The impact of teaching assistants on improving pupils’ academic achievement in mainstream schools: a review of the literature
- 20 October 2010
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Informa UK Limited in Educational Review
- Vol. 62 (4), 435-448
- https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2010.486476
Abstract
This paper discusses key findings from one aspect of a systematic review of the literature carried out by the Inclusion Review Group at Manchester University, on behalf of the Evidence for Policy and Practice Information (EPPI) Centre. The specific focus of this element of the review was on the impact of teaching assistants (TAs) (or their equivalent) on improving pupils’ academic achievement that had been measured in some way before and after a period of intervention/support from a TA. The synthesis of findings from the review indicates that the academic achievements of primary aged pupils with identified difficulties in learning, typically in literacy, improve significantly following a period of targeted intervention from TAs. However findings from studies, where support is of a more general nature and not directed at pupils with identified difficulties, are more equivocal suggesting that the presence of TAs in mainstream classes may not have a positive impact on the achievements of all pupils. These findings have major implications for the ongoing training, management, support and deployment of TAs in mainstream schools.Keywords
This publication has 15 references indexed in Scilit:
- The impact of early reading interventions delivered by classroom assistants on attainment at the end of Year 2British Educational Research Journal, 2008
- Effectiveness of Paraeducator-Supplemented Individual InstructionJournal of Learning Disabilities, 2007
- Paraeducator-Supplemented Instruction in Structural Analysis With Text Reading Practice for Second and Third Graders at Risk for Reading ProblemsRemedial and Special Education, 2006
- Learning support assistants can deliver effective reading interventions for ‘at-risk’ childrenEducational Research, 2005
- Modernizing the roles of support staff in primary schools: changing focus, changing functionEducational Review, 2005
- The effectiveness of the use of learning support assistants in improving the mathematics achievement of low achieving pupils in primary schoolEducational Research, 2003
- The effects of rime‐ and phoneme‐based teaching delivered by Learning Support AssistantsJournal of Research in Reading, 2003
- Partners-in-Reading: Using Classroom Assistants to Provide Tutorial Assistance to Struggling First-Grade ReadersJournal of Education for Students Placed at Risk (JESPAR), 2003
- A Comparison of Two Reading Interventions for Children with Reading DisabilitiesJournal of Learning Disabilities, 2000
- A MULTI‐ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECT OF TEACHER AIDES IN AN “OPEN”‐STYLE CLASSROOMJournal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1977