ERIC Number: EJ1466244
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Apr
Pages: 41
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0013-161X
EISSN: EISSN-1552-3519
Available Date: 0000-00-00
The Relational Space of Teacher Aides and Teachers: The 'Ins' and 'Outs' of Inclusive Education
Claire Sinnema1; Joelle Rodway2; Jude MacArthur1; Rachel Cann1
Educational Administration Quarterly, v61 n2 p282-322 2025
Inclusive education is vital for the rights of all children to education to be met and teacher aides are key players in inclusive education efforts. But inclusive education policy aspirations, like other policies, often fail to be fully realised. In this article we focus on the inclusion of teacher aides in educational networks and the extent to which both teacher aides and teachers can access, borrow, and leverage each other's resources. Our investigation drew on social capital theory and social network analysis to provide insights into this aspect of inclusive education. We administered a social network survey to 701 educators in two communities of learning--comprising four and eight schools respectively. Our analysis involved whole network statistics, analysis of TA-inclusive dyads, centrality measures, statistical tests of the centrality measures, core-periphery analyses, and sociograms. We found that patterns of relational activity between TAs and other educators were low; connections (of any kind) were infrequent. While teacher aides were accessible to others from a network perspective, people did not directly access them. They were, despite policy aspirations to the contrary, rarely considered valued sources of knowledge and expertise or identified as collaborators. In most schools, teacher aides were on the periphery of the network. It is clear that ambitious and well-intentioned inclusive education policies are not yet working as intended. We argue for the vital contribution of the relational space--the relational ties amongst teachers and teacher aidesĀ--to realizing inclusive education goals. In turn, we argue for educational leadership focused on belonging and inclusion not only for students, but also for all of the adults who support inclusive education aspirations in school communities.
Descriptors: Inclusion, Foreign Countries, Students with Disabilities, Academic Accommodations (Disabilities), Educational Policy, Teacher Attitudes, Teacher Aides, Elementary School Teachers, Middle School Teachers, High School Teachers, Social Networks, Communities of Practice, Interprofessional Relationship
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: https://sagepub-com.bibliotheek.ehb.be
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education; Junior High Schools; Middle Schools; Secondary Education; High Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: New Zealand
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1Faculty of Arts and Education, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand; 2Mitch and Leslie Frazer Faculty of Education, Ontario Tech University, Oshawa, Canada