Visiting Teachers’ Perceptions about Working with Teacher Assistants and Teachers

Abstract

This chapter looks at two stories from visiting teachers/consultants in settings that were extremely diverse; one situated in a remote community with indigenous students in Western Australia, and the other in suburban schools in two capital cities in Australia. Even though the settings and experiences of the visiting teachers/consultants varied greatly, several themes around working with teachers and teacher assistants in inclusive education emerged. As the visiting teachers/consultants were invited into many schools they had the opportunity to view practices in a range of settings. They came with few preconceived ideas about the constraints of particular workplaces and consequently were in a position to offer objective and pragmatic advice. The visiting teachers/consultants found that they were in a position to foster relationships between teachers and teacher assistants that led to practices which had the potential to improve educational outcomes for the students in the schools.

Citation

Hurrell, D. and Day, L. (2015), "Visiting Teachers’ Perceptions about Working with Teacher Assistants and Teachers", Working with Teaching Assistants and Other Support Staff for Inclusive Education (International Perspectives on Inclusive Education, Vol. 4), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 153-172. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-363620150000004007