Double standards and first principles: framing teaching assistant support for pupils with special educational needs

Teaching assistants (TAs) are part of a growing international trend toward paraprofessionals working in public services. There has been controversy over TAs’ deployment and appropriate role when supporting the learning of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream schools. Such debates have been transformed by findings from a large study of school support staff in the UK (the DISS project). The findings from this study show that TA support has a negative impact on pupils’ academic progress, especially pupils with SEN. The findings render the current system of support for SEN highly questionable: TAs have inadvertently become the primary educators of pupils with SEN. This paper sets out the likely explanations for the negative effects in terms of three ‘frames’ – deployment, practice and preparedness – and then uses these frames to identify specific implications for pupils with SEN. We offer suggestions on how to make the most productive use of TA support.

[1]  M. Brundrett,et al.  Managing LSAs: an evaluation of the use of learning support assistants in an urban primary school , 2004 .

[2]  Families..  Department for Children, Schools and Families , 2007 .

[3]  Valerie Wilson,et al.  An ‘Extra Pair of Hands’? , 2003 .

[4]  Andrew Howes,et al.  The impact of paid adult support on the participation and learning of pupils in mainstream schools , 2003 .

[5]  P. Farrell,et al.  The Impact of Adult Support Staff on Pupils and Mainstream Schools , 2009 .

[6]  C. Taylor,et al.  A systematic literature review on how training and professional development activities impact on teaching assistants' classroom (1988-2006) , 2007 .

[7]  Jeremy Roschelle,et al.  The Networked Classroom , 2004 .

[8]  I. Kessler,et al.  Support roles and changing job boundaries in the public services: The case of teaching assistants in British primary schools , 2004 .

[9]  Clare Martin,et al.  Deployment and impact of support staff in schools and the impact of the national agreement : results from strand 2 wave 1, 2005/06 , 2008 .

[10]  Robert M. Klassen,et al.  'After the Statement': Reading progress made by secondary students with specific literacy difficulty provision , 2001 .

[11]  Nancy A. Madden,et al.  Effective Programs for Struggling Readers: A Best-Evidence Synthesis. , 2009 .

[12]  A Webster,et al.  Special educational needs code of practice , 1994 .

[13]  Clare Martin,et al.  The Impact of Support Staff in Schools. Results from the Deployment and Impact of Support Staff (DISS) project. Strand 2 Wave 2 , 2009 .

[14]  P. Angelides,et al.  The role of paraprofessionals in developing inclusive education in Cyprus , 2009 .

[15]  L. Abbott,et al.  Developing inclusive schools: the pivotal role of teaching assistants in promoting inclusion in special and mainstream schools in Northern Ireland , 2002 .

[16]  Peter Blatchford,et al.  Class size, pupil attentiveness and peer relations. , 2003, The British journal of educational psychology.

[17]  Christine M. Rubie-Davies,et al.  Enhancing learning? A comparison of teacher and teaching assistant interactions with pupils , 2010 .

[18]  M. F. Giangreco.  Critical Issues Brief: Concerns About the Proliferation of One-to-One Paraprofessionals , 2009 .

[19]  C. Fraser,et al.  Children's views of Teaching Assistants in primary schools , 2008 .

[20]  Peter Blatchford,et al.  The role and effects of teaching assistants in English primary schools (Years 4 to 6) 2000–2003. Results from the Class Size and Pupil–Adult Ratios (CSPAR) KS2 Project , 2004 .

[21]  J. Dunn,et al.  added value or a familiar face? , 2007 .

[22]  David Reynolds,et al.  The effectiveness of the use of learning support assistants in improving the mathematics achievement of low achieving pupils in primary school , 2003 .

[23]  A. Lewis,et al.  Mapping a pedagogy for special educational needs , 2001 .

[24]  M. Takala.  The Work of Classroom Assistants in Special and Mainstream Education in Finland. , 2007 .

[25]  Gary Thomas,et al.  Working with teaching assistants: three models evaluated , 2005 .