Background: The increasing numbers of teaching assistants (TAs) and their widening role in English primary classrooms is part of wider international developments. Several large quantitative studies have been influential in shaping debate, but little qualitative research exists on TAs and the content of their activity in the key area of…

In many countries, teaching assistants are working in schools in increasing numbers. While they formerly supported teachers by completing low-level administrative tasks, they are increasingly playing a pedagogical role and working directly with pupils, particularly those with special educational needs. However, little is known about the quality of…

This study addresses the support provided by class staff in order to facilitate social participation of pupils with Down syndrome and peers in regular classes, and how they experience the interaction between the pupils. Data were collected through field observations of six pupils with Down syndrome in their class in mainstream schools, their six…

Authors in this paper present the design and implementation of daily routines in Slovenian kindergartens. Slovenian national document for preschool education, "Curriculum for Kindergartens" (1999), describes daily kindergarten activities (communication and interaction with and among children, use of compliment and reprehension, and rules…

The federal School and Staffing Survey (SASS) and Teacher Follow-up Survey (TFS) were used to examine the impacts of induction activities on beginning teacher turnover. This study excluded those teachers who moved or left schools for unavoidable and involuntary reasons, a confounding factor in previous research. This analysis revealed that three…

This study investigated the perceived benefits of five adolescents with an intellectual disability functioning as tutors or teacher assistants in physical education. Their personal experiences and interpretations were ascertained by interviews, video recording, photographs, and field observations. An interpretative phenomenological analysis…

This study examines impacts of mentoring and induction activities on beginning teacher turnover using the School and Staffing Survey (SASS) of 1999-2000 and the Teacher Follow-up Survey (TFS) of 2000-2001. In order to improve understanding of the influence of induction programs on beginning teacher turnover, three models are developed to achieve…

Based on a request from a local principal, this study evaluated how long it would take for third graders, who were reading at primer or first-grade level, to read at grade level; whether their reading gains would remain stable once they stopped receiving tutoring; and whether classroom assistants could provide the tutoring. Her questions were in…

Introduction: Children with CHARGE syndrome often experience significantly delayed motor development, which affects their performance in many motor skills and physical activities. The purpose of this study was to determine the status of physical education provided to children with CHARGE syndrome. There were five main areas of focus: (1) physical…

This study tests the explanatory power of Deci and Ryan's (1985) self-determination theory as a framework for describing how interactions between early childhood teachers and the systems within which their work is embedded influence motivation for professional growth and change in teaching practice. Fifty-four early childhood teachers and teacher…

Teachers, speech and language therapists, teaching assistants and nursery nurses are required to work together in a range of contexts in Foundation Stage (FS) school settings in the UK. In some cases these groups of practitioners are mutually involved in the implementation of a strategy or intervention and in the use of a particular tool or…

During the past 10 years in Australia teacher aides have been employed in mainstream schools as support personnel in special education intervention programmes, and their numbers are increasing. At the same time workplace reform in relation to inclusive education is impacting on their employment and deployment in schools to support students with…

Paraeducators are now recognized as important members of the learning and teaching team alongside teachers and other professional educators in schools. Other commonly used titles for paraeducators are Paraprofessional, Instructional Assistant, Educational Assistant, Teaching Assistant, Instructional Aide, and Aide. This article provides useful…

The research project presented in this article was designed to provide a better understanding of the stable and significant differences in the PISA results between two otherwise very similar Nordic welfare states, Denmark and Finland. In the PISA studies, Finnish students repeatedly achieve the highest Nordic (and partly worldwide) scores in e.g.…

This study aims to explore how high school students collaboratively solve problems in a web problem-based learning (WPBL) system in an 8-week digital logic course using discourse analysis. Employing in-depth interviews, this study also investigated the students' attitudes toward the WPBL system. The number of teaching assistants' responses had a…