Sharing Student Projects

The main aim of the project was to gain insight into the experiences and perceptions of TAs working in mainstream secondary schools supporting children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). To fulfil this aim, the researcher explored how teaching assistants (TAs) viewed their ability to do the role effectively, the support they received to do so and their perceptions of the impact of contextual demands in the secondary school setting. The target population was TAs employed in mainstream secondary schools who had at least one year of experience working directly with children with a formal diagnosis of ASD. Using volunteer sampling, the researcher was able to recruit six participants for the project, aged 23-63, whose time in the role ranged from 1.5-25 years. The researcher employed a qualitative design which aimed to collect rich and meaningful data from them. To achieve these aims, the researcher used semi-structured interviews which provided some structured questions, as well as allowing for elaboration from the participants during the interviews. Each participant took part in an interview ranging from 27–43-minutes in length, of which were held online over Zoom. Prior to participating in the interviews, everyone had read an information sheet including details of the study, before filling out a consent form. Participants were debriefed after each interview, and their responses were then transcribed and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis (RTA). The findings highlighted that TAs felt there was a lack of specialised training offered to them for their role, as well as inconsistencies in its quality and frequency of delivery, supporting previous research (Page & Ferrett, 2018; Walker & Smith, 2015). They also expressed a distinct lack of support from the wider school, specifically tensions between teachers and TAs, attributed to a blurring of boundaries (Geeson & Clarke, 2022). TAs spoke about the consequent impact on their confidence and ability, which is of importance, as in previous literature TAs with higher levels of self-confidence were more able to support children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) effectively (Kim & Seo, 2018). In summary, the participants overall felt that to increase their confidence and effectiveness in supporting the academic and emotional needs of children with ASD, they required further training and more support from the wider school. The participants responses also implied the need for a change in educational policy and school structures to increase TAs wages and have clearer guidelines on their deployment in classrooms. To ensure these changes can be made, further research should investigate the experiences and perceptions of TAs on a larger scale and aim to generate findings which are generalisable and can be used to enact policy changes nationwide.

The findings from this research project have the potential to impact multiple different areas of education and society. Schools and teachers could benefit from the suggestion for improved clarity in educational policy in defining the TA role and the deployment of TAs in the classroom. If the boundaries between teacher and TA could be more defined, then each party would know how to work together effectively, therefore creating a more conducive learning environment. This could increase the effectiveness of TA support and has the possibility to improve teacher's workload and stresses if TAs could effectively alleviate some of the pressures. Collectively, this would improve the classroom environment exponentially. In addition, this has potential benefits for students. If TA deployment is improved, SEND provision will become more effective and therefore students with ASD and SEND will see an increase in the quality of support they are provided with. Clarifying the role of the TA and teacher in the classroom may also help to improve inclusion and ensure that students with SEND are being provided with the support they need, whilst ensuring they are integrated in the classroom. This would ensure they are benefitting from the direct support and teaching from the teacher. Finally, societally this research could have an impact on the perceptions and the value of TA support. In highlighting the experiences of TAs in their role, it provides greater understanding of the role and that perhaps TAs deserve more acknowledgement for their work. This could impact TAs directly as this recognition could lead to pay increases and encouragement of a redefining of the role which accurately aligns with their inflated responsibilities.