Needs takes ‘teamwork’

students at Waitaki Girls’ High School, she said there had been a shift and she worked to establish a relationship with the whole class rather than approaching students directly.

Traditionally, teacher aides worked side by side with students who needed extra help, and those learners didn’t spend much time with teachers or their friends. This was now understood to be linked with ‘‘poorer outcomes’’, the report stated.

The report found it was better for learners to have times where they worked with the classroom teacher, others where they worked with a teacher aide, and times working with their peers or by themselves.

It highlighted that teachers and support staff needed to work closely together. This included leaders and teachers making sure that they shared key information, discussing plans and strategies with teacher aides, valuing their expertise, insights and cultural perspectives.

Ruth Shinoda

Parent and disability advocate Leonie Wilson said teacher aides did a ‘‘massive job’’ where they were suitably supported, including more long-term contracts, which enabled them to build relationships with those they worked with.

Teacher aides were there to ‘‘supplement the teacher’’ and helped facilitate one-on-one time between the teacher and students with additional learning needs.

Ruth Shinoda, head of ERO’s education evaluation centre, said the research recognised the ‘‘big impact’’ Aotearoa’s 25,000 teacher aides could have and highlighted ways to better support them.

‘‘For example, some schools are supporting Māori teacher aides to have a highly valued cultural and language expert role, where they support the knowledge and practices of staff and learners throughout the school.’’

She said responding to the diverse learning needs in a classroom took teamwork.

‘‘Teacher aides work at the heart of schools in diverse roles to meet the needs of a classroom, so it is important that school leaders and teachers value their expertise and include them in planning.’’

NZEI Te Riu Roa President Liam Rutherford said it further reinforced the long-held knowledge by teachers about the value of teacher aides, and made clear the importance of collaboration and planning between teachers and teacher aides.

It was why the union would continue to advocate for the inclusion of a teacher aide in every classroom, he said, alongside calls for greater job stability and professional learning, with more time allocated for collaboration, he said.

‘‘Teacher aides work at the heart of schools.’’

head of ERO’s education evaluation centre