Analyzing the Transformation of the Teaching Assistant Role in Schools

This research paper investigates the evolving role of Teaching Assistants (TAs) in schools over the past 20 years. The study begins with an introduction to the historical context of TAs, primarily in primary schools, and highlights their increasing importance in both primary and secondary education. The methodology section justifies the use of a secondary-only research approach, detailing the data collection methods, including keyword searches and the ethical considerations. The literature review explores the existing research on the role of TAs, establishing how their responsibilities have changed since their introduction and identifying key shifts in their duties. The research analysis section presents the findings from the secondary research, focusing on the changing roles of TAs from providing classroom support and administrative to providing targeted academic assistance. The conclusion summarizes the findings, evaluates the impact of these changes, and emphasizes the ongoing significance of TAs in the education system. The report also discusses various types of schools like traditional public schools, traditional private schools, charter schools, and boarding schools.

Research paper - How has the
role of the TA changed in the
last 20 years?

Table of Contents
Title- How has the role of the TA changed in the last 20 years? ....................................................1
Chapter 1 - Introduction...................................................................................................................1
Rational and Debate....................................................................................................................2
CHAPTER 2- METHODOLOGY...................................................................................................4
Justification of approach.............................................................................................................4
Data collection method...............................................................................................................4
Approach for acquiring information related to your secondary research...................................5
Dates/time periods.......................................................................................................................5
Key word searches......................................................................................................................6
Ethical issues...............................................................................................................................6
Chapter 3 – Literature review..........................................................................................................7
Justifying a secondary only research approach for the topic......................................................7
Reviewing the literature that focused on the role of the TA.......................................................7
Establishing how the role has changed since the introduction of TA.........................................8
Identifying how the role of the TA had changed in the past 20 years........................................9
Chapter 4 – Research analysis.......................................................................................................11
Secondary research ...................................................................................................................11
Chapter 5 - Conclusion..................................................................................................................15
Evaluation.................................................................................................................................16
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................18

Title- How has the role of the TA changed in the last 20 years?
Chapter 1 - Introduction
Teaching assistants (TAs) were firstly introduced in primary schools. As compared to
secondary colleagues, primary teachers continue to gain much assistance from TAs for most
individual subjects and time along with the exception for modern foreign languages. Teaching
assistants are mostly utilized in order to help and assist Numeracy Strategies and National
Literacy within primary schools. In secondary schools, aspects of Mathematics and English are
also essential other than literacy. On the other hand, primary schools and TAs are believed to be
deployed for helping entire year or ability groups and the more critical issue teacher observed is
lack of time to make plans with TAs. In simple words, teaching assistants are adults who provide
assistance or support to teachers within the classroom. The duties of teaching assistants can be
different from school to school, from providing classroom support and administrative to provide
targeted academic assistance to small groups or individual people.
Various evidences suggest that teaching assistants can have positive effect on the
academic achievement. However, impact tends to vary among the studies where TAs provide
classroom support or general administrative. This on average is not presenting a positive
significance whereas those classrooms who get supported by teaching assistants show many
positive benefits. Nowadays, education is given with a high importance all around the world as it
helps in achievement of growth and development. Each and every individual needs to acquire
sufficient amount of knowledge through education and learning. The change in need and
importance of education has a great impact on entire structure of education system. There are
various types of schools which are developed in order to improve the education system. Different
types of schools are described as below -
 Traditional public school – Public schools are owned and operated through local, state
and federal government funds. The source and proportion of funding can vary from state
to state but only around 9% of traditional public education funding comes from the
federal government. These kinds of schools are required to abide by various standards.
Teacher should have appropriate license for working at public schools which are
generally managed and controlled by state in which they are located. Students attend a
public school on the basis of their location and they do not need to pay for tuition.
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 Traditional private school – Along with the development of education system, people
also started taking interest in establishing many private schools and institutions to provide
learning or education facilities to the public. Private schools are owned and operated by
individuals, there is no role of government such asfunding is not provided by
governement. This is the reason private schools charge fees to attend but this power of
private ownership provides them freedom to policies and curriculum. A private school is
categorized to be independent without any other special designation. After that, there are
endless options available for them. These schools can be operated as profit organisation
as well as non-profit organisation.
 Charter school – It usually offers an institutional hybrid, like traditional public schools,
charter schools are free of cost. However, parents need to submit an application in order
to enrol their child within a charter school and similar to private schools, they have
limited space available for students. Any organization or company can apply for opening
a charter school, if the states accept and grants their charter school, it will receive a
specific amount of funding for a limited period for example 3 to 5 years. If the school
somehow fails to achieve the goals or meet the performance expectations, their charter
school is not permitted to be renewed and it gets closed.
 Boarding school – A boarding school refers to a school which offers lodging and food to
the students. It is a community of scholars, artists and athletes. For creating such
community, most of the boarding schools need their students to stay on campus for
school year.
 Magnet schools – These schools are specialised in various areas like for example
science, technology or the arts. They are cost free public schools which are operated by
schools districts or group of districts. Magnet schools are very focused on maintaining a
diverse student population and are likely to have waiting list of students who are trying to
get admission.
Rational and Debate
The main reason for choosing this research topic is my interest in teaching and education
system. The changing structure and high demand of education is interesting and important to be
determined. I need to make a career in teaching sector which was the main factor that influenced
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me to choose this particular topic. Research will help me to increase my knowledge and
understanding in relation to teaching assistants and the way it is important to develop an effective
education or learning environment within a school. The role of teaching assistant has been
changing rapidly. The role of teaching assistants has shifted more towards providing education or
learning support. The demand of this work is competing with the time required for teaching
assistance for providing their traditional assistance for teachers such as preparing and managing
study materials. On the other hand, most of the schools still do not have developed methods to
evaluate the effect of support on achievement of people in literacy and mathematics.
Aim – “To investigate how role of Teaching Assistants has changed in schools over the past 20
years”
Research Objectives:
 To justify a secondary only research approach for the topic
 To review the literature that focused on the role of the Teaching Assistants
 To establish how the role has changed since the introduction of Teaching Assistants
 To identify how the role of the Teaching Assistants had changed in the past 20 years
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Chapter 2- methodology
In research, there are different type of methodologies that are included and these are
helpful enough to carry out the research in effective manner (Neuman, 2013). Selection of
methodologies need to be conducted properly and so that the research aim and objectives can be
covered effectively. Below given are the aspects that are covered in research methodology in
order to cover all the aspects that can make the research to attain appropriate outcome:
Justification of approach
Research approach can be determined as a valid part for any specific study for the
research area. In this context, approaches related with research of two types which are inductive
and deductive approach. Inductive approach does not involve any type of formulation for
hypothesis (Mackey and Gass, 2015). This is considered to be the process that starts from
research question, aim and objectives. In other words, specific details are focused on and then
general aspects are covered. On the other hand, deductive approach is used when certain set of
hypothesis is used in the research. This is needed to be rejected or accepted during the process of
research. In other words, main focus of the research to determine general aspects and then
specific details are covered. Among these two, the researcher has made use of inductive
approach as there are no hypothesis make. Further, main focus of the research is considering
specific aspects and then general aspects are covered. Apart from this, it also enables the
investigator to focus on aim and objectives that are set (Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault, 2015).
There are theoretical aspects that is being taken into consideration and all these enable to cover
the focused area efficiently.
Data collection method
It is important that proper information is to be gathered so that the research focus is make
in appropriate manner. So as to collect information, there are two methods which are primary
and secondary methods. Primary can be determined as a method for collecting information which
is gathered for the first time (Vaioleti, 2016). On the other hand, secondary method are those
information that are already being gathered by some other researchers. In other to collect primary
data, it includes tools like interview, questionnaire, group discussion, etc. For secondary data, it
consist of sources like books, journals, online sources, etc. In order to conduct this research, the
researcher has made use of secondary which is done by making use of journals, online sources,
books, etc. There are many researches that are conducted in similar topics and so gathering
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information from secondary sources are highly effective enough to gathered adequate data in
relation with research topic.
Approach for acquiring information related to your secondary research
There are different type of inclusion and exclusions done in order to make appropriate
searches for the research. Inclusion can be determined as set of predefined characterises that are
used to identify subjects that will be included in research (Silverman, 2016). On the other hand,
exclusion are the subjects that are not included in the research. Further, it can be stated that
inclusion criteria prospectus subjects that are needed to be selected. In accordance with the
inclusions and exclusions that are made are as follows:
Publications: All the articles that are published after 2010 are selected. There are selected
as secondary sources as these are helpful enough to provide adequate and reliable information.
With time, there are many changes that has taken place in relation with the type of teaching that
were provided to students. By considering journals of recent times it enables to make viewers
rely on the information (Flick, 2015). On the other hand, as exclusions the researcher has not
considered publications that were published before 2010 as there are articles that will not be
appropriate for the research.
Publication type: All the studies that are carried out originally are considered. These type
of study is selected as it enables to raise the reliability of the research that is being carried out.
On the other hand, study that is conducted through form of editorial or review are not being
referred.
Geographical locations: All the studied that are carried out for different countries are
taken into considered. There are differences identified in relation with the various countries and
so this is effective enough to gather adequate information.
Dates/time periods
In order to conduct the research in effective manner, there are different type of activities
that are needed to be considered. In this context, each of the activities set need to be completed
within speculated time period. In situations when any of the activity get delayed, then it has
negative impact over the research. More specifically, it will take up to 5 weeks time in order to
consider all the activities. Further, researcher has to make sure that all the activities are covered
within the set time period. Apart from this, there are certain cost that are also involved and when
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proper planning is not done, then it becomes difficult to complete them within the set time
period.
Key word searches
There are different type of key words that are taken in to consideration. These words are
helpful enough to find out relevant data which can helpful to cover all objectives set by the
researcher. Below given are the key words used for search:
 Role of the TA
 literature that focused on the role of the TA
 Changed in the past 20 years TA
Ethical issues
There are various type of ethical considerations that needs to be focused on. With this
respect, to gather secondary aspects it is important to make proper accounts so that all the related
journals in accordance with the research topic can be taken into consideration ( Neuman, 2013).
Further, all the information from secondary sources needs to be written in own words so as to
reduce the risk of plagiarism. Apart from this, details need to be properly referenced and
citations should be done. These are important to be considered so that information can be relied
on.
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Chapter 3 – Literature review
Justifying a secondary only research approach for the topic
The role of teaching assistant which has been changed for over last 20 years. The role of
expectations, strategy and working style of teaching assistants is changing continuously and they
are now focusing on more and more since the introduction of PPA time on delivering the
curriculum teaching the whole classes effectively. The secondary research approach for the topic
to collect information and data regarding the role of the TA which has been changed in schools
over the past 20 years is books, journals, articles, magazines and other sources from which the
information can be collected. The role of teaching assistants is changed in the present time just
because of the awareness towards education system of parents as well as children. In present
time, everybody is focused on improving education in order to increase knowledge and skills in
this competitive world. People are more aware now towards their children education system and
also the demand for effective and qualified teachers is increasing day by day. There are so many
schools, colleges and institutes are opened to provide quality education to students so that they
can achieve success in the future. The contribution of teaching assistant has a vital role in
development of children knowledge and skills. According to Birkland, (2015) there are fewer
chances of a teacher to pay attention towards everyone in the classroom that some of them
require extra assistance which can fulfil their needs and requirements of teaching effectively. In
addition to this, there are number of institutes and schools spends a lot of money to hire teaching
assistance for their students so that they can easily achieve better and effective learning. In the
past, student were normally assisted by teachers in classroom towards their studies and not much
attention was there to make an effective learning environment. Now, the time has changes and
people are more aware of education to make their children future bright. This will have a
pressure on institutes and schools to provide better learning and studies with the help of qualified
teachers as well as technologies.
Reviewing the literature that focused on the role of the TA
According to Cowne, Frankl and Gerschel, (2015) teaching assistant is often to take a
small group of children who requires extra support in order to make their learning better and
effective in an area, such as numeracy, literacy which is provided out of the class. The teacher is
not able to accommodate every student in a normal class that teaching assistant will help to work
with students with extra or special educational needs effectively. Teaching assistants provide
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support towards learning activities in nurseries and schools. They work with individual group of
children, pupils, on occasion such as during exam times and a whole class as well. A teaching
assistant support pupils across a range f different capabilities and abilities to undertake roles and
responsibilities that helps to save a teacher time such as preparing a classroom. The role of a
teacher assistant is important because a teacher is tasked with number of roles and
responsibilities towards students of seeing to it that the pupils learn their lessons well. They
support teachers and ensure that the pupils get the maximum benefits from the learning activities
within classroom that the teacher plans and strategies carries out of them effectively. A teaching
assistant act like a teacher and provide instructions, paperwork, lesson planing and efforts to
increase inclusive learning. In simple words, a teacher assistant assists a teacher with
instructional roles and responsibilities. Teacher assistants also are called teacher aides,
instructional aides, paraprofessionals, education assistants and para-educators. It can be said that
generally, teachers provide new materials and strategies to students in order to learn something
new and teacher assistant helps them to reinforce the lessons by working with individuals or
small group of students.
According to Haines, Deaux and Lofaro (2016) there are some key skills, attributes and qualities
possessed by an effective teacher assistant such as experience working with children, ability to
build good relationship with teachers, children and parents, better understanding of how children
develop, learn and acquire new things, creativity, flexibility, passion and energy. In addition to
this, team work is the most important asset for a teacher assistant. They also provide valuable
assistance to teachers in order to support and encourage students who needs extra help. The role
of teaching assistant can be one of the most rewarding careers available. Helping pupils to reach
their full potential and overcome difficulties is incredibly fulfilling. Teaching assistants can be
graduates, under graduates or students from high schools are also able to teach students in
nurseries and other primary sections.
Establishing how the role has changed since the introduction of TA
According to Hurst, (2016) the role has changed since the introduction of teacher
assistant that there are some main roles and responsibilities carried by a TA such as
understanding the objectives and learning goals of the teachers which are settled for students in
order to communicate course materials to them effectively. TA will help teachers to design the
course, construct tests, preparing materials, grade arrangements and may be in classroom session
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as well. This will help students to one on one to understand things better to have a better
understanding of course of materials provided by teachers effectively. In addition to this, TA
meets with professors and teachers as soon as possible to provide extra opportunities to children
so that can achieve success in the future. In this meeting, a clear set of expectations about what
should be contribute by TA to teachers as well as students is decided in time and along with
skills. Apart from this, it is analysed that the TA experience can be an outstanding way to learn
the art of teaching and to have a positive influence on many students. This will also have a
positive effect on students who wants to achieve inclusive learning to meet future success needs.
Most of the graduate assistants are not allowed to work more than 20 hours per week. Position
and programs will help them to work for 10 hours per week which is enough for a school to
provide better understanding of materials and course during the exam time. The employment
opportunities are also increasing for TA as the requirement of teaching skills and providing
inclusive learning is also increasing in this competitive world.
Identifying how the role of the TA had changed in the past 20 years
Knopf, (2017) described that the role of TA had changed in the past 20 years just because
of the awareness towards education system of parents as well as children. They are now more
focused on improving their children future so that they can achieve success in the future. In
present time, everybody is focused on improving education in order to increase knowledge and
skills in this competitive world. TA are not teachers but they play roles and responsibilities of
teacher and also assess the requirement of students as per the knowledge. People are more aware
now towards their children education system and also the demand for effective and qualified
teachers is increasing day by day. The role of TA had changed and there is another reason behind
this is that they are now becoming more professional and effective to provide inclusive learning
to students in order to fill the requirements accordingly and effectively. In addition to this, the
success of team work comes together as a team, keeping together is progress and working
together is success. TA will help students by providing extra skills and realise them that they are
capable of more than they know. This will also help to motivate them towards achieving success
so that they can possess more skills and knowledge which will help them to achieve success in
the future as well.
Royster, Gross and Hochbein, (2015) says that TA roles and responsibilities are equal to
a teacher or more than that. According to them, TA importance is now increased in the current
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time and institutes and schools are demanding for quality TA to assist their students in extra time
so that they can learn new things better and effectively. The most important benefit of appointing
a TA to students that they are able to solve their queries and issues within a time period which is
crucial to them in order to achieve inclusive learnings. This will also help them to increase their
skills, efficiencies and knowledge so that they can perform better in exam. The cost of TA is also
similar than a teacher that it is provided when it is needed or essential for schools or institutes. In
that case, it can be said that the performance and ability to learn something can be enhanced by
appointing a TA which will help students by sharing his knowledge and skills. This will also
help to enhance capabilities and learning habits of students which is beneficial for the schools.
Students between age of 5 to 12 learn things quickly as they are growing. This will help TA to
provide better things to them so that they can earn something and show their skills.
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