ABSTRACT
The quality of verbal interactions between adults and pupils is at the heart of effective teaching and learning. This chapter focuses on TA-to-pupil interactions (or what we call ‘practice’).
The DISS project found that schools were largely unaware that TAs’ interactions with pupils tended to focus on task completion rather than understanding, and that, compared with teachers, TAs asked more closed questions and fewer open questions, thereby closing down learning opportunities. Schools were equally unaware of the problems TAs faced when it came to carrying out the tasks delegated to them by teachers. Consequently, teachers and schools were generally unable to detect possible limitations, or even damage, to pupils’ learning and progress.
