1. education
2. school

TDA 3.2 Schools as organisations
Introduction
This unit aims to prepare the learner for working in a school. It covers key aspects of schools as
organisations. This includes the structure of the education system, the roles and responsibilities
of key members of the school team and the purpose of school ethos, mission statement and
aims and values. Learners will also understand the reasons for the key legislation, policies and
procedures which are followed in schools and how schools operate within a wider context.
Learning outcomes
This unit has six learning outcomes:
1
Know the structure of education from early years to post-compulsory education.
2
Understand how schools are organised in terms of roles and responsibilities.
3
Understand school ethos, mission, aims and values.
4
Know about the legislation affecting schools.
5
Understand the purpose of school policies and procedures.
6
Understand the wider context in which schools operate.
This unit has links to the following National Occupational Standards:
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SWiS 3.2 Support the ethos, policies and working practices of the school.
Additional guidance for delivery
For session 1, learners could carry out research into the various types of education provision
available in their area.
In session 2, learners could find out in placement how their school is structured and research the
roles of the governors and anyone else who is involved in the running or funding of the school
(e.g. PTA)
In session 3, learners could watch a video of learning taking place in the classroom and compare
the ethos and aims of the school to their own placement school.
For session 4, learners could carry out further research into the legislation that affects them,
other staff and pupils.
For session 5, learners could collect the school’s inclusion policy and discuss in their groups the
impact of having an inclusion policy within school.
Further resources
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Burnham, L. and Baker, B. (2010) Level 3 Diploma Supporting Teaching & Learning in
Schools, Heinemann
Briggs, S. (2004) Inclusion, and how to do it: Meeting SEN in Secondary Classrooms, David
Fulton Publishers
www.direct.gov.uk
www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters
www.tda.gov.uk
www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool
Continued overleaf
1
© The TA College 2010 under licence to Pearson Education Limited. Printing and photocopying permitted.
TDA 3.2
Schools as organisations
Level 3 Diploma in Supporting Teaching & Learning in Schools
TDA 3.2 Introduction continued
Answers to activities
A1: Structure of education
Task 1
Every three- and four-year-old child is entitled to free early years education in an Ofsted
inspected setting which is found to be satisfactory. The funding is available for 12.5 hours a
week for 38 weeks of the year. Free places are available in a number of settings including:
school nurseries, childminders and private day nurseries.
A4: Legislation affecting schools
Children Act 2004
Schools are not to discriminate against
disabled children this has led to more
disabled children in mainstream schools.
Data Protection Act 1998
Close relationship between agencies and
sharing of information between agencies
Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and
Special Educational Needs Code of
Practice
Designed to protect everyone within the
school and gives procedures to follow in
the event of an accident.
Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
Schools are required to keep information
secure and it can only be used for the
purpose it was gathered for.
2
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Delivery notes
Task 1 confirms the learner’s knowledge of the funded nursery places available to three- and fouryear-olds. Task 2 is a case study which asks the learners to research the post 16 education
available to learners.
Task 1 is a table for the learners to fill out to explain the job roles of people within a school. Task 2
is an activity where they need to ask which educational professionals attend their school and write
an overview of their involvement.
Task 1 confirms that students know the meaning of the school’s ethos, mission, aims and values.
Task 2 asks the learners to evaluate the various methods by which these can be communicated.
The first part of this activity is a linking exercise – learners must match the legislation to the
description. The activity then goes on to show how this legislation affects the day-to-day running of
the school.
© The TA College 2010 under licence to Pearson Education Limited. Printing and photocopying permitted.
Task 1 is an activity based on the school policies and how they affect the school. Task 2 asks the
learners to look at how the policies are communicated and developed.
The wider context
A6
This activity asks learners to research the wider context within which schools operate, considering
the effects of the government, community and other organisations.
6 Understand the wider context in which schools operate
Policies and
procedures
A5
5 Understand the purpose of school policies and procedures
Legislation affecting
schools
A4
4 Know about the legislation affecting schools
School ethos and
mission
A3
3 Understand school ethos, mission, aims and values
Roles and
responsibilities
A2
2 Understand how schools are organised in terms of roles and responsibilities
Structure of
education
A1
1 Know the structure of education from early years to post-compulsory education
Resources
Overview of resources: TDA 3.2
Overview of resources continued
English: Reading
and writing
English: Reading
English: Speaking,
listening and
communication
ICT: Developing,
presenting and
communicating
information
Link to
Functional Skills
Continued overleaf
Link to textbook
TDA 3.2
Schools as organisations
Level 3 Diploma in Supporting Teaching & Learning in Schools
1
Interactive quiz covering learning from TDA 3.2 for revision purposes, designed to be completed
individually by learners (e.g. via a VLE) or as a group in a group session.
Knowledge Check
Schools as
organisations
This short PowerPoint presentation introduces learners to the idea of schools as organisations,
including their mission and ethos, policies and procedures and the legislations they must follow. At
the end, learners are asked to consider how different policy areas affect their daily role in school.
Delivery notes
PowerPoint P1
Electronic resources
Resources
Overview of resources continued
Link to
Functional Skills
© The TA College 2010 under licence to Pearson Education Limited. Printing and photocopying permitted.
Continued overleaf
Link to textbook
TDA 3.2
Schools as organisations
Level 3 Diploma in Supporting Teaching & Learning in Schools
2
© The TA College 2010 under licence to Pearson Education Limited. Printing and photocopying permitted.
3
2
1
Session
number
Learners can complete Activity 3 Task 2 in class if you have
previously asked them to bring copies of the mission statement
with them. Alternatively, learners could complete this task while
on placement.
(3.1/3.2)
Learners could watch a video of learning taking place in the
classroom and compare the ethos and aims of the school to their
own placement school.
Activity A3 Task 1 will help learners to understand the meaning
of the terms ethos, mission, aims and values. You may ask
learners to discuss why it is important that a school has these in
place and what happens if they are not followed.
You may like to have group discussions about the various
visitors who come into school to work alongside the SENCO and
other staff, before asking learners to complete Activity 2 Task 2
in school. Learners could find out in placement how their school
is structured, the function of the governors and anyone else who
is involved in the running or funding of the school (e.g. the PTA).
You may wish to use the whiteboard to discuss the hierarchy of
all the differing positions within a school, who manages who and
the important parts that they play in the smooth running of the
school. The debate of whether the chair of governors or the head
teacher is at the top can be interesting, along with the discussion
of whether the school can function without the caretaker.
Activity A2 Task 1 reinforces the responsibilities of the key
members of the school team.
Consolidation of the knowledge of the characteristics of different
schools is available within the interactive quiz.
Learners will be able to understand the ethos, mission, aims and
values of a school and explain how they are reflected in work
practices. They will be able to evaluate methods of
communicating a school’s ethos, mission, aims and values.
(2.1/2.2)
Learners will understand how schools are organised in terms of
roles and responsibilities. They will be able to explain the
strategic purpose of school governors, the senior management
team, other statutory roles such as the SENCO, teachers and
support staff roles. Learners will also be able to explain the roles
of other external professionals who may work with a school.
(1.1/1.2/1.3)
To begin this session you could establish a discussion on the
various types of provision available for early years, school age
pupils and post-16. Learners could carry out research into the
various types of education provision available in their area.
Learners will know the structure of education from early years to
post-compulsory education. They will be able to summarise
entitlement and provision for early years education, and the
characteristics of different types of schools in relation to
educational stages and school governance as well as being able
to explain the post-16 options for young people and adults.
Activity A1 will help learners to consider some of the options for
early years along with evaluation of the post-16 options available
within the case study.
Activities and resources
Learning outcomes/Assessment criteria
Scheme of work: TDA 3.2
Scheme of work continued
Continued overleaf
English: Speaking,
listening and
communication
ICT: Developing,
presenting and
communicating
information
Functional Skills
TDA 3.2
Schools as organisations
Level 3 Diploma in Supporting Teaching & Learning in Schools
1
6
5
4
Session
number
Learners could carry out further research into the legislation that
affects them, other staff and pupils.
(4.1/4.2/4.3)
(6.1/6.2/6.3)
Learners will be able to understand the wider context in which
schools operate. They will be able to summarise the roles and
responsibilities of national and local government for education
policy and practice and explain the roles of schools in national
policies relating to children, young people and families. They will
be able to explain the roles of other organisations working with
children and young people and how these may impact on the
work of schools.
(5.1/5.2/5.3)
Learners will understand, and be able to explain, the purpose of
school policies and procedures. They will be able to summarise
the policies and procedures relating to staff, pupil welfare,
teaching and learning, equality, diversity and inclusion and
parental engagement. They will also be able to evaluate how
school policies and procedures may be developed and
communicated.
You may like to provide overviews of key legislation such as
Children’s Act 2004, Data Protection Act 1998 or Disability
Discrimination Act 1995 along with the SEN Code of Practice
and the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 to highlight key
points. Alternatively, learners could spend time researching the
key points to come up with a set of 5 to 10 bullet points to
summarise, in groups or independently.
Learners will know about the legislation affecting schools. They
will be able to summarise the laws and codes of practice
affecting work in schools and explain how legislation affects how
schools work. They will be able to explain the roles of relevant
regulatory bodies which exist to monitor and enforce the
legislative framework including general and school-specific
bodies.
As a group, or on an individual basis, ask the learners to
complete the Interactive Knowledge Check to finish the unit.
The piece of writing that learners need to complete for Activity
A6 will allow them to demonstrate what they have learned.
The learners could carry out some independent or group
research to find out information on the responsibilities of national
government for education policy, the role of schools in national
policies relating to children, young people and families and the
roles of other organisations.
A whole group discussion on how school policies and
procedures can be developed and communicated could follow.
After introducing why schools have policies and procedures in
place a discussion regarding the use of policies and procedures
may be useful. Learners could then complete Activity A5 using
information collected in school or examples of policies.
Activity A4 will help learners to consolidate their knowledge of
the key legislation relevant to them within their roles.
Activities and resources
Learning outcomes/Assessment criteria
Scheme of work continued
Continued overleaf
English: Reading
and Writing
English: Reading
Functional Skills
TDA 3.2
Schools as organisations
Level 3 Diploma in Supporting Teaching & Learning in Schools
© The TA College 2010 under licence to Pearson Education Limited. Printing and photocopying permitted.
2
TDA 3.2
Schools as organisations
AC: 1.1, 1.3
FS: ICT: Developing,
presenting and
communicating
information
A1 Structure of education
Task 1
Local education authorities are funded by the government to ensure that every threeand four-year-old child has access to free part-time education.
Fill in the missing words and numbers in the following paragraph from the box below:
early years
Every three- and four-year-old child is entitled to
inspected setting which is found to be
education in an
The funding is available for
hours a week for
weeks of the year. Free places are available in a number of settings including:#
school nurseries,
childminders
and private day nurseries.
satisfactory
free
12.5
Ofsted
38
Task 2
Case study: Considering post-16 options
Patrick has left school at 16 with five GCSEs and is unsure about what to do next.
He is interested in a career in physical education.
What education and training options are available to him?
1
Carry out independent research to see what options Patrick has.
2
Working in small groups, discuss and research the various options available to
Patrick and consider the positive and negative aspects of each choice. Fill in the
table below to show your findings:
Patrick’s options
Positive aspects
Negative aspects
Functional Skills
You could present your findings for this task in a flow chart. This will help you to
develop your editing skills.
1
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TDA 3.2
Schools as organisations
AC: 2.1, 2.2
A2 Roles and responsibilities
FS: English:
Speaking, listening
and communication
Task 1
Within a school there are different people with various roles, all of which are necessary to
ensure the smooth running of the school. Complete the table below to show the
responsibilities of the school governors, senior management team, teachers, support staff
and the SENCO (Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator).
Job role
Responsibilities
School governors
Volunteers who ensure the school provides a good quality
education.
Set the aims and policies of the school.
Set the school’s budget.
Senior management
team
Teachers
Support staff
SENCO
Task 2
As a Teaching Assistant you may be expected to work alongside many different
education professionals. Talk to your class teacher or SENCO about the various
educational professionals who visit the school and what they do. These may include
speech therapists, child psychologists and other support workers who visit the
school.
Now write an overview of what the educational professionals do in your school.
Complete your answers on a separate sheet of paper.
Functional Skills
You may be able to carry out short interviews with each of these professionals in
order to explore their job roles. Plan your questions first so that you are prepared
and can make relevant contributions to the discussion.
1
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TDA 3.2
Schools as organisations
AC: 3.1, 3.2
A3 School ethos and mission
Task 1
Each school will have a mission statement, ethos, aims and values.
Use your textbook to find out the meaning of the following terms.
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Ethos
Mission
Aims
Values.
Task 2
Ask your school if you can have a copy of its mission statement. Alternatively, this
information is often available on the school website.
In groups talk about how the ethos, mission statement, aims and values of a school
may be reflected in your working practice while at the school.
Fill out the table to show the different methods of communicating a school’s ethos,
mission statement, aims and values and evaluate the different methods.
Ensure that you look at the advantages and disadvantages of each method.
Method of
communicating
Advantages
Disadvantages
1
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TDA 3.2
Schools as organisations
AC: 4.1, 4.2, 4.3
A4 Legislation affecting schools
Task 1
There are some laws set in place by government which schools have a duty to
follow. A few of these– and the main points involved – have been stated below.
Link the legislation on the left to the correct description on the right:
Children’s Act 2004
Schools are not to discriminate against
disabled children this has led to more
disabled children in mainstream schools.
Data Protection Act 1998
Close relationship between agencies and
sharing of information between agencies
Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and
Special Educational Needs Code of
Practice
Designed to protect everyone within the
school and give procedures to follow in
the event of an accident.
Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
Schools are required to keep information
secure and it can only be used for the
purpose it was gathered for.
Task 2
Complete the table below to show how the various pieces of legislation affect the
day-to-day running of a school. An example has been started for you.
Legislation
How it affects the school...
Data Protection Act 1998
1
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TDA 3.2
Schools as organisations
AC: 5.1, 5.2, 5.3
A5 Policies and procedures
FS: English: Reading
Task 1
All schools must have certain policies and procedures which they follow.
These will cover things like behaviour management, equal opportunities and
inclusion.
Explain below why schools have policies and procedures.
In school, ask for a copy of the policies and procedures. From this, write a summary
of how these policies and procedures relate to:
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staff
pupil welfare
teaching and learning
equality, diversity and inclusion
parental engagement.
Task 2
On a separate piece of paper write a short piece on the communication and
development of policies in your school.
Try to consider the following:
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How are school policies communicated in your school?
Do you feel there is a better way for them to be communicated?
How are school policies developed?
How often are these developed or reviewed?
Functional Skills
Summarising information from different sources will help you to develop your
reading skills.
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TDA 3.2
Schools as organisations
AC: 6.1, 6.2, 6.3
A6 The wider context
FS: English: Reading
and writing
Task 1
Most schools in the UK are state/mainstream schools which are funded by the local
authority and follow the national curriculum.
Carry out some independent research into the wider context in which schools
operate.
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Look at the roles and responsibilities of national and local government for
education policy and practice.
Look at the role of the school in national policies relating to children, young
people and families.
Look at the roles of other organisations which work with children and young
people and how these may impact on the work of schools.
Task 2
On a separate piece of paper, explain the information you have researched.
Functional Skills
You will be developing your reading skills by using at least three different texts to
research this task. Presenting your findings in the form of a written report will allow
you to develop your writing skills.
1
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