THROWN INTO THE FIRE: PERCEPTIONS OF PARAEDUCATORS

Students with special needs continue to enroll in the least restrictive environment (LRE); therefore, they continue to require more one-on-one assistance from paraeducators. Consequently, the demand for paraeducators continues across the districts. This qualitative study aimed to learn about the perceptions of paraeducators when working with students with special needs. The guiding forces used to guide the study were Dewey's Theory of Collaboration and Hargreaves and O'Connor's Collaborative Professionalism Frameworks. The participants included ten paraeducators, two general education teachers, two special education teachers, and two district-level administrators. The researcher conducted semi-structured interviews via Google Meet/Zoom and by telephone.

While past studies demonstrated that paraeducators performed their job better when guided, supervised, and highly trained by professionals, the findings of the study revealed that history continues to repeat. Despite the extensive studies of over 30 years regarding the perceptions of paraeducators, their experiences continue to be the same and their desires and needs continue to be invalidated and ignored. During this study, the paraeducators indicated a lack of training and/or support, collaboration, and guidance across the district. They voiced their desires for the district to provide (a) training and support upon hiring, (b) time allotted for collaboration, and (c) guidance throughout their day.