Identify and obtain the information required to support learningactivities

You will need certain information to be able to support learning activities adequately,

and in a way that enables learning, rather than hindering it.

Relevant school curriculum and expectations of pupils related to their age

Knowing what the curriculum is supposed to achieve, what each learning activity

aims to teach children, how it is all related to other parts of the curriculum, and what

to expect from the different age groups is all good base information for your learning

support.

For example, if you know that children need to learn how to do a specific task (like

understand their simple multiplication tables) prior to being able to carry out a

different task at a later stage (for example, to be able to do long multiplication), you

can see the relevance of their completing the initial task correctly and confidently.

The different key stages are applied to children of different ages and abilities, and

this is linked to the expectations teaching and support staff have of the children

under their care. For example, you wouldn't expect a child of 3 years to be able to

write in complete sentences, but you probably would of a child of 7 or 8 years. Some

children will have different levels of attainment, due to individual factors about their

lives such as learning difficulties and experiences, and knowing them individually

means that you are able to further adjust your expectations of them.

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Information needed to effectively support learning activities.

Teaching and learning objectives

Knowing what the teacher and curriculum are aiming to teach the children plays a

big role in the success of learning support. The teaching plan should state the

learning objectives in a very clear way, and if you are unsure at all of the point of an

activity, please ask the teacher to clarify.

When teaching and learning objectives are clear, evaluating the successes of the

pupils becomes much easier, because they are more likely to be in line with what is

expected of them. Where these things are unclear, it is possible that there will be

some disparity across the class in terms of relevant responses to the activity. For

example, in art, if the idea was that children learn to look more closely at dead leaves

and examine the way their skeletons create the structure of the leaf, it is not so

successful if some children misunderstand and produce a picture of a green healthy

leaf.

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What learning resources may be needed

Specific lessons will sometimes need specific resources, and the planning stage is a

great time to get creative in terms of the resource materials that can be used to

demonstrate and illustrate aspects of the lesson. Sometimes those resources will

need to be collected or ordered prior to the lesson - another good reason to always

plan properly ahead of the class - and sometimes they may be already well-used and

available in the classroom.

For example, if the class is going to produce dead leaf prints, the children may be

expected to go out and collect suitable leaves from the playground as part of the

lesson; or, it may be better time spent using a set of leaves that you have collected,

so that you can spend more time examining the different leaves with the children,

and helping them notice the differences between them. Planning is everything when

it comes to successful teaching and learning support.

Understand your own role in supporting learning activities

Understanding your own role, why you are there, and what is needed and expected

of you, is information you will need throughout your job. You shouldn't ever find that

you are doing the work for children, even if they are less able than others. However,

showing them how to do something, or otherwise guiding them down a path of

learning is perfectly valid, and this can mean drawing outlines, suggesting project

titles and headings, or asking them questions that lead them towards figuring out the

information for themselves.

Where you have specialist information about a particular topic, for example, if your

class is learning about an historical event that you happened to study when you were

at college, or a particular type of craft that you do as a hobby, your role may be more

valuable to the teacher (and therefore to the children) if you input more information

about clever ways to do particular tasks or activities, or little anecdotes that better

illustrate the historical period being discussed.

One thing to note is that if you plan to use equipment you are not entirely familiar

with, it is a good idea to practice with it beforehand. Those who went to school in the

1990s may remember how annoying it was to have a teacher who couldn't operate

the VCR, and there are far more complicated pieces of equipment used in schools

now.

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All these types of things should be included in the planning, so you can see that the

planning stage is potentially quite a creative time for you and the teacher you

support.

Children with additional needs

Some of the children you support may have a range of additional needs, and this is

all information that adds into the way in which you assist them. If you are aware of

their needs, you should be able to request resources and materials that may help

them learn, before the lesson. There may be particular tools that are adapted to

make it easier for pupils with specific needs that you can access. An example of this

may be a particular type of pen that means a child with dyspraxia who may struggle

with the fine motor movements needed to form letters.

It can be as simple as some children do not learn and understand things so easily

through their ears (aural learning). Printing out simple instructions on to sheets of

paper so that they can read them may help them, if they are better at reading than

they are at listening comprehension.

Again, the teacher should be aware of any children with additional needs, and further

information should be available in pupil files, all of which should be accessible at the

planning stage.

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