ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by considering the growth in teaching assistant (TA) numbers and the debate about their effectiveness. It discusses TAs with a general role, followed by those assigned to individuals and considers issues related to TA training and development. In many countries, TAs have been used increasingly to support individual children with special needs and to enable them to attend mainstream school. The changing roles of support staff are also a key theme of research by Barkham, who identifies introduction of the Literacy and Numeracy Strategies as a factor in increasing the involvement of TAs with learning. Several research projects have focused on TAs assigned to work with a particular class. An example is a project in Scotland reported by Woolfson and Truswell, in which additional assistants were placed in primary schools in disadvantaged areas. The aims of the project were to improve the quality of learning, impact positively on pupils’ personal and social development and encourage parental involvement.
