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Making Best Use of Teaching Assistants
West and South Yorkshire Advocacy Tender
March 2015
BACKGROUND
The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) is an independent charity established in 2011,
dedicated to breaking the link between family background and educational achievement. To
date, the EEF’s activity has focused on building the evidence base on effective interventions
and approaches to improve attainment for children eligible for free school meals.
In March 2015, the EEF launched a £5 million campaign to improve the impact of Teaching
Assistants (TAs) in English schools. This marks a new phase of activity for the EEF, one that
is focused on communicating the key messages emerging from research and helping
schools act on the evidence.
The best available evidence on the use of TAs suggests that they have the potential to make
a substantial positive impact on learning, but that the potential is not being achieved in a
majority of English schools. As part of the campaign, the EEF will be:
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Publishing guidance setting out the best available evidence related to TAs;
Awarding grants to develop the most promising approaches to train and support
TAs; and
Working with partners (“advocate partners”) to share evidence and support
schools to use the findings to improve the impact of TAs in primary schools in West
and South Yorkshire
As part of the campaign, the EEF will be providing more intensive support to the
approximately 1000 primary schools in West and South Yorkshire. In identifying the
geographical region to benefit from this investment, two key criteria were considered: 1.) The
number of schools with a high percentage of Pupil Premium pupils and 2.) The size of the
attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers. Further details of the
campaign are available here: http://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/toolkit/makingbest-use-of-teaching-assistants/.
This tender sets out the advocacy section of the campaign. The EEF is looking to partner
with a number of organisations to help support the 1000 primary schools in the region.
This tender document invites expressions of interest from organisations who are interested
in working with the EEF to support schools in embedding the key messages from the
evidence in the Guidance Report, Making Best Use of Teaching Assistants. The report can
be accessed here:
http://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/uploads/pdf/TA_Guidance_Report_Interactive.
pdf.
KEY TASKS
The EEF is looking to partner with a number of organisations who can lead the advocacy
component of the campaign, and ‘bring the evidence to life’ in schools through a range of
engagement activities. It will be up to the advocate partners to define the exact nature of the
support on offer to schools, although it is anticipated that it could include workshops, training
sessions, coaching and school-to-school support.
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Advocate partners may be local authorities, teaching schools, universities, education
charities, or other organisations working closely with primary schools in West and South
Yorkshire. We are also open to expressions of interest from collaborations of organisations.
WHAT DOES BEING AN ADVOCATE PARTNER MEAN?
Advocate partners will be expected to work with a minimum of 80 schools in West or South
Yorkshire for one year beginning in summer 2015.They will provide support and training to
schools to help them implement the core elements of the Guidance Report, while adapting
them appropriately to meet the specific needs of schools. Advocate partners will also be
expected to act as an evidence hub to help school leaders identify other schools with
excellent practice, and promote effective evidence-based interventions and programmes
where appropriate.
EXPECTED OUTCOMES
Advocate partners will be asked to outline how they expect their work with schools to
improve the impact of teaching assistants. Although the ultimate intended outcome is to
improve pupil attainment, the focus for advocates should be on how their work will influence
the attitudes and decisions of teachers and senior leaders in using TAs to best effect. This
could include measuring the awareness of existing research, their understanding of its
implications on practice, and the subsequent actions and changes to TA deployment and
use.
HOW TO APPLY
Organisations interested in becoming advocate partners in the Teaching Assistant campaign
in West and South Yorkshire should submit an application document no longer than 2000
words. The application should take the following form:
Who you are – Including the background on your organisation(s), the current scope of your
work, your current activity with primary schools in West and South Yorkshire, your track
record of supporting schools to raise outcomes for pupils.
Support and training for schools – Outline how you would provide support to primary
schools to improve the impact of teaching assistants, drawing on the guidance report.
Please include a detailed summary of your approach to being an advocate partner,
including:
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Specific schools that you intend to work with and how you will engage schools
A timeline for the work, beginning in summer 2015
A description of the support and training you will provide, including mode(s) of
facilitation and the number and timing of activities
How you will monitor and evaluate the impact that your support and training has on
the schools
Schools you intend to work with – Name the schools you anticipate working with
(including the name of the local authority in which they are located. It is not necessary to
have contacted individual schools to gauge their interest before submitting an expression of
interest. This simply enables us to see how many of the schools are covered within the
region).
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Resources – the number of people who will be employed in the advocacy work and the
expected budget. It should be clear what level of support, including contact time will be
included within that budget.
We encourage informal enquiries before submitting an application. Please contact Jonathan
Sharples or James Richardson to arrange an informal discussion about the work involved.
Jonathan Sharples, Senior Researcher, jonathan.sharples@eefoundation.org.uk, 0207 802 1921
James Richardson, Senior Analyst, james.richardson@eefoundation.org.uk, 0207 8021924
We anticipate awarding contracts to between 8 and 12 advocate partners each working with
a minimum of 80 schools. The approximate value of these contracts for organisations
working with 80 schools will be between £20,000 and £30,000, or £250-375 per school. The
applications will be assessed against the criteria outlined below. A shortlist of applicants will
be invited to discuss their proposal during April 2015. Final funding decisions will be made in
May 2014.
ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
Successful applications must be able to demonstrate:
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A track record in supporting schools in the region to improve pupil outcomes
The capacity to lead, manage and deliver change across a number of schools
An understanding of the specific local and regional challenges in raising attainment
An understanding of the value of using research evidence and a commitment to its
use in school improvement
A clear narrative of how the support and training you provide will lead to improved
use of teaching assistants
A plan of how you will monitor and evaluate your work
The deadline for expressions of interest is 5pm on March 27th 2015.
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