Exploring Bilingual Paraeducators and Institutional Dynamics

• In Event: An Overlooked Educator Workforce in Schools: Investigating the Career Development of Paraeducators

Abstract

Objectives and Purposes: As diversity requirements in schools become increasingly important around the world, more schools are hiring bilingual paraeducators to meet bilingual students’ needs (Author, 2016b; Ernst-Slavit & Wenger, 2006, 2018). The rapid increase in bilingual students and the shortage of bilingual teachers (Wenger et al. 2004) is especially problematic at international schools in China. Monolingual English-speaking expatriate teachers, who are usually from western countries, are insufficiently prepared for the structural, linguistic, and cultural differences inherent in international schools in China (Cai & Hall, 2015). Therefore, expat teachers need assistance from local bilingual Chinese paraeducators in order to conduct teaching tasks in the classroom.
Chinese bilingual paraeducators’ face an increased workload due to expat teachers' reliance on them (Shi, 2020). The increased workload creates frustration and tensions within a school because paraeducators are not prepared to perform all of their assigned tasks (Gerber, Finn, Achilles & Boyd-Zaharias, 2001; Patterson, 2006). Thus, to ensure that paraeducators are prepared to complete these additional tasks, qualifications for paraeducator positions must be revised and adequate professional training must be provided. However, more often than not, professional training for paraeducators is designed based on preconceived notions about what paraeducators need to learn or what roles they will take on after the training. When planning these trainings, schools often fail to take the voices and experiences of paraeducators into consideration (e.g.,Walters-Remaly, 2003; Berger, 2014), and the resulting trainings do not reflect how paraeducators define their duties and rights, what they need from the position to excel in the job, and how they envision their professional pathway.

Methods and Data Sources: Drawing data from interviews and class observations, this case study examines the impact of an intervention to enhance the professional development and teaching practices of Chinese bilingual paraeducators. The study presents an analysis of three Chinese bilingual paraeducators’ self-positioning and teaching practices and their professional development goals in relation to the professional training provided by an international school in China.

Theoretical Framework: Informed by positioning theory, this study reveals how three paraeducators’ different self-positioning practices, which reflect their voices led to different responses to the professional training and different professional performances in their classrooms.

Results and Scholarly Significance: The findings provide insights into the complex dynamics involved in paraeducators’ responses to professional training. These findings advance our understanding of the multifaceted factors that influence the effectiveness of paraeducators’ professional training and provide evidence of the importance of including paraeducators’ voices in order to maximize the effectiveness of professional training provided by schools. This study also highlights how paraeducators, although essential to student learning, are marginalized and placed on the periphery in the educator power structure within institutions (Ernst-Slavit & Wenger, 2006). Paraeducators can contribute to school improvement if a school knows how to tap into their full potential.

Author

• Lijuan Shi, University of Maryland - College Park