164 pages
244 x 170mm
October 2010
Foreword by Pat Sikes
'Must be good with gerbils and computers'
There are over 180,000 teaching assistants working in England. They are entrusted with a vital role in schools and are intricately braided into policy thinking about raising standards and reducing teacher workloads. In the National Workload Agreement they were tasked with routine, low-grade tasks, but today are increasingly used to stand in for teachers.
Supporting Stories investigates the lives and experiences of a small group of primary school TAs. Ethnography and autoethnography combine in this compelling inside-outside picture of classroom life, stitching together vivid stories feelings and history; pain, frustration and fun; everyday lives and everyday politics. The storyteller magically evokes real characters, settings and lives; the ethnographer offers deep insight and analysis to TAs and those who are considering taking on the role. No TA can be without this book, and it will be of value to teachers and teacher trainers, students on research methods courses, and everyone who would like to peek inside the primary school classroom.
Dr Celia Dillow worked as an assistant in six different schools in four towns on two continents before embarking on the ESRC funded research into the lived experience of teaching assistants that informs this beguiling and informative book.
