Background: Over recent decades, teacher aides (TAs) have had an increasing presence in mainstream classrooms internationally, providing vital support to students and teachers on a daily basis. Although the evolution of the role has given rise to many implicit and explicit shifts in TAs' responsibilities, opportunities for TAs to develop and shape…

This paper explores the reported practices of five specialist EAL/D teachers from a rural Australian town. They work with a cohort of refugee students from a single cultural group, who recently arrived in Australia with minimal English and with generally low levels of literacy in their first language. A questionnaire and semi-structured interview…

The youth learning re-engagement program known as the Titans Learning Centre (or TLC) is an approved alternative schooling program, developed in partnership with state education and a local National Rugby League (NRL) club, the 'Titans'. Students typically in Grade Three or Four complete a 10 week program, interacting with professional A grade NRL…

In 2009, the then State Minister for Education in New South Wales, Verity Firth, announced a plan to introduce bilingual education in four primary schools across the state for the National Asian Languages and Studies in School Program (NALSSP) priority languages: Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese and Korean. This paper reports on one aspect of a…

Twelve special education teachers and teacher assistants who have instructional experience using iPads with children with special needs completed a survey that queried their practices and perceptions. In general, teachers and assistants were extremely positive about the value of iPads for children with special needs, particularly for children with…

Disruption can be a result of a wide array of circumstances, but is commonly identified as a "control problem" in early childhood classrooms. In this article, the author argues that the recognition of disruption as a "control problem" is embedded in and governed by the social power and values entrenched in teaching discourses.…

This article focuses on factors that promote the use of appropriate accommodations for children with disabilities in early childhood inclusive settings. It investigates the kinds of accommodations that were used with two children who were educated in two settings--a mainstream classroom, and a small unit in which the majority of children were on…