Abstract

This article presents results from a cultural comparative research on the issue of teaching assistants’ and comparable (para-)professionals role in the international context on Inclusive Education. Due to the increasing expectations towards schools to work inclusive, in the last years assistant roles have been an important topic of educational research. On the basis of interview data collected in the UK, Canada and Germany especially the varying conditions of (para-)professionals’ practice in inclusion oriented lessons and their professional self-perception are interpreted and internationally compared. Referring to the theoretical concept of professionalism by Ulrich Oevermann, the significance of the working alliance between teaching assistants and students for (para-)professionals self-perception is analysed. As the interpretations point out, teaching assistants’ professional roles depend on locally varying structural conditions, but in all three countries are strongly associated with a struggle for increasing autonomy.

• Points of Interest

• This article focuses on professionals in schools, whose task it is to help students with assigned Special Educational Needs, for instance “teaching assistants” or “integration aids”.

• We analyse the role of teaching assistants in Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany. Our interpretations base on interviews which have been conducted with teaching assistants in those countries.

• We will make clear that it is important for assistants to work autonomously. However, in some countries they are expected to mainly support individual students (Germany) and in others they shall primarily support teachers (United Kingdom, Canada).

• Our analysis shows the tendency of regular education to delegate the therapeutic dimension of its practice. This means that, internationally, increasing employment of assistants could contribute to teachers’ de-professionalisation and undercut the aim of inclusion.

摘要

本文介绍了在全纳教育的国际背景下，对助教和可比（副）专业人员角色问题的文化比较研究的结果。由于对学校包容性工作的期望越来越高，在过去几年中，助理角色一直是教育研究的重要课题。根据在英国、加拿大和德国收集的采访数据，特别是（准）专业人士在包容性课程中的不同实践条件及其专业自我认知进行了解释和国际比较。借鉴乌尔里希·奥弗曼（Ulrich Oevermann）的专业化理论概念，分析了助教与学生工作联盟对（准）专业人士自我认知的意义。正如解释所指出的，

• 兴趣点

• 本文重点关注学校的专业人士，他们的任务是帮助有特殊教育需要的学生，例如“助教”或“整合辅助”。

• 我们分析了加拿大、英国和德国助教的作用。我们的解释基于对这些国家的助教进行的采访。

• 我们将明确助手自主工作的重要性。然而，在一些国家，他们主要支持个别学生（德国），而在其他国家，他们主要支持教师（英国、加拿大）。

• 我们的分析表明，常规教育倾向于将其实践的治疗维度委托给他人。这意味着，在国际上，增加助理的就业可能会导致教师的去专业化并削弱包容性的目标。