ABSTRACT
This chapter develops the concept of teaching assistants' (TAs’) ‘place’ as well as a range of ideas to support TAs developing or embedding their professional agency. It discusses how consistency in a range of forms can enhance TAs’ ability to find their ‘place’ in managing behaviour. The chapter provides a range of opportunities to think about what this might mean in our context and how changes could be implemented. The concept of reassurance was also drawn out of findings from Mistry et al., where their TAs highlighted the importance of constructive feedback from teachers to enable them to improve and develop their practice. Schools and educational settings are necessarily flexible places, they need to be, and rigid consistency is never going to be an appropriate, reasonable or workable solution – at least not in the long term. Performance management may also be advantageous so TAs can see the value of their roles, not only for children and teachers they work with.
