What does it mean to support? : a study of how education auxiliaries interpret their experiences of supporting children with additional support needs in mainstream classes using interpretative phenomenological analysis.

The study of how education auxiliaries (EAs) make sense of their experiences of
supporting children provides an opportunity to consider how support processes could
be adjusted, thereby enabling more effective practice. Adult support in classrooms
has been used extensively over recent years in the hope of removing the barriers to
education faced by some children. This area was chosen for study as, with such a high
level of both financial input and expectation, it seems appropriate that careful
consideration is given to the support process.
The subjective experience and perspective of adult support has had little previous
investigation. Through detailed analysis of interviews, this study seeks to illuminate
what it means to support children with additional support needs, what influences this
work, what EAs believe they are doing through support and what the outcomes are
that they hope to realise.
Three schools were approached and two participants volunteered from each school to
be part of the study. Semi-structured interviews were recorded and transcribed.
Interpretative phenomenological analysis has been used as it allows an in depth,
idiographic analysis of the participants' account, while acknowledging the
researcher's own interpretations of the participants' words.
The four analysed themes are; communication. interface and role perceptions
between class teacher and education auxiliary. development of and outcomes from a
genuine and reciprocal relationship with the supported child, judging the level of
support, fulfilment and engagement with the role.
I hope that this study affords greater insight into an experience that few other
professionals in education are a part of. As such, implications are outlined here for the
training of support staff and teachers as well as practice within schools.