Internationally, teacher assistants (TAs) have emerged as a prominent feature of inclusive educational service delivery and existing research has focused extensively on their roles, training and supervision. In the context of this special issue on TAs, this article describes reasons why relying extensively on TAs as a central feature of inclusive…

In this article, I summarise the primary content included in a keynote address I delivered via videoconferencing in July 2012 at the national conference of the "Australian Association of Special Education", held jointly with the annual conference of the "Tasmanian Principals Association" in Hobart, Tasmania. The address focused…

The deployment of increasing numbers of teacher assistants (TAs) to support students, especially those with disabilities or other special needs, presumably has been perpetuated with benevolent intentions meant to help both students and teachers. Given the contemporary emphasis on theoretically grounded and evidenced-based approaches in education,…

A primary responsibility of general and special educators is to teach students how to read. In inclusive classrooms, paraprofessionals are frequently utilized to support literacy instruction. Paraprofessionals can be employed to help improve the reading skills of students with disabilities and those who are considered at risk. This article…

Observations and interviews in 16 classrooms concerning proximity of instructional assistants to students with disabilities found: (1) interference with general educator responsibility; (2) separation from classmates; (3) dependence on adults; (4) impact on peer interactions; (5) limitations on receiving competent instruction; (6) loss of personal…