In our previous work, we piloted a specifications grading system in an organic chemistry laboratory course with 37 students. Our current work describes the scale up of that specifications grading system to a course with over 1,000 students. Strategies used for keeping the system manageable and mitigating the time commitment required to do so are…

The use of teaching assistants (TAs) is widespread in many education systems, but the ways that TAs can support learning effectively are poorly understood. Much evidence indicates that most TA support has no, or negative, effects on pupil attainment. A small but growing body of evidence shows that structured TA intervention programmes can be…

Given the challenges faced in enacting curricular expectations of developing intercultural communicative competence through the teaching of languages, this study reports on a language and culture assistants (LACs) programme that may offer a viable pathway for foreign language programmes around the world. We examine how local non-native speaker…

As a teacher educator specialising in special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in a large further education college in North-East England, a key concern of the student teachers is how to work with those other practitioners who provide support to learners in the classroom. A review of the literature, combined with my own experiences as…

Despite the needs for the facilitation for multicultural group work (MCGW) in classrooms in internationalized higher education, research on teaching assistants' (TAs) potential to facilitate MCGW has been lacked. This mixed-method study examined how a course design for activating MCGW, which strategically engaged TAs, influenced the social…

This paper reports a small-scale qualitative research project, carried out in the south of England. Ten children (aged ten-eleven) with a range of SEN, from mainstream primary schools, took part in individual semi-structured interviews about their TA support. Child-friendly interviews utilised toy props and a creative 'Ideal TA' activity to aid…

Aim/Purpose: This study sought to understand the views of both teachers and students on the usage of humanoid robots as teaching assistants in a specifically Arab context. Background: Social robots have in recent times penetrated the educational space. Although prevalent in Asia and some Western regions, the uptake, perception and acceptance of…

This paper reports on a faculty-wide investigation into the experiences of students requiring academic accommodations due to disability. Underpinned by the social model of disability and acceptance that universal design benefits the entire community, this study was conducted at a leading Australian university. A mixed methods approach was used to…

This research paper summarises the findings of a small-scale study that explored the experiences of emotional literacy support assistants (ELSAs) and the children with whom they work. Eight ELSAs and seven children were interviewed and a thematic analysis of the transcripts elicited key themes. The findings indicated that the ELSA-child…

The Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) programme is an evidence-informed intervention delivered by teaching assistants and supervised by educational psychologists. In this research, semi-structured interviews were conducted to investigate the impact of the ELSA programme on wellbeing from the perspective of pupils. A thematic analysis of…

This study was conducted on three students with special education needs and their 16 non-disabled classmates in the 2nd year of an elementary school in Cyprus where inclusive education is offered to them and their parents. In the mentioned inclusive education setting, student and parent opinions with regard to the effectiveness of reading…

The number of teaching assistants (TAs) in schools in the UK has risen in recent years, but there remains a lack of clarity about the roles being undertaken by these support staff. This article reports findings from a study investigating how the TA role is understood both by the pupils being supported and by TAs themselves. Eleven students with…

The notion of inclusion has gained momentum worldwide, with most countries around the world embracing inclusive policies in their educational systems. However, there is still an ongoing debate as to what is inclusion and hence, the consequent challenge of coming up with an agreed definition, which could then be used to plan for and subsequently,…

This report investigates students' perspectives on a sense of belonging, and the relationship between inclusive practices. It further considers the implications for Resource Teachers: Learning and Behaviour (RTLB) as they work in secondary schools to support inclusive teaching practice. The inquiry question, "How can RTLB effectively support…

CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning)--endorsed by the European Commission since 1996--constitutes the official approach to bilingual education in Spain. Intercultural learning (IL) is one of the four defining Cs in CLIL, though the literature has consistently described it as the weakest implementation area. This paper analyses the…