The Role of Teaching Assistants in Meeting Special Educational Needs at Mainstream Schools

Abstract

Legislative developments endorsing inclusive education have led to an increased
role of school support staff. The paper explores the policies and practices related
to the deployment of teaching assistants as a means of facilitating the inclusion of pupils
with special educational needs in England. A special attention is paid to the debate
about the role of teaching assistants and their reportedly adverse effect on pupils’ academic
achievements, as well as to some possible pathways to improvement. The analysis finds
flaws in the deployment of teaching assistants, the training of school staff, the organization
of classroom practice, and in the defining of roles within the teaching body. These
controversial findings, however, do not come to mean that the increasingly inclusive
system of education can function properly without teaching assistants, but that important
decisions have to be made concerning the way the system utilizes this resource.