Provincial Teachers' Assistant Training Initiative
Working Together to Build A Strong Special Education in Ontario
The Provincial Teachers’ Assistant Training Initiative was a three-year capacity-building project funded by the Ministry of Education. The initiative was designed to enhance the ability of publicly funded school boards and authorities to better support their students with an ASD and related challenges. The curriculum was developed to equip Teachers’ Assistants with knowledge and understanding of ASD with a focus on building critical thinking and critical observation skills.
The implementation of Provincial Teachers’ Assistant Training Initiative was completed in June 2009. The Centre’s solid partnership with the Ministry of Education and the enthusiastic and strong participation of publicly funded school boards and authorities made this initiative a great success.
Highlights
- 77 publicly funded school boards and authorities, including 12 French school boards actively participated in the 3-year Provincial Teachers’ Assistant Training Initiative.
- By the end of the initiative, 10,400 Teachers’ Assistants (TAs) gained knowledge and understanding of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Translate that number into support in the classrooms and we can envision TAs who are more confident and effective in their role, more active in teaching team consultations and stronger advocates for their students.
- The training initiative was a big hit among participating TAs across Ontario. Of those who completed the evaluation form, 96% reported that the quality of presentation was good to excellent. 94% reported that the curriculum was relevant, useful and helped participants to enhance their understanding of ASD.
- A follow up survey was sent to participating TAs to determine if the training’s targeted outcomes of building critical thinking and critical observation skills were met and to find out the relevance and applicability of what they learned in their day-to-day work in the classroom.
Outcome of the survey highlights the following:
• 91% reported that the training enhanced their ability to be a critical observer.
• 92% reported that the training enhanced their ability to be a critical thinker.
• 98% of participants will apply what they learned from the training to other students they support who do not have an ASD.
• 90% of participants reported that the training enhanced their ability to provide helpful suggestions when existing strategies were not working.
• 97% felt that the training added value to what participants have to offer as Teachers’ Assistants.
- School boards such as Lambton Kent DSB and St. Clair Catholic DSB that are part of the Collaborative Service Delivery Model Pilot Project highlighted the importance of the training initiative in their ability to meet their mandate.
- Development of E-Learning website for educators that provides access to online courses and downloadable resources such as visual aids and tip sheets that can be used in the classroom right away. To date, E-Learning has 26,300 registered users of English site and 400 registered users of the French site.
- The implementation of the Provincial Teachers’ Assistant Training Initiative is an important component in the implementation of the Ministry of Education’s Accessibility Plan to meet the requirements of The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005.
