of factors to be taken into consideration, including:

• Placement of classroom furniture
• Decorations
• Cleanliness
• Access to stationary
• Organisation of the classroom
• And more!

Teaching assistants are often in charge of helping create the perfect learning environment by focusing on these key factors. Tackling all of these tasks can be extremely draining, both physically and mentally, for the teaching assistant. Even though they know this, TA's continue their hard work as they want to create a brilliant learning environment for their children.

In addition, teaching assistants will often review the learning environment to make sure that the classroom remains fully inclusive and keeps children engaged. Due to this, teaching assistants will constantly make changes to the environment to keep the children happy, creating a cycle which seems to never end.

They Reduce a Teacher's Workload

Teachers will often have a lot of work on their to-do list, which can seriously effect the mental health of the teacher and impact their lessons. To lessen the blow, teaching assistants are often the first people to offer support and help for the teacher to lower the amount of work required for the teacher.

Ranging from collecting work from the printer to taking a small group of children outside the classroom for an intervention, teaching assistants carry out a wide variety of tasks to help the teacher and support them throughout the day.

The aim of this support is to help teachers focus more on teaching and less on other factors, like admin and classroom management. Understanding the importance of this, teaching assistants are always on hand to support teachers through their lesson planning process.

They Build Strong Relationships With Your Students

School isn't all about developing a strong academic ability, but it also presents an opportunity for children to understand their emotions and mental health. Teaching assistants often build strong personal connections with the children and learn more about the child and their life.

Through this, teaching assistants can discover vital information that can be passed on to safeguarding teams or other authorities that will keep the child safe from any potential problems. Children may feel nervous or scared to approach other members of staff, meaning the TA is the only adult who has the opportunity to collect this information.

On top of this, the personal connections developed between the TA and the student can help the child excel in a variety of other areas of life, including academically. Through this, children can experience a high level of personal development in a short time, all thanks to the helping relationship built with the teaching assistant.

They Help Outside the Classroom

It's important to note that a teaching assistant isn't just limited to a classroom, but they are often needed in other areas of the school.

Most teaching assistants can often be spotted on the playground during playtime, keeping an eye on the children and solving any disputes that arise. When the bell rings, the TA is often in charge of making sure all of the children exit the playground and return to their classroom quickly and effectively.

Assembly halls are another place where teaching assistants play a prominent role. They may help the teacher seat the children down and keep an eye on how the children are behaving. If the class has a child with additional needs, the teaching assistant will often sit with the child and provide additional support to keep the child happy and engaged.

How Can You Show Gratitude Towards Teaching Assistants at Your School?

Now that you understand more about why teaching assistants are so valuable to your school, you should start thinking about how you can celebrate the hard work your teaching assistants display during National Teaching Assistants' Day!

Below are a few ideas we've gathered from members of the Pentagon Play team and ex-teaching assistants of what schools could do to help shine the spotlight on their teaching assistants for one day.

Organise a Special Assembly or Event to Honour Your TA's

Why not dedicate a special assembly for your school's teaching assistants by gathering the children and highlighting the fantastic work TA's do. Try to mention the names of the TA's and talk about how valuable they are to the school workforce and students.

If you can't organise an assembly, why not incorporate the day into one of the lessons? During drama, you could task your children of acting like a TA and explore the role a teaching assistant plays. The opportunities are endless and your teaching assistants are sure to be appreciative towards the ideas.

Feature Stories or Testimonials About Classroom Assistants on Your School Newsletters or Social Media

Dedicate a social media post to thanking the amazing work your TA's have displayed through the previous academic year. Tag your teaching assistants and showcase them proudly to your followers and local community. Make sure to use the following hashtags on your post too, as it will help your post receive more views and engagement:

• #NationalTeachingAssistantsDay
• #NationalTADay (you could win a hamper courtesy of National Teaching Assistants' day!)
• #ThankATeachingAssistant
• #TeachingAssistantAppreciation
• #SupportEducation
• #EducationHeroes

Or, you could dedicate a newsletter highlighting the fantastic work your school's TA's have carried out throughout the year and provide them a platform to speak about their experiences. Syndicate the newsletter to relevant stakeholders and help more people understand the hard work that is carried out in the background.

Give Personalised Thank You Notes or Small Gifts to Teaching Assistants

A lovely and simple gesture, you could write small thank you notes for each classroom assistant at your school. Whether you make them personal or general, these small notes are sure to make TA's across your school happy and motivated with their work.

You could take it a step further by purchasing a nice little gift for your teaching assistants. From chocolate bars to flowers, a gift can solidify your appreciation towards a TA's hard work and make them feel more valued.

Nominate Your School's Teaching Assistant to Win a Fabulous Prize!

Pentagon Play are excited to announce that we will be holding a competition, where four teaching assistants in the UK can receive a £25 One4all Gift Card, entitling them to a wonderful meal at an amazing selection of restaurants across the nation.

Wondering how you can enter someone? All you have to do is tag the teaching assistant/s you believe deserve the gift card and what makes them a great TA in our Facebook competition post or Instagram competition post. All of the tagged TA's will then be added to a random generator and messaged by our official Pentagon Play Facebook or Instagram account if they have been selected!

Put the Spotlight on Your Teaching Assistants!

It's time to recognise the amazing work that our TA's do everyday by celebrating them during National Teaching Assistants' Day 2024!