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…

International discussion on inclusive education has managed to identify various contextual, process and individual factors having an impact on implementation. In addition, learning and support assistants (LSAs) have been found to be a key element in enhancing participation and learning for all students in inclusive schools. The present…

Creative drama has great potential and its implementation in education from pre-school education requires research, as evidenced by the number of scientific studies that have been registered in international research databases over the last ten years. The aim of the research was to examine the use of creative drama methods within kindergartens in…

Paraeducators play a marginal yet essential role in fulfilling teaching-related tasks in many international classrooms in China. In order to meet high standards of education, schools often provide professional training to paraeducators. However, in the training process, schools primarily focus on their own needs and rarely consider the personal…

Collaboration between educators is considered to be the key issue when implementing inclusive practices within schools. An open-ended questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were used to extend the current understanding of collaboration between teaching staff. The questionnaire was administrated to 167 classroom teachers, subject teachers,…

Inclusion is an expectation of all mainstream schools across England yet research into strategies concerning how teachers and teaching assistants facilitate effective inclusive practice remains limited. This study explores the enactment of Florian and Black Hawkins (2011. "Exploring Inclusive Pedagogy." "British Educational Research…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to highlight a paradox between inclusion/exclusion at the level of the organisation and classroom practices, as well as between general and disability/special educational needs (SEN)-specific approaches to diversity in the classroom. The authors recommend better alignment between school policies and teaching…

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…

Dominant deficit-focused discourses of autism have supported the use of specialised practices within education. This is despite the fact that recent micro-level research provides evidence of overlooked interactional competence in autistic children and problematises the idea of their unavailability to ordinary teaching methods. The aim of this…

Teaching Assistants' (TAs') roles in mainstream English primary schools continue to evolve. Research suggests TAs play a vital role in managing behaviour and can have benefits for both teachers and children in relation to supporting positive behaviour in the classroom. However, there is a lack of clarity in what constitutes TAs' role, particularly…

Aims: Video Enhanced Reflective Practice (VERP) aims to enhance the practitioner's awareness of the impact of their communication by reflecting on a film of their own practice. Whilst, the VERP procedure has only recently been developed, there is initial evidence of the success of video based reflection on practice. The aims of this research were…

Aim: Tablet technology can play a valuable role in supporting learning for primary school children, but its implementation for children in the early years or for with those with learning delays has received limited focus. The aim of this study was to enhance understanding of the interaction between child, technology, and conditions for…

This paper presents the findings of a 1-year efficacy trial of Maths Counts (MC), an intensive, individualised programme delivered by trained teaching assistants. The programme was delivered 3 times a week over 10 weeks. The sample included 291 Year 3 to Year 6 pupils (age 7 to 11) from 35 primary schools in England. Pupils were individually…

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…

Food practices are culturally and historically situated, and so are conceptions of 'risk'. Comparative studies of food practices can highlight these cultural norms and conceptions. In this article we will present results from a study that investigated food practices in Norwegian and French kindergartens with a particular focus on constructions of…