Research topic 

There are many terms used for teaching assistants in schools, for example support staff, special needs assistants and teacher assistants. In this presentation, the most common term teaching assistants (TAs) is used. TAs’ specific responsibilities in Sweden are determined locally by each school or principal. Even though TAs often work with students in need of special support, they seldom have formal training in special education (Lindqvist et al., 2020). There is uncertainty about their roles, and working conditions vary. 

The overarching aim of the research project “TAs’ mission in Swedish schools: How is it valued and by whom?” is to contribute to knowledge about TAs’ assignments in primary compulsory schools, including leisure-time centers, with a focus on students in need of special support. This presentation deals with one of the project’s theoretical questions: can TAs for students in need of special support be defined as a para-profession in the Swedish school system?

Theoretical Framework

Brante (2022) argues that professions are primarily held together by scientifically based practice, professional ethical associations, boundary work against other professions, and state legitimacy. The theory of professions aims to explain and understand the emergence and significance of professions in society. A para-profession assists a profession but lacks the qualifications to carry out various tasks independently. Legitimacy, trust, authority, and autonomy are fundamental to a classical profession, which carries central cultural values, for example in education and healthcare.

Research Design

In the research project, approximately 60 qualitative interviews are conducted with teachers, special education teachers, school leaders and TAs with the aim of contributing comparative perspectives on the roles and assignments of TAs in schools and leisure-time centers. The interviews are analysed with thematic analyses.

Preliminary Findings

From the analyses of the interviews emerges that TAs do not always have the right conditions to succeed in their work with students in need of special support. Generally, the group has low status and poor working conditions. TAs often lack the education and qualifications to work independently with special support. The group is not organized, lacks state legitimacy, and the assignments vary. However, there are also other views and a shared ambition that TAs should achieve a paraprofessional status in the school system. Examples from the interviews show perceptions that a more defined role, a clear mandate, professional development, and participation in pedagogical planning could lead to professional growth.

Relevance to Nordic educational research

The purpose of this presentation is to discuss TAs as a potential para-profession within the school system — a workforce that has expanded significantly over the past 10 to 15 years. Despite this growth, there is a notable lack of research on this occupational category within the Nordic context (Lindqvist et al., 2020).

References

Brante, T. (2022). Professions, science and the state: how science and practice are united in the contemporary knowledge society. Studentlitteratur.

Lindqvist, H., Östergren, R. & Holme, L. (2020). Elevassistenter i skolan: En forskningsöversikt. Pedagogisk Forskning i Sverige, Vol 25 No 2–3, s. 114–137.

Vi har studerat forskning som handlar om elevassistenters arbete för elever i behov av särskilt stöd. Syftet med studien är att undersöka elevassistenters arbete i en allmän och friare roll som resurs i skolan och om det finns forskningsstöd för den typen av insats. Genom sökningar identifierades 16 artiklar och resultaten i artiklarna användes för att genomföra en tematisk analys. Resultaten visar att elevassistenter i en fri roll agerar som (1) Undervisare av elever i behov av särskilt stöd, (2) Experter på elever i behov av särskilt stöd, (3)Stödfunktion till lärare och (4) Upprätthållare av en särskild elevsuppmärksamhet. Temana diskuteras, i ett relationellt perspektiv, utifrån riskeroch möjligheter med elevassistenters arbete med elever i behov av särskiltstöd. En slutsats vi drar av den granskade forskningen är att det är tveksamtom elevassistenter ska användas som primära undervisare för dessa elever.

I skolan ökar användningen av resurspersonal för elever i behov av särskilt stöd. ”Resurserna” innefattar främst elevassistenter, lärarassistenter och fritidshemspersonal, men även andra personalkategorier. Det gemensamma för personalgruppen är att den generellt sett har liten eller ingen utbildning för att möta elever i svårigheter. Trots det är det vanligt att resurspersonal, särskilt elevassistenter, anställs för att arbeta med elever i behov av särskilt stöd, men arbetsuppgifterna är sällan tydligt formulerade.

In Swedish, as in other languages, the words used to refer to disabilities and people with disabilities are manifold. Recommendations as to which terms to use have been changed several times over the last hundred years. In this exploratory paper we have used textual resources provided by Swe-Clarin to study such changes quantitatively. We demonstrate that old and new recommendations co-exist for long periods of time, and that usage sometimes converges.

The first book to address the issue of aging with a long-term disability, "Ageing with Disability" breaks new ground through its particular lifecourse perspective, examining what it means to age with a physical or mental disability and what the implications are of "becoming old" for people who have had extensive disabilities for many years. It highlights the meaning of care in unexplored contexts, such as aging parents acting as caregivers or mutual care by disabled couples, areas of disability studies that have, until now, been totally neglected.

What does it mean to live a long life and grow old with disabilities? Or to be an aging parent and still be a caregiver to a disabled adult child? These are questions discussed in this article, the aim of which is to show how a life course perspective adds insight to the lived experience of disability and ageing of adults with disabilities. It is argued that the time concept is fundamental to the understanding of the lives of disabled people. Results are presented which challenge established knowledge regarding disability policies, autonomy, body, biographical disruption and prerequisites of active aging.

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