Table Of ContentTeaching Assistants, Inclusion and
Special Educational Needs
This book offers the first collection of international academic writing on the
topic of teaching assistants. It serves as an indicative summary of current
research and thinking in this field and as a point of departure for future
research and development.
With contributions from leading researchers, the book draws together
empirical work on the deployment and impact of teaching assistants from
various perspectives and from a range of methodological approaches. It
highlights and celebrates the vital everyday contributions teaching assistants
make to their schools and their communities: from their role within class-
rooms to their moment-by-moment interactions with pupils and teachers.
The book examines the effect that teaching assistants can have on pupils’
learning and well-being, and considers issues of over-dependence on class-
room paraprofessionals and the unintended consequences to which this can
lead. Bringing together work from a journal special issue with brand-new
and updated chapters, the contributions offer insight into the liminal space
between educator, caregiver, behaviour manager, and facilitator of learning
and of peer relations, which characterizes the teaching assistant role.
This timely and important book will be essential reading for academics,
researchers, and students interested in special educational needs, disability,
and inclusion, and those interested in the wider topic of paraprofessionals in
labour markets.
Rob Webster is a reader in Education and Director of the Education Research,
Innovation and Consultancy unit at the University of Portsmouth, UK.
Anke A. de Boer is an associate professor at the Inclusive and Special
Educational Needs unit, University of Groningen, the Netherlands.
Routledge Research in Special Educational Needs
This series provides a forum for established and emerging scholars to
discuss the latest debates, research, and practice in the evolving field of
Special Educational Needs.
Books in the series include:
Inclusive Teamwork for Pupils with Speech, Language and
Communication Needs
Rosalind Merrick
Social and Dialogic Thinking and Learning in Special Education
Radical Insights from a Post-Critical Ethnography in a Special School
Karen A. Erickson, Charna D’Ardenne, Nitasha M. Clark, David A.
Koppenhaver, and George W. Noblit
Policy, Provision and Practice for Special Educational Needs
and Disability
Perspectives across countries
Edited by Peter Wood
Technology Use by Adults with Learning Disabilities
Past, Present and Future Design and Support Practices
Jane Seale
International Issues in SEND and Inclusion
Perspectives Across Six Continents
Edited by Alan Hodkinson and Zeta Williams-Brown
Teaching Assistants, Inclusion and Special Educational Needs
International Perspectives on the Role of Paraprofessionals in Schools
Edited by Rob Webster and Anke A. de Boer
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
Routledge-Research-in-Special-Educational-Needs/book-series/RRSEN
Teaching Assistants,
Inclusion and Special
Educational Needs
International Perspectives on the Role
of Paraprofessionals in Schools
Edited by
Rob Webster and Anke A. de Boer
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2023 selection and editorial matter, Rob Webster and Anke A. de
Boer; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Rob Webster and Anke A. de Boer to be identified as the
authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their
individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77
and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
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retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-1-032-20859-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-20862-6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-26558-0 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003265580
Typeset in Galliard
by SPi Technologies India Pvt Ltd (Straive)
Contents
List of figures vii
List of tables viii
List of contributors ix
Acknowledgements xiv
Introduction 1
ROB WEBSTER AND ANKE A. DE BOER
PART I
Teaching assistants and schools 9
1 Paraprofessional support in Irish schools: From special needs
assistants to inclusion support assistants 11
YU ZHAO, RICHARD ROSE AND MICHAEL SHEVLIN
2 In-between special needs teachers and students:
Paraprofessionals’ work in self-contained classrooms
for students with intellectual disabilities in Sweden 29
DANIEL ÖSTLUND, THOMAS BAROW, KAJSA DAHLBERG AND
ANETTE JOHANSSON
3 The ambiguous role of paraprofessionals in inclusive
education in Germany 46
ANIKA LÜBECK AND CHRISTINE DEMMER
PART II
Teaching assistants and pupils 59
4 Inclusion moments for students with profound
intellectual and multiple disabilities in mainstream schools:
The teacher assistant’s role in supporting peer interactions 61
INEKE HAAKMA, ANKE A. DE BOER, SANNE VAN ESCH,
ALEXANDER E. M. G. MINNAERT AND ANNETTE A. J. VAN DER PUTTEN
vi Contents
5 Give them wings to fly: Critiquing the special needs
assistants scheme through the lens of pupil independence 85
CLAIRE GRIFFIN AND PETER BLATCHFORD
6 The perspectives and experiences of children with special
educational needs in mainstream primary schools regarding
their individual teaching assistant support 104
HAYLEY PINKARD
PART III
Teaching assistants and teachers 123
7 Teaching assistants and teachers providing instructional
support for pupils with SEN: Results from a video study
in Swiss classrooms 125
FRANZISKA VOGT, ANNETTE KOECHLIN, ANNINA TRUNIGER
AND BEA ZUMWALD
8 The role of teaching assistants in managing behaviour
in inclusive Catalan schools 143
ANDREA JARDÍ, IGNASI PUIGDELLÍVOL, CRISTINA PETREÑAS
AND DORYS SABANDO
9 Secondary teachers’ perspectives on their work with
teacher assistants 158
CLAIRE JACKSON, UMESH SHARMA AND DELPHINE ODIER-GUEDJ
PART IV
The past, present and future of research on
teaching assistants 175
10 Maslow’s Hammer: Teacher assistant research and
inclusive practices at a crossroads 177
MICHAEL F. GIANGRECO
11 Conclusion: Researching teaching assistants: What have
we learned and where do we go next? 194
ROB WEBSTER
Index 208
Figures
2.1 Paraprofessionals self-reported knowledge about special needs
teachers’ educational planning for a school week (N = 60) 35
2.2 Paraprofessionals self-reported knowledge about content
in the curriculum (N = 60) 37
4.1 Initiatives by students with profound intellectual
and multiple disabilities 71
4.2 An example of student initiations (student 3) 72
4.3 Initiatives by peers 73
4.4 An example of peer initiations (student 5) 75
4.5 Initiatives by teaching assistants 76
4.6 An example of TA initiations (student 6) 77
6.1 Thematic analysis themes and sub-themes 110
6.2 ‘What is my TA like’ 1 111
6.3 ‘What is my TA like’ 2 112
6.4 ‘My ideal TA’ 114
10.1 On the brink 180
10.2 Island in the mainstream 183
Tables
1.1 Individuals interviewed in each case study school (N = 538) 16
4.1 Students’ characteristics 65
4.2 Coding scheme 66
4.3 Description of inclusion moments 68
5.1 Total special needs assistants classroom context across all cases 90
5.2 Total frequency of interaction data across all cases,
comparing target pupil interactions with comparison pupil
interactions 91
5.3 OPTIC schedule observation data for target pupils across
all cases, as sourced from Griffin (2018, 198) 92
5.4 Type of academic task undertaken by target pupils across all
observed lessons (n = 77) 92
6.1 Participant information 107
7.1 Types of individual support, coding scheme and examples 132
7.2 Content of instructional support, coding scheme and
examples 133
7.3 Individual support distinguished in minutes by type
and TA versus teacher in the two models and in total 134
7.4 Content of instructional support for pupils with SEN,
descriptives and differences 135
7.5 Instructional support provided by TA and teacher for
different attainment groups during individual seatwork in
classes where TAs are employed for the whole class 136
8.1 Coding categories and sub-codes 147
Contributors
Thomas Barow is an associate professor of Education in the Department of
Education and Special Education, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. In
his research, he examines questions of inclusion in education in interna-
tional and historical dimensions.
Peter Blatchford is an emeritus professor in Psychology and Education at
the UCL Faculty of Education and Society, directed research programmes
on the deployment and impact of support staff in schools (DISS), the
educational effects of class size differences and pupil adult ratios (CSPAR),
collaborative group work (SPRinG) and projects on grouping practices in
schools, school recess/breaktimes, and the educational experiences of
children with Special Educational Needs in primary and secondary
schools. He has recently completed a three-year Leverhulme-funded
Major Research Fellowship. His publications include Rethinking Class
Size (2020) and The Child at School: Interactions with Peers and Teachers
(2016).
Anke A. de Boer works as an associate professor at the University of
Groningen, at the Inclusive and Special Needs Education unit. Besides
this, she works for the Regional Expertise Centre for Northern
Netherlands, an organisation for special education. Her work focuses on
special educational needs and influencing factors on policy, teacher, and
student level.
Kajsa Dahlberg is a special needs teacher for students with intellectual disa-
bilities. She is a postgraduate in special needs training with specialization
in learning disabilities. She holds a degree of master of science with a
major in education with specialization in special education at Gothenburg
University, Sweden.
Dr. Christine Demmer holds a junior professorship in Qualitative Research
Methods and School Inclusion in Educational Science at Bielefeld
University. Her research interests include methodologies and methods of
qualitative educational and biographical research, pedagogical action in
the context of inclusion and heterogeneity, and inclusive teacher training.
