Relationships and collaborations between elementary school teachers and education assistants

This qualitative research paper explores the perceptions and experiences of three teachers and three educational assistants (EAs) regarding collaboration, relationships, and support in their work. This paper aimed to guide teachers and EAs around collaborating in the classroom. These valuable perspectives discussed how collaboration in the classroom enabled us to better understand the actual experiences of both classroom members. Participants spoke openly about their positive and negative working relationship experiences and connections with classroom collaboration. Using a phenomenological method, participants were interviewed using six open-ended questions. Data were analyzed using descriptive coding and three themes emerged: collaboration, relationships, and support. This study's limitations included a small sample size, possible biases, and time constraints. Despite these limitations, the study's findings provided insight into the critical role of collaboration, relationships, and support in enhancing education quality. The implications of these findings for practice and future research include the prioritizing of relationship building between teachers and EAs, districts providing paid collaboration time, and teachers and EAs focusing on building clear communication within the classroom. ; education assistants ; interpersonal relationship ; inclusion ; teamwork ; role ; teacher collaboration ; elementary school teachers