Education Assistants and Teachers

1
Education Assistants and Teachers

• Roles and Responsibilities in British Columbia

2
Outline of Presentation

• Why Define Roles?
• Ministry of Education
• Collective Agreements

3
Outline of Presentation (cont)

• Suggested Roles (as agreed by BCTF and CUPE BC)
• Expectations of Employer
• General Responsibilities
• Designing, Planning and Organizing
• Program Delivery
• Assessing Student Progress
• Developing Supportive Environments

4
Outline of Presentation (cont)

• Job Titles
• Questions to Consider

5
Why Define Roles?

• To better meet the needs of special education
  students
• BC Provincial Review of Special Education
• For clear expectations (ie. Training and
  credentials), staffing and wage purposes
• For teaching assistant respect!

6
BC Ministry of Education Definitions

• Teaching Assistant
• Range of functions from personal care to
  assisting the teacher with instruction
• Assist in the collection of data for evaluation

• Teacher
• Designs, supervises, implements and assesses
  program
• Evaluates and reports to parents

7
BC Ministry of Education Definitions (cont)

• Teaching Assistants
• under general direction of a teacher
• under supervision of an administrative officer
  (ie. Evaluates)

8
Collective Agreements

• Collective agreement definitions on roles and
  responsibilities take precedence over other
  definitions

9
Expectations of the Employer Suggested Roles
(as agreed by BCTF and CUPE BC)

• Adequate resources
• Suitable workspace
• Access to information about the student (IEP) and
  about learning techniques
• Inservice training
• Adequate release time in order to prepare,
  develop, implement and monitor the IEP

10
General Responsibilities for T.A.s and Teachers
(as agreed by BCTF and CUPE BC)

• Positive, respectful working relationship
• Meet professional standards
• Advocate for conditions of success for student
• Advocate for protection of rights (human and
  legal) for student
• Follow safety guidelines
• Facilitate the inclusion of student
• Encourage special needs student to become an
  independent learner

11
Designing, Planning and Organizing(as agreed by
BCTF and CUPE BC)for Teaching Assistants

• Program Design and Activities Gathers and
  shares performance and behaviour information with
  teacher, (teacher designs program and IEP).
• Modifications Adapts strategies to accommodate
  individual student, (teacher determines
  modifications).
• Resources Assists with the development of
  instructional learning resources, (teacher
  provides resources, monitors and advocates for
  resources for TA).
• Reviews using teacher/team developed strategies,
  (teacher reviews and reinforces).

12
Designing, Planning and Organizing(as agreed by
BCTF and CUPE BC)for Teaching Assistants (cont)

• Goals Assists students with activities,
  monitors and reports to teacher/team, (teacher
  develops goals).
• Community Supports learning in community-based
  settings, (teacher designs goals).
• Priorities Follows priority plan and updates
  teacher on implementation, (teacher establishes
  priorities).
• Discipline Follows teachers discipline plan,
  while being consistent with expectations for
  student (IEP), (teacher provides discipline plan).

13
Program Delivery (as agreed by BCTF and CUPE
BC)for Teaching Assistants

• Instruction Facilitates student learning,
  (teacher instructs and facilitates).
• Behaviour Implements demonstrated techniques
  and reports to teacher, (teacher develops
  behaviour program and models techniques).
• Techniques Implements, (teacher defines
  techniques).
• Workplace Monitors effectiveness and reports to
  teacher and/or Admin. Officer, (teacher seeks
  assistance of administrative officer to provide a
  workplace for the teacher assistant).

14
Assessing Student Progress (as agreed by BCTF
and CUPE BC)for Teaching Assistants

• Informal (functional) Assists the teacher,
  (teacher ensures profiles are current).
• Meetings Attends meetings during the day,
  (teacher convenes/attends meetings).
• Documents Assists in the collection of data,
  (teacher evaluates according to IEP).
• Parents Provides information to teacher,
  (teacher reports to parents).
• Records Assists in maintaining records,
  (teacher maintains records).

15
Developing Supportive Environments (as agreed by
BCTF and CUPE BC)for Teaching Assistants and
Teachers

• Workplace Concerns Documents and shares
• Policies Procedures Remains current, monitors
  implementation, shares information
• Discuss concerns to facilitate early problem
  solving through informal and regularly scheduled
  workday meetings
• Follow school/district safety guidelines

16
Developing Supportive Environments (as agreed by
BCTF and CUPE BC)for Teaching Assistant

• Personal and Health Care Routines carries out,
  (teacher shares information on an as need basis)
• Carries out specific procedures only if
  appropriate training has been provided, (teacher
  requests that appropriate training is provided)
• Follows all established reporting procedures

17
Job Titles

• CUPE B.C. is seeking to standardize job titles to
  Education Assistant in order to reflect current
  employment relationships as reflected in CUPE
  B.C. collective agreements

18
Questions to Consider

• Is the TA/EA role outlined here an expanded or
  contracted role compared to what you do
  presently?
• Would changing roles be positive or negative?

19
Conclusion

• Defining roles for Education Assistants can help
  special needs students.
• Defining roles for Education Assistants can lead
  to increased job security, higher wages and
  RESPECT!
• Opeiu491/apk Research/National School
  Board/Education Assistants/Education Assistants
  and Teachers