The practice of teacher aides in Tasmanian primary mathematics classrooms

This paper describes a pilot study investigating Teacher Aides (TAs) in primary mathematics classrooms. Three teacher/TA teams were investigated. The teachers were asked about the role of TAs in their classrooms, and the TAs were asked about their confidence in mathematics and in the desirability of professional learning. The TAs indicated a need to update their knowledge of mathematics content and terminology. It is also suggested that more research to investigate methods of assisting students with learning difficulties is required.