assistants for varying amounts of time. Within a secondary school a student may work with as many as six different teachers in a day but be supported
by the same teaching assistant, or a smaller group of teaching assistants, who will engage with them either 1-1 or in small group activities.
Consequently a deaf student may spend more time with the teaching assistant than with individual subject based mainstream teachers. The teaching assistant may also provide support for students’ audiological equipment and pastoral care away from the classroom. At the heart of the infrastructure in which we educate our children is the interaction between teacher and pupil, (Pring, 2006). Pring argues that teachers should therefore be placed at the centre of research into classroom practice. For students who receive substantial amounts of teaching assistant support, this infrastructure also includes the teaching assistant. The understanding gained from teaching assistants’ perspectives may, using the same rationale, provide useful insight into understanding the challenges for students learning within a mainstream setting.
The teaching assistant role has been the focus of a substantial amount of research however only a small number of studies have considered the role from the teaching assistants’ perspectives by engaging them in discussion about their own role. Such studies provide descriptive information (O'Brien and Garner, 2001, Sikes et al., 2007) and explore the collaboration between teachers and teaching assistants (Devecchi and Rouse, 2010). Other
studies that have sought the views of teaching assistants have involved answering questions designed by the researcher (Giangreco, 2010, Rose and O'Neill, 2009, Abbott et al., 2011). Recently teaching assistants have been engaged more constructively in the research process by assisting in identifying their training needs and evaluating the outcome of a resulting training programme (Butt and Lowe, 2012) and by undertaking research themselves investigating the sensitive topic of teaching assistant status within schools (Watson et al., 2013). The teaching assistants’ perspectives, however, remain underrepresented in assisting us to understand the nature of students’ classroom experiences. This study aims, in part, to redress this balance. In light of the limited research that might support this investigation the initial research question was established:
RQ1 How can the teaching assistants’ perspectives be realised? In order to ensure that the data truly reflects the teaching assistants’ perspectives of the mainstream classroom environment the following principles were identified. These reflect the nature of the classroom
and being able to ensure that the teaching assistants’ perspectives remain secure during the process of the investigation.
2.7.1 The complex social environment of the classroom
Classrooms are complex social situations in which there are many different interactions occurring at any one time and there are a range of influences that converge on the individuals within it. This investigation aims to consider the learning experiences of deaf students from a holistic approach that endeavours to reveal the nature of the interactions and influences. The first principle identified therefore is to ensure that the teaching assistants are able to reflect on the complexity of the classroom environment. They will need to be able to discuss the range of influences, the nature and impact of the different interactions and, within the remit of the investigation, direct the course of their conversation. This leads to the first sub question:
RQ1i How might the data generated reflect the complexity of the classroom learning environment?
2.7.2 Creating the opportunity to talk openly
The second principle arises from the need to ensure that the teaching assistants are able to discuss the experiences of the deaf students in an open and meaningful manner. There is no guarantee that they have received any formal training in respect of the role or had the opportunity to discuss their working practices in depth with colleagues. They may not have had the opportunity to develop their thinking about learning and educational practice or how it impacts on the students and deaf students. This will need to be taken into account. It will be important to provide the opportunity for the teaching assistants to reflect on and develop their understanding of learning in a dynamic manner that involves discussion with colleagues engaged in a similar capacity. This will therefore be an important principle. The impact of this process on the teaching assistants’ understanding of learning will need to be considered when reflecting on their perspectives to ensure a clear context emerges from which to develop an understanding of the deaf students’ learning experiences. This principle is therefore reflected in the following two sub questions:
RQ1ii What method will facilitate the realisation of the teaching assistants’ perspectives of deaf students’ learning experiences?
RQ1iii What impact does teaching assistants’ involvement in researching their own practices have on their understanding of learning?
2.7.3 Ensuring the integrity of the teaching assistants’ perspectives
The third principle to be identified was ensuring that the teaching assistants’ perspectives remain secure and therefore trustworthy throughout the study. Careful consideration was given to how the data would be generated, recorded and interpreted to ensure that the teaching assistants’ perspective was retained and not altered or filtered through my perspectives and
experiences. This ensured that a new understanding of learning could be developed in a reliable and trustworthy manner and is reflected in the fourth and fifth sub questions that address the principle from the methodological perspective and when triangulating the data:
RQ1iv How might the integrity of the teaching assistants’ perspectives be sustained?
RQ1v How do teaching assistants’ perspectives of their working
environment compare with that of the other educational professionals and deaf students within the same context?