ERIC Number: EJ1321651
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0305-4985
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
The Impact of Working Conditions on the UK's Teaching Assistants
Oxford Review of Education, v47 n6 p787-804 2021
Teaching assistants (TAs) in the United Kingdom typically work with students with additional and special needs, including the most challenging and vulnerable pupils, in low paid, precarious roles. However, no research has examined how organisational factors such as job demand, control, and support can influence TAs' wellbeing, despite recent evidence demonstrating the importance of organisational factors to teacher wellbeing. Using a large-scale questionnaire approach, data from 2,957 UK TAs investigated the extent to which job demands, control, role clarity, peer- and management-support, organisational change, relationship quality, and student and parental behaviour contribute to perceived stress. Results show that job demands and control consistently contribute to increased perceived stress in TAs regardless of the phase of school in which they are based. There is also some evidence that TAs experience aggression from pupils and parents. For primary-based TAs, a broader range of factors contribute to stress, including levels of support and negative pupil behaviour. Implications are subsequently discussed, with reference to the TAs themselves and the culture of schools in which they work, as are suggestions of the implications for the children in their care. Suggestions for future research and intervention are also discussed.
Descriptors: Teaching Conditions, Teacher Aides, Well Being, Working Hours, Role Perception, Organizational Change, Stress Variables, Predictor Variables, Aggression, Student Behavior, At Risk Persons, Parents, Elementary Secondary Education, Special Education, Foreign Countries
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom (England)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A