Bryan Slater Director of Education	Distribution
	To Headteachers of all Norfolk LEA schools and other EDU offices.

The attached document is provided for your information:

INFORMATION	Title	Higher Level Teaching Assistants (HLTA)
	Summary of contents	An outline of the arrangements for the training and assessment of HLTAs, and the proposals for the allocation of funding.
	Associated documents	TTA standards for HLTAs (available at www.tta.gov.uk/hlta) Approved training and assessment providers for HLTA status (available at www.hlta.gov.uk)
	Date	29 March 2004
	Effective from	1 April 2004
	LEA Contact	Roger Eagle	(	01603 433276
	E-mail address	roger.eagle@norfolk.gov.uk
	Norfolk Self Review reference	3. How well are pupils taught? 5. How well does the school care for its pupils? 7. How well is the school led and managed? 8. How well does the school use its resources?
	Document reference	MI 80/04

Dear Headteacher,

Higher Level Teaching Assistants (HLTA)

You will be aware that the Teacher Training Agency (TTA) has been developing plans for the training and assessment of teaching assistants who wish to achieve HLTA status. The arrangements for this are becoming clearer and I am writing to let you and your teaching assistants know the latest information from the TTA and the LEA’s current position.

In the first year, there will be two training routes for HLTA status:

· Route 1 will be for teaching assistants who are already working at, or close to, the level of the standards set by the TTA (available on the TTA website at www.tta.gov.uk/hlta). This will be a 3 day assessment-only programme.

· Route 2 is designed for teaching assistants with less experience and expertise. This will involve 50 days of training.

Funding and selection criteria

The LEA has been allocated funding to support HLTA training. Training will be available from the TTA’s list of approved providers which can be found at www.hlta.gov.uk from 31 March 2004. It is expected that many teaching assistants will wish to apply for this training and it is unlikely that the funding available will be able to meet the demand fully in the first year. However, the TTA have indicated that funding for the next two years will rise significantly.

The TTA requires LEAs to allocate about half of the funding to each of the two routes. The initial costings indicate that we should be able to fund about 100 teaching assistants on the short Route 1 and about 25 on the longer Route 2.

The TTA also requires the LEA to set clear criteria for selecting teaching assistants to receive funding for training. These criteria must include those set nationally by the TTA as well as any local priorities. The TTA strongly recommends that applicants for the 3-day assessment-only programme should have achieved a qualification in English and mathematics at least equivalent to level 2 of the National Qualifications Framework, for example, GCSE A–C or a pass in the national adult literacy and numeracy tests.

The TTA will be running workshops for LEAs in the near future when guidance on identifying these selection criteria will be further clarified. Following this, we will be consulting with headteacher representatives as well as representatives of school support staff in deciding the selection criteria. We expect these consultations to take place early in the Summer Term.

Once agreed, the criteria will be made known to schools prior to the application and selection process.

The application and selection process

Some providers will offer training from April but the full choice of providers will not be available until September 2004. Consequently, we expect to invite applications for funding from teaching assistants in the Summer Term so that they can begin assessment or training in the Autumn Term.

Teaching assistants will apply for funding on a standard application form. Their application will need to be supported by their headteacher. A panel of LEA representatives and headteachers will consider the applications and allocate funding. Teaching assistants will be notified of the outcome of their application and, if successful, will then be able to register with the training provider of their choice using a national on-line registration form.

Further support for achieving HLTA status

Over the Summer Term, we will be exploring the possibilities of providing training for those teaching assistants who are not far away from meeting the HLTA standards but need some development before going forward to an assessment-only programme. We hope to include in this training programme staff who have responsibility for teaching assistants in their schools, so that they can provide opportunities and guidance for the development of the skills needed to meet the standards.

I know that many headteachers and teaching assistants have been keen to know how the plans for HLTA training and assessment are progressing. I hope the above information helps to keep you in the picture. We will let you know details of further national and local developments as they unfold. If you would like any further information at this stage, please contact Roger Eagle, Senior Adviser, at 01603 433276, Professional Development Centre.

Yours sincerely,

Bryan Slater

Director of Education