Secondary Intervention: Teaching assistants training module – Working with groups

Before beginning this module, you should first have completed the Secondary Intervention: Teaching assistants training module – Introduction.

The main reason for small group teaching for intervention is to establish a group of pupils with very similar learning needs or targets in order to provide the opportunity for some focused learning.

Small group teaching can be set up as part of Wave 1 where, for instance, within the main lesson the TA works with the group to help them catch up on a skill that the rest of the class have already mastered. In English for example, it could be a group of pupils who need to improve their ability to ‘read between the lines’. In mathematics, it could be a group who are struggling with fractions. This is often called guided group work and you will learn more about this later.

Within Wave 2, the group is set up to follow a programme that requires a series of regular sessions that probably take place outside the main lesson. A good example of this is where groups of pupils in Year 7 are selected to follow programmes designed to improve aspects of their literacy. You can learn more about this later in this module and also in the English module.

If you want to read more about group work in general, please read Unit 10 of Pedagogy and practice: Teaching and learning in secondary schools.