TEACHING ASSISTANTS IN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS 47

Teaching Assistants in International Schools: Perceptions and Perspectives1

Clayton Lehman

clwale@yahoo.com

English Lecturer
Dalian Jiaotong University

Dalian
China

Abstract

Although multiple studies have investigated teaching assistants in public schools, there is little
research dedicated to the study of teaching assistants in international schools. The purpose of
this study was to investigate teaching assistant wellbeing in international schools in East Asia
through the lenses of locally-hired teaching assistants to discover what they consider to be
barriers in their positions. Data acquisition for this descriptive perception study occurred
through an online questionnaire that was completed by 134 teaching assistants working in
international schools in East and Southeast Asia in March and April of 2019. The main findings
of this research study were that many teaching assistants in international schools desire relevant
professional development, fairer working environment, more professional and career
opportunities, and more equitable salary conditions.

Keywords: teaching assistant, support teacher, international school, SEN, ELL
Introduction

There are more than 11,000 international
schools worldwide (ISC Research, 2019),
and the number is projected to reach 16,000
schools by 2026 (Independent Education
Today, 2016). The growth of international
schools has been astounding, especially in
China and other countries in East and
Southeast Asia (Ward, 2017). ISC Research
(2019) has reported that local student
enrollment world-wide in international
schools is well above 80%. Many host
country parents seek to enroll their child in
an international school to provide their child
with an English-medium education and
future opportunity for university study in a
native-English speaking country (Dearden,
2014).

In numerous international schools,
locally-hired teaching assistants (TAs) are
working with students that have high
linguistic, academic, behavioral, and

1 This article is accepted and will be published in Beyond Words Vol. 8 No.1. May 2020.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.33508/bw.v8i1.2145

emotional needs. While there has been a
research specific to teaching assistants in
considerable amount of research concerning
teaching assistants, there is a shortage of
international schools (Tarry & Cox, 2014).
Of primary concern with the deployment of
teaching assistants in international schools is
their readiness to perform their roles.
According to Fisher and Pleasants (2012),
the role of teaching assistants has been
identified as problematic because “the least
qualified staff are teaching students with the
most complex learning characteristics and in
some cases with little oversight or direction”
(p. 288). The purpose of this research study
was to investigate teaching assistant
wellbeing in international schools in East
Asia through the lenses of locally-hired
teaching assistants to discover what they
consider to be barriers in their positions.
This research study occurred because of the

Admin
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48 TEACHING ASSISTANTS IN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS

many observations made by the researcher
while working in international schools in
East and Southeast Asia.
Teaching Assistants

There are various terms used to label
teaching assistants in schools. Sometimes
little regard is given to the actual meaning of
the term used (Roffey-Barentsen & Watt,
2014), while at other times, terms are
deliberately used to define roles and
expectations (Trent, 2014). Teaching
assistant, education assistant, classroom
assistant, support teacher, teacher aid,
inclusion aid, support staff, school officer,
paraeducator, paraprofessional, resource
officer, and assistant teacher are some of the
labels used by schools. For the remainder of
this article, the researcher will use the term
teaching assistant (TA).

International schools often employ
locally-hired host country workers to serve as
TAs to teachers usually hired from native-
English speaking countries. In many cases,
TAs in native-English speaking countries are
not required to have a university degree. For
example, Blatchford, Russell, and Webster
(2012) found that 15% of TAs in England
and Wales had an undergraduate university
degree, and three-percent had a higher
degree. Although teaching assistants can be
found throughout a PreK-12 international
school, most TAs work in the kindergarten
and primary sections of the school.

Traditionally, the teaching assistant’s
role was to support the classroom teacher by
performing various tasks ranging from
photocopying materials to monitoring
student behavior and wellbeing. Nowadays,
it is common to see TAs performing more
tasks and roles in schools, including
pedagogical roles, and according to
Whitehorn (2010), most of a teaching
assistant’s time is spent working with
students, followed by supporting the teacher.

In some international schools, TAs are the
main facilitators of inclusion in the
classroom (Chan & Yuen, 2015).

Previous research shows that TAs are
often unsure of the primary responsibilities
and expectation for their jobs (Gibson,
Paatsch, Toe, Wells, & Rawolle, 2015;
Roffey-Barentsen & Watt, 2014), and many
TAs believe that behavior management is
their primary function (Blatchford et al.,
2012). Due to the wide variance between
classrooms and international schools,
communication between the teacher and TA
is vital for the effective use of the teaching
assistant in the classroom (Tarry, 2012).
Unfortunately, lack of time for the classroom
teacher and TA to communicate impairs the
overall effectiveness of the classroom
(Ofsted, 2005). Conversely, when positive
collaboration and teamwork occurs between
the classroom teachers and TAs, the
classroom environment encourages better
learning and behavior outcomes (Ofsted,
2005).

Studying the deployment of TAs in
British international schools, Tarry (2011)
found that British international school
headteachers wanted TAs to be engaged in
supporting the learning of all students. Tarry
(2011) reported that some of the schools did
not provide any training while a couple of
schools provided TAs with in-service
educator training (INSET) and access to
conferences and online training. Of the 26
questionnaires received for her study, Tarry
discovered that only two schools provided
TAs with training related to working with
students in reading and math, and only two
schools specified TA training in working
with students with special education needs
(SEN) (Tarry, 2011). Additionally, Tarry
(2011) found that some of the schools
participating in the questionnaire had TAs on

TEACHING ASSISTANTS IN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS 49

staff with qualifications and degrees from the
UK.

In contrast to the schools participating in
Tarry’s research, many international schools
in East and Southeast Asia use locally-hired
teaching assistants. In most international
schools, very rarely is a TA provided with an
opportunity to teach a whole class;
nonetheless, locally-hired TAs have an in-
depth understanding of both the student
culture and the arduous task of learning a
second language. For these reasons, TAs are
often in a position to make valuable
contributions to the linguistic development,
social wellbeing, and academic success of
locally-enrolled students. For some or all of
these reasons, some researchers encourage
using teachers from the same population as
the students because of their ability to work
and communicate with students in both the
native language (L1) of the students and
English (L2).

The salary of a locally-hired TAs is
considerably lower than a teacher hired from
a native-English speaking country. Hardman
(2001) reported on the feelings of inequality
that TAs can have at the differences between
salary and benefits afforded to foreign
teachers as compared to locally-hired staff.
Hardman (2001) also discussed how these
feelings might emerge negatively, thereby
affecting the classroom and school
environments.

McKenzie and Scheurich (2004)
cautioned administrators and teachers of the

perils of equity traps when working with
students that have a different background.
Equity traps are “conscious and
subconscious thinking patterns that trap
teachers, administrators, and others,
preventing them from creating schools that
are equitable” (McKenzie & Scheurich,
2004, p. 601). Although McKenzie and
Scheurich were focusing on equity traps that
administrators and teachers may have
towards minority students who have different
backgrounds, locally-hired TAs may present
potential equity traps for foreign-hired
administrators and teachers.

Of further concern in international
schools is the potential for linguistic
prejudice which arises when “one accent [of
English] somehow sounds more or less
intelligent than others” (Kirkpatrick, 2007, p.
15). Much of the educational practices in
international schools are carried over from
monolingual native-English speaking their
working environment and job performance.
Research Question

The purpose of this research study was
to investigate teaching assistant wellbeing in
international schools in East Asia through the
lenses of locally-hired teaching assistants to
discover what they consider to be barriers in
their positions. The following question was
used to guide the study.
• What do locally-hired teaching

assistants consider to be barriers in their
positions?

Method

The researcher collected 927 potential
participant contact information by visiting
the websites of international schools. In
addition to an English version, the survey and
introductory note were translated into
Chinese, Thai, and Vietnamese. The
researcher used a questionnaire hosted by
Survey Monkey to collect data. Before

sending the survey, a native-speaker for each
translation reviewed the translation and
served as an expert in the field to establish
content validity (Creswell, 2012). In the
survey email, potential participants were
informed of the intentions of the study and
provided with instructions to delete the email
if they chose not to participate. Of the 927

50 TEACHING ASSISTANTS IN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS

potential participants, 528 (56.96%) opened
the survey. Of the 528 potential participants
who opened the survey, 134 (25.38%) chose
to complete the questionnaire.

The 134 participants who decided to
participate completed the questionnaire
without coercion or promise of a reward.
The online survey collected no personal
information, and none of the questions were
mandatory. There 134 participants were
located in various countries in East and
Southeast Asia, mostly in China, Indonesia,
Thailand, and Vietnam. The collection of
survey responses occurred in March and
April of 2019. Each Likert scale question
had five points. Additionally, the survey
contained one open-ended question to
acquire qualitative data for answering the
research question. In line with Creswell
(2012), open-ended questions on surveys

allow the researcher to move beyond the
responses obtained by closed-ended
questions.
Data Analyses

Responses from the study revealed 6.7%
of the participants did not have a university
degree; however, 74.1% had a bachelor’s
degree, 18.5% a master’s degree, and 1% a
doctorate. Further revealed was that 61.5%
of the participants had a teaching credential
issued from the host country government
where the TA worked, allowing them to
teach in a public school in the host country.

The researcher sought to discover the
participants’ perceptions of how they were
treated by the foreign teacher they worked
with the most. Figure 1 shows the perceived
level of treatment by percentage. None of the
participants revealed they were treated very
poorly by the foreign teacher.

Figure 1. TA Perceived Level of Treatment by the Foreign Teacher in Percentages (N=134).
Overall, the participants perceived

differences in the amount of professional
development provided to classroom teachers
and TAs. Figure 2 provides a side-by-side

comparison of the participants’ perceived
levels of professional development given to
foreign teachers and TAs.

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Very poor
Poor

Undecided
Good

Very good

TA Treatment

TEACHING ASSISTANTS IN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS 51

Further, I sought to discover whether the
participants felt valued by the foreign
administrator(s). According to the
participants who responded to the question
(n=132), 25.8% felt they were not valued,
while 74.2% felt they were valued by the
foreign administrator(s) in their school.

Eighty-one of the 134 participants chose
to respond to the open-ended question.
Although the question asked for a single
suggestion, some participants provided more
than one suggestion along with additional
commentary. Analysis of qualitative data
began after comments not received in
English were translated. After reading
through the qualitative data, the researcher

began matching data based on
commonalities. As data were being grouped,
the researcher began to identify themes
relevant to the topic of this research study
(Braun & Clarke, 2006). The researcher also
used prior knowledge to make connections
for categorizing data into themes (Ryan &
Bernard, 2003). Eventually, the researcher
established the following eight major themes.
• All good • Management
• Career • Respect
• Development • Salary
• Environment • Students

Figure 3 displays the count for each of the
111 statements that were grouped into the
eight major themes.

All Good. Ten participants responded
positively about their current position. For
example, one TA stated, “Nothing to
improve. The environment already good.”
Another participant responded,
“ทกุอยา่งทีน่ีด่มีาก ตัง้แตผู่บ้รหิารไปจนถงึบคุลากร”
[“Everything here is very good, from
administration to personnel”].

Career. Sixteen comments expressed
the desire to have access to professional
opportunities or career development. One
participant stated, “给助教老师提供更多的职业
发展机会, 前在我的学校,基本没有任何 职业发

展机会” [“The school should provide more
career development opportunities for
teaching assistants. Currently there is no

career development opportunity in my
school”]. A number of TAs lamented the
lack of opportunities for promotions to
positions of management. For example, one
TA responded, “有更多晋升的 职位选择”
[“Clarify the career development promotion
route”]. Some TAs also expressed a desire
to have more opportunities to use their skills
and teach. For instance, a participant stated,
“…allowing the support teacher to teach a
subject to develop their skills and be a part of
teaching field.”

Development. Professional develop-
ment and training received twenty-four
comments. Some comments were brief and
to the point such as, “更多的相关培训” [More

52 TEACHING ASSISTANTS IN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS

relevant training] and “增加受高质量培训的机
会” [“Increased opportunities for quality
training”]. Also commonly expressed was
the ability to receive training that would
enable TAs to obtain qualifications.

Environment. Comments about the
working environment included the desire for
TAs to have access to teaching tools, better
communication in the school, and a chair,
desk, or room dedicated to TAs. The
following are examples, “Having iPad for all
the teachers including support teacher” and
“Love with actions, not only words.”
Another example, “ชว่ยเหลอืซึง่กนั

และกนัท างานเป็นทมี” [“Help each other
and work as a team”]. There was also a
suggestion to change the title of teaching
assistant to co-teacher. Another TA
commented on how “Students should speak
appropriate English when they are in school
otherwise the younger kids would learn from
the older kids.” A final example pertains to
SEN and locally-enrolled students, “Hạn chế
số lượng học sinh đặc biệt hoặc số lượng học sinh Việt
Nam” [“Limit the number of special need
students or Vietnamese students’]. There
were twenty-two responses categorized in
this theme.

Management. Participant statements
towards management ranged from general to
specific. One participant responded, “学校能
够明确助教的角色和职责” [“The school should
clarify the roles and responsibilities of the
teaching assistants”]. Two more examples
are, “Quy định và chính sách rõ ràng hơn.
Cần nhiều kết nối giữa Ban lãnh đạo, các

giám đốc và quản lý với nhân viên” [Policies
should be clearer. Need connection among
leadership, managers, and staff] and “More
transparent decision making.” Seven
participants responded with comments
related to management.

Respect. Responses by twelve
participants fell into the theme of respect.

Examples of the desire to be afforded more
respect include, “Listen to our thought even
though we just teacher assistance but we’re
very close with students” and “Coi trọng trợ
giảng hơn, đặc biệt trước mặt học sinh” [“Respect
teaching assistants more, especially in front
of students”]. Another participant stated, “我
们同是和外籍教师占在一线教学的教育工作者, 也
在努力地工作, 帮助学校成长” [We are also
educators who are teaching in the front line
with foreign teachers. TAs are also working
hard to help the school grow”].

Salary. There were sixteen comments
related to salary and employee benefits but
not associated with professional
development or career opportunity. For
example, some teaching assistants hoped the
school would allow the children of locally-
hired staff to attend the school. Some
participants pointed out how the salary
between “expat and local staff” was
“extremely different.” Several participants
expressed the desire to receive equal pay
with the foreign teachers, “同工同酬” [“Equal
pay for equal work”]. Others wanted to
receive fair treatment; incentives for
motivation; salary based on ability and
experience; and paid holidays. The disparity
in salaries between foreign staff and locally-
hired teachers revealed other comments such
as “建议能够提高中方员工的福利,让我们更有归
属感” [“It is recommended to improve the
welfare of Chinese employees and give us a
sense of belonging”]. There was also a call
for the salary system to be reviewed and
made more transparent.

Students. There were four comments
that the researcher placed in the theme of
students. Several participants expressed
improvements that would directly impact
students. One responded called for “Nhieu
hoat dong thuc tien voi cuoc song hon cho

hoc sinh” [Practical activities for students].

TEACHING ASSISTANTS IN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS 53

Other participants wanted more space or new
desks for students.
At the beginning of this section, the
researcher presented information about the
participants’ level of education and teaching
qualifications. Then, the researcher provided
data concerning the participants’ perceived
levels of professional development given to
TAs compared to foreign teachers. Next, the
researcher presented information about the

participants’ perceived levels of treatment by
foreign teachers and whether they felt valued
by the foreign administrator(s) in their
school. After providing general survey data,
the researcher introduced the major themes
of the qualitative data and the frequency in
which the themes occurred. Lastly, the
researcher briefly depicted each theme using
examples from the statements of the
participants.

Discussion
Contrary to the 15% of TAs in England

and Wales that had an undergraduate
university degree as reported by Blatchford
et al. (2012), 74% of the TAs in the present
study had a bachelor’s degree. Additionally,
18.5% of TAs in the current study had a
master’s degree as opposed to three percent
in the study by Blatchford et al. (2012).
Further, a majority (61.5%) of the TAs
participating in the current study held a
government-issued teaching credential
which qualified them to teach in a public
school in their home country. The level of
education in many countries in East and
Southeast Asia has been rising in recent
years. For example, recent results on the
Programme for International Student
Assessment (PISA) reflect that some
countries in East and Southeast Asia are
outperforming countries from which most
administrators and teachers in international
schools originate (Gurría, 2018). With the
majority of TAs having a university degree
and a teaching qualification, it is puzzling
that many TAs are not better utilized in
international schools.

Overall, approximately 88% of the TAs
in this study reported they were treated well
or very well by the classroom teacher they
work with the most as opposed to 3% who
revealed they were treated poorly. Of note
are the 10% of TA participants who were
undecided in how they perceived the

classroom teacher treated them. If combined
with the participants who felt they were
treated poorly, this combine percentage is
still fairly small. On a positive note, none of
the participants revealed they were treated
very poorly; however, one participant chose
not to answer the question.

Of particular interest in the survey data
are the differences in the perceived levels of
professional development between foreign
teachers and TAs. Participants revealed that
they perceived foreign teachers as receiving
more professional development than TAs.
More than half of the participants revealed
that they received a very low or low level of
professional development compared to only
27% of the foreign teachers. When it came
to TA perceptions of whether or not they felt
valued by the foreign administrators, there
appears to be considerable contrast.
Approximately 26% of TAs revealed that
they perceived that the foreign administrators
did not value them in their school. Whereas,
74% of TAs believed the foreign
administrators valued them. While three-
quarters of the TAs believed the foreign
administrators valued them, more than half
of the participants reported having received
very low or low levels of professional
development.

Although many participants reported
being treated well by foreign teachers and
being valued by foreign administrators, a

54 TEACHING ASSISTANTS IN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS

majority of participants provided their
perspectives concerning barriers to TAs at
the school in which they work. Many of
these perspectives revealed discontent with
several key aspects of their work. These key
aspects surfaced as some of the themes. The
top four themes that emerged from the
qualitative data were professional
development, working environment, career
opportunities, and salary. Although the
researcher eventually categorized qualitative
data into eight major themes, some responses
had content that overlapped into other
themes.

Professional development. PD was the
theme that received the most attention from
TAs. Although many teaching assistants
have qualified teaching status in the host
country, few are provided an opportunity to
receive professional development in
international schools. Because many TAs
have university degrees, host country
teaching credentials, and experience at
learning English, they represent an
underused resource in working with students
in international schools. Students in
international schools learning English would
benefit from working with TAs who have
received professional development in SLA.
Additionally, students categorized as being
SEN would benefit from working with TAs
who have received PD in working with SEN
students. According to the participants, there
is a discrepancy in the amount of PD that TAs
receive in comparison to classroom teachers
(see Figure 2).

While there have been findings showing
how instruction provided by TAs is generally
ineffective (Blatchford et al., 2012;
Whitehorn, 2010), many of the TAs in those
studies lacked university education and a
teaching qualification unlike the majority of
TAs participating in this study. However,
many locally-hired TAs in international

schools with university degrees and teaching
qualifications lack training in western
educational practices. Compounding the
problem is that many administrators and
teachers in international schools lack training
in the effective use or deployment of TAs
(Whitehorn, 2010).

Blatchford et al. (2012) identified TA
preparedness, deployment, and practice as
critical areas that should be addressed in
order to make effective and efficient use of
teaching assistants. Furthering the call for
better deployment of TAs, Bosanquet and
Radford (2019) stressed the need to provide
TAs with training in scaffolded interaction,
especially since TAs tend to work with small
groups or one-to-one with students.
Bosanquet and Radford (2019) pinpointed
specific professional development in
scaffolding to be provided to TAs by
referring to the three key characteristics of
scaffolding, as identified by Van de Pol,
Volman, and Beishuizen (2010). These three
key characteristics are contingency, fading,
and transfer. Contingency involves guiding
the student forward, fading works toward
developing student independence, and
transfer shifts the responsibility of learning to
the student as independence is developed
(Bosanquet & Radford, 2019). Overall,
students benefit more when TAs use
structured literacy interventions with one
student or with small groups (Sharples,
Webster, & Blatchford, 2015). In sum, TAs
need more training (Roffey-Barentsen &
Watt, 2014; Sharples et al., 2015; Trent,
2014), and short-term training sessions or
INSETs may not be the best form of PD for
TAs (Lamb, 1995). Furthermore, TA training
needs to be differentiated (Baker, 2016;
Echevarria & Graves, 1998) and sustained in
duration (Darling-Hammond, Hyler, &
Gardener, 2017).

TEACHING ASSISTANTS IN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS 55

Working environment. The working
environment encompasses many elements
for TAs from being provided with tools that
allow them to be more effective in the
classroom to merely have a dedicated chair
or desk. One TA commented on the need for
older students to speak English so the
younger students would learn from the older
students. Another TA suggested that the
school should limit the number of SEN or
Vietnamese students, which is interesting
since the respondent was a Vietnamese TA.
This comment suggests that some TAs are
struggling with the number of SEN students
and locally-enrolled students with limited
English proficiency. There was also the
suggestion of a title change from TA to co-
teacher. While the title of co-teacher may not
be appropriate for most international schools,
many international schools should
investigate the title given to locally-hired
staff to ensure it aligns with the expectations
of the position.

Many TAs believe they are working as
hard as foreign teachers and are equally
contributing to the success of the school,
justifying their call for equality in treatment
and benefits. Although it is unlikely that all
TAs are working diligently towards the
success of the students and school, it may be
advantageous for school administrators to
examine the school’s policy towards the title
of TAs and consider how a change may
provide an incentive and retain promising
talent. When responding to the open-ended
question on the survey, participants did make
calls for more explicit policies, more
transparent decision making, more
communication between staff, and more
cohesive organizational behavior, all of
which trace back to the school’s leadership
and administration.

Career opportunities. Some of the
participants expressed their desire to be a part

of the teaching staff, and one participant
asserted that TAs are educators who are also
working to help the school grow. Similar to
previous research (Roffey-Barentsen &
Watt, 2014; Trent, 2014), TA responses in
this study showed that many international
schools are not providing career
advancement opportunities for TAs. One
participant expressed the desire to see the
school management clarify the roles and
responsibilities of TAs. The need to clarify
TA roles has been a finding of previous
studies (Blatchford et al., 2012; Gibson et al.,
2015; Roffey-Barentsen & Watt, 2014; Tarry
& Cox, 2014; Trent 2014).

Responses from the participants made it
clear that TAs wish to have opportunities to
use their skill sets and develop their teaching
skills by being able to teach. Noted should be
that some TAs are reluctant to teach a full
class seeing this as the classroom teacher’s
responsibility, and in some schools, TAs will
cover classes in the absence of the classroom
teacher, which saves the school money by not
having to hire a cover teacher (Roffey-
Barentsen & Watt, 2014). These situations
could be potential drivers for negative
feelings that some TAs have towards the
classroom and school, as discussed by
Hardman (2001).

Salary. Salary was the theme that
received the fourth-largest number of
comments. The call for a higher salary,
fairness, salary per experience and ability, a
transparent salary scale, and monetary
incentives echoed findings of previous
studies concerning TAs (Hardman, 2001;
Roffey-Barentsen & Watt, 2014).
Furthermore, responses by TAs made it clear
that there is concern about the disparity in
salary and benefits between foreign staff and
locally-hired staff. For example, some of the
participants made comments about their
desire for the school to open placements for

56 TEACHING ASSISTANTS IN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS

the children of locally-hired staff or to
provide reduced tuition.

With inclusion becoming more common
in international schools (ISC & NFI, 2017),
it is interesting to see that much locally-hired
staff are not provided with an opportunity for
their child to attend the school where they
work. According to Bradley (2000),
“examples of truly comprehensive, inclusive

education are very hard to find” (p. 33), yet
the most common issue with the children of
locally-hired staff members would be their
English language ability. With more than
80% of enrollment in international schools
being local students (ISC Research, 2019),
language learning assistance should be a
relatively common element in most
international schools.

Conclusion

The main findings of this research study
were that many teaching assistants in
international schools desire relevant
professional development, fairer working
environment, more professional and career
opportunities, and more equitable salary
conditions. The international school market
is continuing to expand and now is estimated
to be generating more than $51 billion in
tuition revenue (ISC, 2019). Additionally,
the average tuition fees at international
schools in East Asia and Oceania are
reported to be $16,403 per year and as high
as the country average of $33,591 in China
(ExpatFinder, n.d.). While some of the
assertions made by participants of the study
may be open to debate, the international
school market is clearly capable of providing
more relevant professional development,
fairer working environment, more
professional and career opportunities, and
more equitable salary conditions to the TAs
working in international schools.

Recommendations. The researcher
recommends that international schools offer
long-term, meaningful professional
development to teaching assistants.
Additionally, the researcher encourages
international schools to seek ways to improve
teaching assistant working conditions and to
provide opportunities for career development
and advancement. Lastly, the researcher
recommends that international schools
provide transparent salary scales and benefits

that take TA experience, skills, and
motivation into consideration.

Assumptions and Limitations. The
researcher assumed that participants
answered the questionnaire truthfully and
without fear of reprisal. A limitation of this
study was that the participants were
requested to answer questions that may be
beyond their scope. To illustrate, TAs were
asked their perception of the level of
professional development received by the
foreign teachers. A further limitation of this
study was that the researcher sought
participation from potential participants for
which contact information was found via
school websites.

Suggestions for Further Research.
Because of the depth of the qualitative data
received, the researcher encourages future
qualitative research into the lives,
perceptions, and perspectives of TAs in
international schools investigating an array
of topics. Due to the contrast in data between
the participants’ perceptions in the level of
PD provided to TAs and whether or not TAs
feel valued by the foreign administrators, the
researcher encourages further exploration in
this area. Overall, the researcher suggests
further research into the professional
relationships between classroom teachers
and TAs and administrators and TAs in
international schools to find best practices
and elevate the awareness of how TAs can be

TEACHING ASSISTANTS IN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS 57

effectively used to support students, teachers,
and schools.

Concluding Remarks. The purpose of
this research study was to investigate
teaching assistant wellbeing in international
schools in East Asia through the lenses of
locally-hired teaching assistants to discover
what they consider to be barriers in their
positions. It has been expected that the
findings of the study will encourage
international school communities to examine
their policies and practices concerning
teaching assistants. In closing, the following
participant’s comment summarizes the
position of many teaching assistants in
international schools in East and Southeast
Asia.

给予更多培训和自我体现人生价值,完善教

学生涯的机会.没有人希望永远做助教, 几

乎没有任何一家国际学校考虑过这一点.同

工同酬,给予本国老师更加参与管理

层机会.让互相更佳了解对方文化,从而从根

本层面改变工作环境. [Give more training
so teaching assistants can find more
value in themselves, which will help
them improve their teaching career. No
one wants to be a teaching assistant
forever, and almost no international
school has considered this. Teaching
assistants hope the school gives them
equal pay for equal work and provides
opportunities to move to management
positions. Doing these things will
change the working environment and
help the school staff understand each
other’s cultures].

Disclosure Statement

The researcher received no payment or reward for this study.

Dr. Clayton Lehman has worked in international English-medium education for a number of
years. His most recent position was as an ESL Curriculum Coordinator at an international
school in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. He holds a Master of Education (MEd.) in TESOL
and Reading and an Education Doctorate (Ed.D.) in Educational Leadership. Dr. Lehman’s
research interests include language policy, language and content acquisition, and
international English-medium education.

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