Facilitating journal clubs for teachers and teaching assistants: Professional collaboration as a route to more effective CPD for supporting students with SEND

Steve Murray, Trust Lead for Data Insights and Research, Trust in Learning Academies (TiLA), Bristol, UK Practitioner effectiveness has long been recognised as a key driver of student achievement (Slater et al., 2012) and thus necessitates impactful continued professional development (CPD). Teaching assistants (TAs) often experience an inconsistent quality of CPD and lack co-planning time with teachers for informing effective classroom deployment. This may contribute to the observed variability in their impact on student outcomes (Sharples et al., 2021). Given the increasing frequency of students with SEND (special educational needs and disabilities), whom TAs often support, and the concurrent complexity of learning needs (DfE, 2023), the successful development of TAs is clearly of growing importance. This need is compounded by the national variability in rapidity of access to increasingly sparse specialist support for students with SEND, often resulting in exacerbated barriers to lea