Supporting Learning Before, During and After the Lesson
Week 1 – Pre-teaching vocabulary and concepts?
Pre-teaching gives pupils the knowledge and language they need to access new learning with greater confidence. By introducing key vocabulary and concepts before a lesson, teaching assistants can help reduce barriers, activate prior knowledge and prepare pupils to participate successfully alongside their peers. In this session, we’ll explore practical approaches to pre-teaching that build understanding and independence without replacing high-quality classroom teaching.
Week 2 – Clarifying Learning Intentions and Success Criteria
Clear learning intentions and success criteria help pupils understand what they are learning, why it matters and what success looks like. Teaching assistants can play an important role in reinforcing this understanding without reducing challenge or creating dependency. In this session, we’ll explore practical ways to clarify expectations, check understanding and help pupils remain focused on the learning throughout the lesson.
Week 3 – Supporting Pupils During Whole-Class Teaching
Whole-class teaching is an important opportunity for every pupil to access high-quality instruction alongside their peers. Teaching assistants can support this by helping pupils maintain attention, understand key information and remain actively engaged without becoming over-reliant on adult support. In this session, we’ll explore practical ways to provide timely, subtle support that keeps pupils connected to the teacher and the learning.
Week 4 – Post-teaching: consolidation and retrieval
Learning doesn’t end when the lesson finishes. Purposeful post-teaching can help pupils revisit key knowledge, address misconceptions and strengthen what they have learned through carefully planned consolidation and retrieval. In this session, we’ll explore how teaching assistants can use short, focused follow-up activities to reinforce learning, build confidence and help pupils remember more over time.
Week 5 – Supporting Pupils with Misconceptions
Misconceptions are a natural part of learning and can provide valuable opportunities to deepen pupils’ understanding. Teaching assistants can play an important role in noticing when pupils have misunderstood and helping them rethink their ideas without simply providing the correct answer. In this session, we’ll explore practical ways to identify, question and address misconceptions while encouraging pupils to think, explain and become increasingly independent.
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Week 6 – Week 6 - Adapting Support Across Subjects
Effective support looks different depending on the subject, the learning and the needs of the pupil. The strategies that help a child access reading may not be the same as those needed in writing or maths. In this final session, we’ll explore how teaching assistants can adapt their support across different curriculum areas, using purposeful prompts and scaffolds while maintaining high expectations and developing pupils’ independence.