Christmas office closure: We’re closing for the Christmas break from 5pm on Monday 23 December 2024 until 8:30am on Thursday 2 January 2025. Learn more.
Teaching Assistant Forum
Every two months we hold a TA Forum that allows us to listen to the sector and allows you to share aspects of your practice to help us develop ways to support you through a range of CPD activities.
This forum is an opportunity to share good practice as well as a way of supporting one another.
If you are interested in joining our forum please contact [email protected] or [email protected]
February 2025
Career opportunities
Join us at our next TA forum event on 6 February 2025, 5-6pm. Have you ever wondered what career opportunities might be available to you? Well, we may be able to help. We'll be joined by guest speakers who will offer information regarding career opportunities.
Past forums
September 2024
Technology in education
Our September 2024 TA forum event focused on technology in education. Yasmin Halverson, lecturer at Suffolk New College, discussed results from Dr Emma Harvey’s PhD thesis on the increase of technology within the early years sector.
Yasmin explained how the data revealed that: "64% said no, that there was no sort of training embedded within their qualification", continuing: "there appears to be a lack of opportunity to increase tech skills through CPD."
Practitioners need to develop ways on how: "technologies can be woven
into the classroom to benefit all areas of learning and development as a tool for multimodal learning."
TA Forum event - Technology in education
June 2024
Supporting children's literacy
Our June 24 TA event on supporting children's literacy skills.
"When you model literacy, it's all about showing that love for literacy, the love of reading. Rhythm for reading was a really cool one that I researched and it's all about improving reading ability by asking the children to and read, but to a rhythm."
Amy Clifton, Tutor assessor at Alpha training, Literacy expert.
TA Forum event - Supporting children's literacy
January 2024
Teaching early brain development
We recently hosted another free, insightful CPD TA event on 25 January 2024 on the topic of early brain development.
We were pleased to be joined by Ella Lloyd Newman, the research lead on the SEEN (Secondary Education around Early Neurodevelopment) programme which focuses on teaching early brain development. Ella has worked on the SEEN project in its pilot phase at the University of Oxford and is now implementing the roll out of the SEEN curriculum to schools nationwide. She has a background in neuroscience and experimental psychology with a focus on neurodevelopment, memory, and mental health, and has also worked in both academic and clinical research at the University of Oxford, University of Bristol and in the NHS. Within the NHS, Ella has worked clinically in maternity services, where she engaged with families about the importance of brain development in the early years.
We were also joined by Miranda Baxter, Deputy Director of Families as part of Campaign for Learning here at NCFE. Miranda shared details around parents as partners in supporting children’s development, as well as sharing some exciting resources that Family for Learning provide.
If you have any other questions regarding this event, please contact:
Janet King, Sector Manager Education and Early Years [email protected]
Angie Rogers, Subject Chair Education and Early Years [email protected]
TA Forum event - Teaching early brain development
October 2023
Watch the October 2023 forum with guest speaker Katy Mitchell from the Ewing Foundation. The focus for this event was inclusion in a teaching and learning environment.
TA Forum October 2023 – Inclusivity in a teaching and learning environment
July 2023
Watch the July 2023 forum with guest speaker Trevor Cotterill, Senior Lecturer in Education and SEND, and Programme Leader for BA (Hons) Special Educational Needs and Disabilities at the University of Derby.
TA Forum July 2023 – Supporting SEND children in education
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