What is a Higher Level Teaching Assistant (HLTA)?
HLTAs are school support staff, usually with more than two years experience, who are trained and assessed to work at a higher level of professionalism. In a primary school they might be working helping a small group of very able pupils on some advanced maths. In a secondary school, they might help a group with recording and graphing the results of a science experiment. The benefit is that they are a highly able extra classroom help who can free a teacher up to do what they do best: which is teaching children. HLTAs work closely with teachers, complementing their role and freeing them up to have more time to develop each child to his or her potential, but teachers remain firmly in control of pupils learning.
