3 Learning lives
In the video that you will now watch, the following six people talk about how they came to be in their roles working in primary schools and how they continue to learn ‘on the job’:
- Vicky Grant, a teaching assistant who is also training to be an occupational therapist
- Tina Blundell, who began working as a teaching assistant after her own children had started school and is now a higher level teaching assistant
- Jean Ionta, a pupil support assistant who also began work in a school after being a full-time mum for many years
- Hugh Kelly, a grandparent and retired police janitor, who helps younger children in the school who sometimes require a bit more support
- Lucy Allen, a teaching assistant who used to work in a temporary supply capacity, often having to learn on the spot
- Pam Crawford, a parent volunteer studying for a teaching assistant certificate and who has an interest in special educational needs.
Activity 2 Examples of learning lives
As you listen to these adults talk about their roles, jobs and backgrounds, or afterwards, think about the following questions:
- What kinds of formal learning can you identify in their comments?
- What kinds of informal learning can you identify?
- What knowledge, skills and understandings have they developed through formal and informal learning?
- How do they apply their learning to their current jobs?
- How are they continuing to learn in their workplaces? What knowledge, skills and understanding are they developing in their current roles?
- Can you identify dimensions of Hodkinson and Hodkinson (2004), or Vygotksian concepts about learning through interaction with others, in their commentaries?
- Linking this video to the Tedder and Biesta reading you did earlier, how far do their commentaries reflect a sense of ‘biographical learning’?
Download this video clip.Video player: Working in primary schools and learning ‘on the job’
Transcript: Working in primary schools and learning ‘on the job’
Vicki Grand (teaching assistant)
So laying down, flat on your backs with your arms outstretched, on the mats.
Some of them have coordination difficulties, some of them have communication difficulties. But basically the group is formed with mobile children as well so that the children can learn from each other, and it's to develop their gross motor skills, which hopefully will have an impact on their learning.
Excellent. And roll the other way. All across the mats.
We use the Play to Learn programme, and I take it a little bit further than that, using my occupational therapy skills. At the moment I’m studying part time to become an occupational therapist.
As high as you can, stretch your legs out, Ryan. Whoops! Where are you going? Excellent. That is fantastic.
I left school at 16 and went and did A levels, sort of sixth-form education. And then went to university for a few months, to study Law and Spanish. Found that wasn’t for me, didn’t enjoy it at all.
So that I went into NatWest Bank and worked my way up there, became sort of in-house financial advisor, and lasted about four years there until I really don’t want to do this anymore. So I went to work for a specialist learning disabilities company that helped remediate learning difficulty through exercise. Unfortunately I was made redundant there, so I came to Herbert Thompson as behaviour support, and then have decided to stay.
Stop and freeze.
I’ve decided to study occupational therapy, so I do that part time.
Going to do this again, are we?
Child
This is what I did. I went off the balls onto the mat.
Vicki Grant
Wow, did you? You had a soft landing. That’s it, so, leaning backwards. Excellent.
I haven’t really done a teaching assistant course. But I think because I have worked with children through work experience at school, and college, and through my last job as well, I was taught a lot of safety techniques within my last role, which I’ve transferred here. And also school policies, being involved in PE lessons, things like that, you can also model what the teacher does which will help you then to develop your own style of dealing with the children.
You like this? Try turning around and facing forwards. Are they? That’s OK. We won’t be long.
Teacher
We’re going to have some silent thinking time. While we’re on the carpet, if you want to close your eyes…
Tina Blundell (higher level teaching assistant)
Well, I’ve been working with children for the last 20 years, starting off with preschool children, and then decided I wanted to sort of broaden my horizon and work within a school environment. So once my own children started school, I approached other schools.
I sent a CV all around to schools in Windsor, expressing my wanting to work in schools.
What else can you do with a ball, Harrison?
Harrison
Glide.
Tina Blundell
Glide. Well done, good boy. So you’re going to write that down?
I started off as a general TA in mornings. And then after various courses, I’ve done the TA introduction course, I’ve done the NVQ Level Two, NVQ Level Three, the maths literacy courses and then on to HLTA. Also, just recently to finish my course on PSHE and got a certificate from the university for that, and I enjoy my job very much.
We’re sharing ideas.
I think the more courses you go on and the more qualifications you get on, I think it helps you to enhance and to help children with their learning abilities as well as with my own learning abilities.
Child
It’s quite hard.
Jean Ionta (pupil support assistant)
Quite hard to earn things, because you’re not getting them for just doing good work. You’re getting them for being kind.
Child
Or being honest.
Jean Ionta
Being honest, honest is very good.
I came into it, I had been off work for several years to have my family. I’ve got two daughters. So I was a full-time mum, very lucky to be able to stay at home, be a full-time mum until they were of age, secondary school. I felt I could go back to work in a part-time role.
Before I had the children I worked in clerical, in an office. So I applied to work in the office in St. Patrick’s, and I was very lucky to get the job. After a while I decided I love working with the children, and I soon realised I had a bond with the children, I kind of got where I had a good relationship with the children. And a post come up for a pupil support assistant in the school, and I went to the head teacher and asked her, would it be possible for me to still keep my role as clerical and do the pupil support assistant? And she thought, yeah, wouldn’t see that as a problem.
I had to go in training and do the additional support for learning part and learn all about what these children, you know, are about, and what my role is going to be. And I worked in particular with one wee boy who had huge emotional and behavioural problems in class, and I really was with him the whole time. And then time moved on and this position come up to be full time, and I had to make a decision. And I decided I definitely wanted to be doing the role as a pupil support assistant.
Stop, stop, stop. I hear a lot of bickering in here. That’s not what we do. What do we do, Vinny?
Vinny
Me and Ethan are taking out the turns.
Jean Ionta
Take turns. But don’t argue.
Hugh Kelly (grandparent volunteer)
What insects should we do to start with?
I was a police janitor for 12 years. I retired for ill health. I was asked if I would like to volunteer to help with the children in St. Patrick’s primary. My PNC check, through working with the police still covered me, which meant I was allowed to come and work with the children.
After a check, Miss Campbell requested if I would like to come and help with the primary ones, with Miss Kelly, which I was more than happy to do.
Child
[inaudible].
Hugh Kelly
Could you show me? Why don’t you show me, let me see. We’ve got to write...
Before we started the lesson I was requested to work with one of the children on a one to one to bring them on a bit.
And good, OK. All right. All right, Naomi.
That’s a bike, That’s correct. So fill it in the one for bike. The bike one. That’s it, good boy.
I’m helping a couple of the children who need, who require extra help through no fault of their self. The youngsters in a class that have just turned five, they joined when they were four. We have ones that have come in that were five, actually, when they come into Primary One, they are more advanced. Miss Kelly works with them.
The ones that are younger, I tend to work with those to help her. And I’m bringing them on through my group.
Hugh Kelly (offscreen)
He’s coming on. He’s getting there. He’s made blunders. But most children do.
You’re not watching my hand. Where’s your alphabet? See? The feedback I get off the children is great.
I enjoy interacting with young children which, you get great back from them. You can see them coming on and see them when they come to you, that they’re learning off you by listening to you.
Child
A boy [inaudible].
Lucy Allen (teaching assistant)
I’ve been a teaching assistant now for about four years, and I started working in the nursery. I secured a job by doing supply work, actually, which was really brilliant.
Child
It was girls yesterday, and it’s boys today.
Lucy Allen
Oh, I see.
I signed up with New Directions, and they just would phone you up at sort of 7:00 in the morning and say, can you get halfway across Cardiff or into the valleys? And I’d have to say, yes, I can make it or no, I can’t, and then you get to the school and you’re really thrown in the deep end, actually, doing supply. It’s a real steep learning curve, you know.
M for Mason. And then...
Child
Bella.
Lucy Allen
You don’t know what to expect. They don’t give you any information on the phone, what class you’re going to be in, what the situation is. There was a couple of times where I would go to a school and I’d be working one on one with a child with quite a severe disability, and I don’t have experience working with disabled children, and I’d just have to learn on the spot. And I would be asked to do things like change a nappy of sort of a 10-year-old child. And I’ve got no experience with that. But you actually just had to get on with it. Ask all the questions that you needed to. Get support from the staff.
I think that’s one thing I learned quite quickly was to ask, when I wasn’t sure, just to ask for support, or ask for someone to come and show me what I needed to do.
Pam Crawford (parent volunteer)
In the space, the next word...
I am a volunteer. I came straight into the classroom and I’ve been learning bits and pieces. It was mainly, to start with, to help support my son who’s got a special needs statement, and along the way I decided, this is really what I want to do now.
It made sense, spare time, to come in here and also get a background to his learning and how I may be able to help. So that’s how I started out, decided I liked it and thought, this is the path for me, and decided to start the college course to support that. While I’m here, I’ll get a qualification and enjoy myself along the way.
OK, try to look at the steps.
The course I’m studying is a certificate in teaching assistance. It’s a Level Two. And it’s a new-found qualification, what they call a QCF, is a Qualification Certificate Framework. I’ve learned how the curriculum has changed over the years, and having left school 30 years ago, it’s all sort of coming back to me slowly, and also, I’m learning along the way, with the children. Maybe things I’ve forgotten, maybe new things, but I’m learning all the way.
At the moment I’ve just got my sights on the Level Two and the Level Three teaching assistant. But I’m going to see how it goes, and see where it takes me, and see what paths there are that I can take. And maybe do some special needs courses alongside that.
Teacher
Mrs. Crawford, can you give us two numbers?
Pam Crawford
I think we should start at 19 down to 9.
Children
Ooh. That’s easy. 19, 18, 17.
Working in primary schools and learning ‘on the job’
Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).
Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).