| Summary: | A growing body of research investigating the role and impact of the Teaching Assistant (TA) has highlighted the possible detrimental impact that the quality of TA support may have on the academic outcomes of students (Blatchford, Russell, & Webster, 2011). Despite this, the literature offers few evidence-based, systematic suggestions of how the practice of TAs can be developed.
This study aimed to investigate the impact of Instructional Consultation (IC) on TA practice. IC is a collaborative, indirect approach to consultation, which seeks to address and develop the pedagogical approaches applied by adults (Rosenfield, 1995). As a secondary focus, the indirect impact on students supported by the TAs who received IC, was also explored.
IC was delivered to four TAs, who provided individual and class-wide support within a primary school. Using a Single Case Experimental Design, the impact of IC was assessed by collecting observational data on the strategies associated with the quality of TA practice, over a 3-month period before and after the delivery of IC. Additionally, TAs’ views around identified targets for their practice and student outcomes were explored using a Target Monitoring and Evaluation (TME) and structured interview approach.
Visual analysis suggested a positive impact of one TA’s use of two strategies; although an overall experimental impact across the cases was not evidenced. TAs reported through TME data that IC positively impacted their practice.
Repeated measures of students’ specified learning behaviours and TME data indicated a positive indirect impact, however questions around causality and validity of the applied measures limited the conclusions drawn from these findings.
Nevertheless, this study highlights the importance of investing in the professional development of TAs in order to support their role and the outcomes of students they support.
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