Profiles of Teaching Assistants’ Role Performance in Chinese Elementary Schools: A Person-Centred Approach

ABSTRACT

Using a person-centred approach, this study aims to identify teaching assistants’ (TAs) profiles in terms of their role performance levels and how these profiles are associated with TAs’ personal and job characteristics. Three hundred and eighty TAs from Chinese elementary schools completed the Teaching Assistants’ Role Performance Questionnaire. Latent profile analysis yielded three profiles: (1) the low role performance level, (2) the medium role performance level, and (3) the high role performance level. Multivariate logistic regression revealed that profile membership was associated with TAs’ personal and job characteristics (i.e. educational level, years of classroom experience, professional training received, and part-time or full-time status) in different ways. The findings contribute to the literature on TA role performance in an inclusive education context and have practical implications for improving role performance among TAs.

KEYWORDS:

• Teaching assistants
• role performance
• latent profile analysis
• profiles

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Zhejiang Provincial Philosophy and Social Science Planning Youth Project [Grant No. 24NDQN014YB], the Jiangsu Provincial Education Science Planning Project [Grant No. B/2023/04/04], and the Jiangsu Provincial Education Science “14th Five-Year Plan” Project [Grant No. JJZL/2021/06].