Introduction
In any society, regardless of the level of its socio-historical, economic, and cultural development, disabled children and adults are the most vulnerable in social terms. Inclusion is the active inclusion in the education of children with different starting abilities, regardless of their intellectual level, physical condition, and social, national, and religious affiliation. The distinctive feature of inclusive education and upbringing is taking into account the individual educational needs of all children, not dividing them into usually developing and special ones.
Joint education of preschool children with different starting abilities is acceptable if special conditions for upbringing and education are created in the educational institution. It presupposes obligatory interaction of teachers, para pedagogues, and children to achieve the maximum student result. There are different models of teaching children with disabilities, so it is imperative to investigate the peculiarities of interaction between para pedagogues and other educational subjects.
Type of the Dataset and the Sample Size
As the research progressed the interactions between teachers and paraeducators were examined. It was especially crucial to comprehend how paraeducators’ classroom experiences served as a stepping stone in their development as teachers and how these experiences affected their practice and their roles in the classroom. Variable names: age, race, degree status, years teaching, experience with IEPS, grade currently teaching, number of years working with paraeducators. The value designations will be calculated based on various indicators, the first of which will be age, which will be measured from 0 to 90. The sample will be White/Black/Asian/Caucasian/Latino. Education will include bachelors and individuals with master’s and doctoral degrees with zero to fifty years of teaching experience.
Correspondingly, knowledge with an IEP of 0 to 50 years from the first to the twelfth grade currently taught will be assessed. Teaching experience is likewise feasible from zero to fifty years. The types of variables here are ordinal and numerical. The sample size includes both teachers and paraeducators, four of each group. All the abovementioned variables are independent, while some are ordinal and scale. The sample size consists of teachers and paraeducators, four of each group. Further, the next variables, such as the satisfaction of the students in the class and the results of the test, are dependent. Five observations are enough to complete the study and interpret its results.
The Application of Variables
The data obtained is sufficient because all the necessary information is provided, the sample is formed, and on its basis, it is feasible to get raw data for further processing. Participants in the current study are four current elementary general education teachers and four paraeducators from a Northern California urban public school district. The researcher requested the school district to cooperate to enhance the educational process. Teachers who were interested in the partnership were contacted by email by the principals of the schools where the collaboration request had been approved. Experience performing with children with special needs and at least one year of cooperation with a paraeducator in an inclusive classroom were prerequisites for general education teachers.
Most earlier studies showed the interaction between special educators who had worked alongside paraeducators for many years since paraeducators were most frequently used in special education classrooms. The fact that general education teachers’ experience working with paraprofessionals varied may be due to the district’s inclusive policies. To guarantee that general education instructors had at least some experience with paraeducators before talking about the ratio of their work, a year was chosen as the baseline. Direct responses were received from potential participant-teachers asking to schedule interviews.
The former paraeducators were chosen to work in both inclusive and self-contained classes from an educational and behavioral support organization that had a contract with the school district. The researcher sent an email to former paraeducators who were currently working and promoted to the position of behavior consultant in collaboration with a behavior consultant from the support agency. Direct emails from potential participants asking to schedule an interview were received by the researcher.
Two self-identified men and two self-identified women comprise the sample of general education teachers who took part in this study. The ages of the general education teachers ranged from 25 to 60, with an average age of 47. Two teachers identified as Asian, and two teachers identified as White, or Caucasian. Both three master’s- and three bachelor’s-degreed teachers were employed. Three teachers held a multiple-subject teaching credential, while one teacher had a dual credential in multiple subjects and special education. Two teachers were instructing second graders, and two were instructing third ones at the time of the interview. Two teachers had been teaching for between 16 and 20 years. Two other educators had been teaching for more than 21 years. The duration of experience working with paraeducators in general education classrooms ranged from one academic year to more than 21 years.
A special-needs student is assigned to an educational group that meets yearly under an individualized teaching plan (IEP). The team reviews current skill levels, advancement toward defined goals, and a course of action for the upcoming academic year during this meeting. Three teachers reported regularly working with kids who had IEPs, while one noticed frequent cooperation with students with IEPs. Three general education instructors from the sample worked in full inclusion settings. Special education teachers collaborated with general education instructors and delivered pullout resource specialist (RSP) assistance to certain students as required. All of the teachers had a paraeducator in their classroom over the previous two years, and five of the teachers had one in their classroom during that academic school year.
First and foremost, paraeducators must be aware of their role in raising a child because they spend almost the same amount of time with them as parents. Regardless of how busy they both are, they need to structure their behavior so that children see the participation of adults in their lives and can take their example from them. The involvement of both parties in the educational process is significant. After all, even if the child is told about the rules of conduct at school with the help of an individually developed social story, the model of behavior demonstrated in his family will still dominate.
Conclusion
Despite all the efforts of paraeducators, the child will behave in a way that is accepted in the family. That is, teachers and parents, are responsible for shaping the moral foundations of the child’s personality. In the study, the role of the para pedagogue-teacher in the school is not limited to teaching the children. Each specialist should become a mentor for the children, learn to understand their mentees, and strive to help in difficult situations if there is a need to do so in mastering social skills, communication, or an adapted program. Thus, each paraeducator should be able to interact, negotiate, and find an individual approach to each student.