This paper draws on my experience working as a special needs support staff member in a special school in the UK for young people with social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) issues. The purpose of this paper is to share my understanding of practices that enable staff in an SEMH school to attend to the needs of their students. Although I have…

Educational paraprofessionals have had an increased presence in English state schools since the first decade of the 21st century, but research has been limited in terms of who undertakes paraprofessional roles, what they entail and how such work is perceived by others. This paper compares one such paraprofessional role, the learning mentor, with…

Educational "inclusion" has led to a debate about the appropriateness of special and mainstream schools. This paper adds to this debate by drawing on the concept of cultural hegemony to analyse the nature, purpose and value of special school physical education (PE). Eighteen individual interviews explored the perceptions of PE teachers,…

A survey-based investigation of teachers' concerns was conducted the following adaptation of Sharma and Desai's 'Concerns about Integrated Education (CIE) Scale' two decades ago. The terminology was adjusted and 'integrated' became 'inclusive', and 'Special Educational Needs and/or Disability (SEND)' replaced 'disability' in a novel 'Concerns…

The role and deployment of teaching assistants (TAs) (paraprofessionals) have changed significantly over the past decade; TAs in England hold greater responsibilities in terms of their wider role in classrooms and, specifically, in relation to their support for children with literacy difficulties in a primary school context. The impact of their…

There is a growing expectation that schools have a good understanding of attachment theory and its implications in practice, in order to meet the needs of Looked After Children, and other vulnerable learners. Derbyshire County Council's Attachment Aware Schools programme, now in its fifth year, is meeting this need by providing a substantial…

Paraprofessionals increasingly work alongside teachers in many countries, with research suggesting they undertake pedagogic roles for which they are not formally prepared. We investigate this from the perspective of paraprofessionals supporting individual children with special needs in primary schools in Cyprus and England and develop a typology…

The development of support staff was a key aspect of the Labour government's reform of the school workforce in England. As part of this strategy approximately 25,000 Teaching Assistants (TAs) gained Higher Level Teaching Assistant (HLTA) status and were deployed in schools in a variety of roles, often operating in a quasi-teaching role. The…

The literature dealing with the inclusion of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in mainstream schools has increased over recent years, propelled by the argument that it will improve the quality of life, educational performance and social development of "included" children. This area of research is currently an important one for…

Britain's 1981 Education Act stimulated a partial migration of pupils from special to mainstream schools. The onus has since been on teachers to meet the needs and capitalise on the capabilities of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in mainstream school settings. The research analysed learning support assistant (LSA) and…

This article describes how seven schools in England improved their science provision by focusing on the professional development of their science technicians. In September 2013, the Gatsby Charitable Foundation funded the National Science Learning Centre to lead a project connecting secondary schools with experienced senior science technicians…

Learning support assistants (LSAs) gained more political and academic attention in Britain after Estelle Morris announced that schools of the future would include more trained staff to support learning to higher standards. LSAs, thus, should form an integral part of the culture of all school departments in Britain, including physical education…

Pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) have the greatest need for excellent teaching and are entitled to provision that supports achievement at, and enjoyment of, school. The attainment gap between pupils with SEND and their peers is twice as big as the gap between pupils eligible for free school meals and their peers.…

This 'best available evidence' review was commissioned by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) in 2019 to inform the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Guidance document (EEF, 2020). This review was commissioned explicitly as a broad overview of evidence across a range of topics, with the intention that the EEF might then…

Research suggests motivational interviewing (MI) techniques can be useful in educational settings for improving motivation in disaffected pupils. This exploratory mixed methods study sought to investigate whether implementing an MI-based programme through school-based paraprofessionals would be effective in improving pupil motivation. Five pupils…