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Abstract
This study investigates Chinese general education teachers’ perceptions of teaching assistants’ (TAs) support for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). We administered open-ended questionnaires to 358 participating teachers and interviewed eight participants. The results showed that teachers perceived behavioural and emotional adjustment among students with IDD as a significant benefit of TA support. Students with IDD also benefited in social development, academic gain, and functional skill development. However, while most teachers were satisfied with TA support, they had concerns about limited independence, decreased social interaction, stigma, behavioural problems, and limited access to professional academic support for students with IDD. The findings highlight the urgent need to enhance the effectiveness of TA support by clarifying TAs’ responsibilities, providing systematic training, and improving the one-on-one support model in Chinese elementary schools.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1 In China, school psychology teachers (known as school psychologists elsewhere) are staff members with specialised training in psychology and education who work in elementary and secondary schools; they focus on students’ learning and emotional and social development in the educational process, provide psychological services, and promote students’ mental health and holistic development (Wang Citation2004).
2 Resource teachers are special educators who support implementing inclusive education in mainstream schools. Their duties mainly involve providing individualised support for students with IDD, consulting with the parents of students with IDD, training general education teachers, and various other tasks (Xie and Zhang Citation2022).