Leading up to and during your assessment you need the continuing support of your school to ensure you have sufficient opportunities to meet the HLTA standards. Therefore it is important that your line manager is aware of what the standards require and the experience and opportunities you will need to have in order to provide evidence of meeting them. Crucially this must include the opportunity to develop the skills necessary to take responsibility for whole classes without a teacher being present. As part of the assessment process, your school has to confirm that you have been able to do this.
To ensure candidates receive the right support and guidance leading up to their assessment, we recommend schools appoint a mentor for each of their HLTA status candidates. Ideally, a mentor should be someone who has a professional relationship with you and is available to offer advice and support during the training and assessment process. A mentor should have knowledge of the standards and of the HLTA process.
Assessment for HLTA includes a half-day visit to the school during which the assessor will meet with the candidate, a teacher (in some cases, two teachers) and the headteacher (or delegated representative). Both the headteacher (or their representative) and teacher must be familiar with the HLTA standards and be able to answer questions relating to the breadth and depth of your knowledge, skills and experience.
