Abstract

There is a lack of research on the role of paraprofessionals in schools and most of the research that has been done was done in the United States. There seem to be many advantages to paraprofessionals working with children with special needs, however, there are many issues as well on the roles of paraprofessionals (Giangreco, Edelman, Luiselli & MacFarland, 1997; Giangreco, 2003). The current qualitative study used a phenomenological action research approach to explore and understand their roles as well the advantages and disadvantages of the role of paraprofessionals in schools in this particular school board. The study interviewed six paraprofessionals, one administrator, two teachers, one special needs teacher, two sets of parents, two children with special needs and two atypical children. Data from this study supported the idea that, similarly to the United States (Patterson, 2006), while there were many advantages to working with paraprofessionals in schools, there are also many barriers and disadvantages with respect to the implementation of the paraprofessionals and the way inclusion is currently being organized and implicated.