Support staff: the role and effective deployment of teaching assistants in schools in England and Wales [IOE Research Briefing N°88]

These three studies address the deployment and impact of support staff – teaching assistants – in primary, secondary and special schools in England and Wales. The research challenges assumptions on the positive impact of support staff on pupil progress, including those with special educational needs. It also, on the basis of collaboration with schools, looks at alternative ways of deploying and preparing support staff to support positive impact. IOE Research Briefings are short descriptions of significant research findings, based on the wide range of projects carried out by IOE researchers