Enrichment of interactions as a form of support for the most vulnerable students
- Autores: Andrea Jardí Ferré
- Directores de la Tesis: Ignasi Puigdellívol Aguadé (dir. tes.), Antonio R. Bartolomé Pina (codir. tes.)
- Lectura: En la Universitat de Barcelona ( España ) en 2022
- Idioma: inglés
- Tribunal Calificador de la Tesis: Gerardo Echeita Sarrionandia (presid.), Judith Jacovkis (secret.), Mauricio López Cruz (voc.)
- Programa de doctorado: Programa de Doctorado en Educación y Sociedad por la Universidad de Barcelona
- Materias:
- Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
- Resumen
Improving educational support is a potential pathway on the educational systems’ journey towards inclusion. Therefore, optimising the support provided by teachers and teaching assistants (TAs) within schools is a critical aspect for inclusive policies and practices, as well as the support provided by the instructors of after-school initiatives. To this end, this doctoral dissertation aims at examining the interactions between teachers and non-teaching staff intervening in the educational support of the student body belonging to vulnerable groups in Catalonia. This doctoral dissertation is organised into six phases that comprise five studies that resulted in nine outputs addressing the two main lines of research: “Non-teaching support during school hours” and “Non-teaching support during after-school hours”. These nine outputs consist of two chapters of a book, five original empirical articles, and two dissemination articles.
In the first phase, a literature review was conducted to frame the present doctoral dissertation. This phase resulted in two chapters that define how supports are understood, emphasizing those that foster interactions between stakeholders. In the second phase, 12 semi-structured interviews were conducted with TAs, teachers and union representatives as well as a questionnaire (n = 101) to explore the role of Catalan TAs, their employment, and deployment. This study materialised into two articles. For the third phase, 40 semi-structured interviews were conducted with teachers and TAs from 14 inclusive Catalan schools. The third phase includes two studies, one that identifies the factors that characterise effective interpersonal partnerships between teaching assistants and teachers; and a second that shows how TAs and teachers manage situations of disruptive behaviour. A total of three articles were published about this phase.
The fourth and fifth phase comprise the studies about the support during after-school time. The sample for the fourth phase involved 1786 students, 126 instructors, and 238 teachers who responded to a questionnaire, and 46 debrief meeting reports from the after-school initiative teams. The outcome of this study was published in an empirical article, and it showed how this after-school initiative was deployed and which components can be optimised to improve their implementation. For the fifth phase, two questionnaires were conducted addressed at instructors (n = 158) and teachers (n = 191), six case studies with a total of 18 semi-structured interviews with teachers (n = 12) and instructors (n = 6), as well as 6 focus groups with students. The resulting article shows the interactions of this initiative in both school and after-school settings, emphasising the relevance of a collaboration between them.
Finally, the sixth phase consists of a global interpretation of all the results obtained, highlighting the main implications for theory, policies, and practices. This thesis provides a comprehensive view of the interactions studied between teachers and non-teaching staff. It provides detailed information on both the deployment of TAs and the present after-school initiative focusing on inclusive education, as well as on the interpersonal factors that influence teamwork or collaborative partnerships between the two. This helps to expand the knowledge on how to favour inclusive education.
Keywords: Teaching assistants, paraprofessionals, instructors, teachers, after-school, interactions, collaboration, teamwork, educational support, inclusive education
