Making Best Use of Teaching Assistants West and South Yorkshire Advocacy Tender March 2015 BACKGROUND The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) is an independent charity established in 2011, dedicated to breaking the link between family background and educational achievement. To date, the EEF’s activity has focused on building the evidence base on effective interventions and approaches to improve attainment for children eligible for free school meals. In March 2015, the EEF launched a £5 million campaign to improve the impact of Teaching Assistants (TAs) in English schools. This marks a new phase of activity for the EEF, one that is focused on communicating the key messages emerging from research and helping schools act on the evidence. The best available evidence on the use of TAs suggests that they have the potential to make a substantial positive impact on learning, but that the potential is not being achieved in a majority of English schools. As part of the campaign, the EEF will be: Publishing guidance setting out the best available evidence related to TAs; Awarding grants to develop the most promising approaches to train and support TAs; and Working with partners (“advocate partners”) to share evidence and support schools to use the findings to improve the impact of TAs in primary schools in West and South Yorkshire As part of the campaign, the EEF will be providing more intensive support to the approximately 1000 primary schools in West and South Yorkshire. In identifying the geographical region to benefit from this investment, two key criteria were considered: 1.) The number of schools with a high percentage of Pupil Premium pupils and 2.) The size of the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers. Further details of the campaign are available here: http://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/toolkit/makingbest-use-of-teaching-assistants/. This tender sets out the advocacy section of the campaign. The EEF is looking to partner with a number of organisations to help support the 1000 primary schools in the region. This tender document invites expressions of interest from organisations who are interested in working with the EEF to support schools in embedding the key messages from the evidence in the Guidance Report, Making Best Use of Teaching Assistants. The report can be accessed here: http://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/uploads/pdf/TA_Guidance_Report_Interactive. pdf. KEY TASKS The EEF is looking to partner with a number of organisations who can lead the advocacy component of the campaign, and ‘bring the evidence to life’ in schools through a range of engagement activities. It will be up to the advocate partners to define the exact nature of the support on offer to schools, although it is anticipated that it could include workshops, training sessions, coaching and school-to-school support. 1 Advocate partners may be local authorities, teaching schools, universities, education charities, or other organisations working closely with primary schools in West and South Yorkshire. We are also open to expressions of interest from collaborations of organisations. WHAT DOES BEING AN ADVOCATE PARTNER MEAN? Advocate partners will be expected to work with a minimum of 80 schools in West or South Yorkshire for one year beginning in summer 2015.They will provide support and training to schools to help them implement the core elements of the Guidance Report, while adapting them appropriately to meet the specific needs of schools. Advocate partners will also be expected to act as an evidence hub to help school leaders identify other schools with excellent practice, and promote effective evidence-based interventions and programmes where appropriate. EXPECTED OUTCOMES Advocate partners will be asked to outline how they expect their work with schools to improve the impact of teaching assistants. Although the ultimate intended outcome is to improve pupil attainment, the focus for advocates should be on how their work will influence the attitudes and decisions of teachers and senior leaders in using TAs to best effect. This could include measuring the awareness of existing research, their understanding of its implications on practice, and the subsequent actions and changes to TA deployment and use. HOW TO APPLY Organisations interested in becoming advocate partners in the Teaching Assistant campaign in West and South Yorkshire should submit an application document no longer than 2000 words. The application should take the following form: Who you are – Including the background on your organisation(s), the current scope of your work, your current activity with primary schools in West and South Yorkshire, your track record of supporting schools to raise outcomes for pupils. Support and training for schools – Outline how you would provide support to primary schools to improve the impact of teaching assistants, drawing on the guidance report. Please include a detailed summary of your approach to being an advocate partner, including: Specific schools that you intend to work with and how you will engage schools A timeline for the work, beginning in summer 2015 A description of the support and training you will provide, including mode(s) of facilitation and the number and timing of activities How you will monitor and evaluate the impact that your support and training has on the schools Schools you intend to work with – Name the schools you anticipate working with (including the name of the local authority in which they are located. It is not necessary to have contacted individual schools to gauge their interest before submitting an expression of interest. This simply enables us to see how many of the schools are covered within the region). 2 Resources – the number of people who will be employed in the advocacy work and the expected budget. It should be clear what level of support, including contact time will be included within that budget. We encourage informal enquiries before submitting an application. Please contact Jonathan Sharples or James Richardson to arrange an informal discussion about the work involved. Jonathan Sharples, Senior Researcher, [email protected], 0207 802 1921 James Richardson, Senior Analyst, [email protected], 0207 8021924 We anticipate awarding contracts to between 8 and 12 advocate partners each working with a minimum of 80 schools. The approximate value of these contracts for organisations working with 80 schools will be between £20,000 and £30,000, or £250-375 per school. The applications will be assessed against the criteria outlined below. A shortlist of applicants will be invited to discuss their proposal during April 2015. Final funding decisions will be made in May 2014. ASSESSMENT CRITERIA Successful applications must be able to demonstrate: A track record in supporting schools in the region to improve pupil outcomes The capacity to lead, manage and deliver change across a number of schools An understanding of the specific local and regional challenges in raising attainment An understanding of the value of using research evidence and a commitment to its use in school improvement A clear narrative of how the support and training you provide will lead to improved use of teaching assistants A plan of how you will monitor and evaluate your work The deadline for expressions of interest is 5pm on March 27th 2015. 3
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