No more training for Higher Level Teaching Assistants

Earlier this year North Yorkshire County Council announced it was scrapping courses that enabled teaching assistants to qualify to become higher level teaching assistants, and has no plans to fund any future schemes. The posts were created by the Government in 2003 to help raise the standards in classrooms and to help with workloads, leaving teachers more time to spend with individual pupils. Part of the professional standards required HLTAs to know how to support learners in accessing the curriculum in accordance with the special educational needs (SEN) code of practice and disabilities legislation. HLTAs could include SEN specialism within the course, which included 6 days of SEN training at foundation degree level.

The announcement follows the removal of funding by the Government.