Introduction

Schools in the twenty-first century are undergoing significant changes as they begin to embed Every Child Matters (ECM), personalised learning, extended school initiatives and transform learning communities through building schools for the future (BSF). All teaching assistants (TAs), as members of the whole school staff support team, working within this rapidly changing educational context, now and in the future, need to be at the cutting edge of these developments, in order to continue to further improve the learning and ECM well-being outcomes for children and young people in primary and secondary schools.