Objectives, research questions and theoretical approach

Throughout a globalised educational space (Lawn & Lingard, 2002; Nordin & Sundberg, 2018), the idea of teacher assistants is embedded in imperatives of both easing teachers, by e.g. reducing workload, and raising standards through teacher excellence along with increasing pupil performance (Hammersley-Fletcher & Qualter, 2009; Hofbauer et. al., 2021). Additionally, the idea is embedded in inclusive policies with the purpose of including pupils with special needs (see e.g. Hofbauer et. al., 2021). In the Swedish context of education, indications of institutionalising the idea of teacher assistants in the local school context have been presented (see e.g. Ackesjö, 2020; Lindqvist, 2020; Lindqvist et. al., 2020). However, ambiguities have been put forward regarding what the idea of a teacher assistant is and ought to be in relation to what teachers are and ought to be. Ambiguities and tensions create spaces in the local school context where actors’ values (i.e. meaning attributed and emerging ideals) are conditioned by imperatives in a globalized context of education.

The aim of this article is to explore teacher assistants’ values through spaces in the compulsory school context in Sweden. The questions in focus are two-fold: firstly, what values emerge through teacher assistants’ spaces? Secondly, how can these values be viewed in the light of values through discourses at the societal level? In this manner, the translation and recontextualisation of the idea of teacher assistants is highlighted through values in the local school context. As a theoretical lens, the concept of ‘discursive space’ is used to refer to spaces between juxtaposed values at different levels in the education system (see Uljens & Ylimaki, 2017). Thus, the theoretical approach entails a duality in terms of spaces influenced by the societal level as well as the local level. Values are constructed in discursive spaces by actors in the local context concurrently conditioned by values at the societal level (Biesta, 2009; Fairclough, 1992). The theoretical approach also entails elements from Discursive Institutionalism (Schmidt, 2008), as a contextual backdrop, focusing on a critical understanding of interrelations between ideas, discourses, actors and institutional context. Moreover, schools are viewed as societal educational institutions where actors are discursively conditioned by discourses embedded in a globalized context of education. Hence, institutional settings intertwined with space (and time) are important aspects related to the institutional conditions for actors in the local school context (Nordin & Sundberg, 2018).

Methods and methodological considerations A systematic analysis of eleven qualitative interviews with teacher assistants, conducted during 2020-2021, highlighted conceptualizations of values through the discourse-theoretical concept of ‘discursive space’ (see Uljens & Ylimaki, 2017). The analysis entailed the analytical aspects of who, where, what, why and when (Wodak & Krzyzanowski, 2008). Thus, focus was oriented towards values through teacher assistants’ discursive spaces at a local level in relation to discourses at the societal level. Firstly, emerging values were analysed, regarding teacher assistants’ articulation and communication through discursive spaces. Secondly, these values were analysed in relation to discourses on teacher professionalism at the societal level. This part of the analytical process focused on interrelations between ideas, discourses, actors and institutional context using elements from a Discursive Institutionalist approach (see Nordin & Sundberg, 2018; Schmidt,2008) as aforementioned. Methodologically, the qualitative interviews were analysed at the local and the societal levels i.e. within the local level, the compulsory school context, and in relation to discourses at the national and transnational levels (Nordin & Sundberg, 2018) embedded in a globalised educational space (Lawn & Lingard, 2002). In this article, content through discourse (see Schmidt, 2008) is viewed as concurrently constructed and constructing reality both constitutive of and constituted by institutions (Fairclough, 1992; Nordin & Sundberg, 2018; Schmidt, 2008). As a matter of the participating teacher assistants, each of them had undergone education to formally be entitled a ‘teacher assistant’ through educational courses at a Folk High School or within Higher Vocational Education in Sweden. Each of the teacher assistants work in a compulsory school, a school-form formulated as in need of teacher assistants and as entailing the highest number of teacher assistants in the Swedish education system (National Agency for Education, 2020). Furthermore, the selection of participants entails variation regarding working background and time worked in the position at the school illuminating the abductive character of the study. This abductive character is further illustrated by the representation of both municipal and private compulsory schools with variation in size regarding the number of pupils and teachers. Additionally, the interviewed teacher assistants work at schools representing a width in terms of geographical and social contexts in Sweden.

Conclusions As a focal point, the analysis shows that the teacher assistants’ values are recurrently in reference to easing teachers’ institutional conditions. Values articulated by the teacher assistants are conceptually intertwined with ideas on ‘letting teachers be teachers’ (see Lindqvist, 2020) through easing teachers to promote a proposed increased responsibility of teaching. Thus, teacher assistants’ values are conceptualized as conditioned by institutional values on easing teachers by e.g. reducing workload and promoting time for teaching processes. In this manner, the analysis shows how values, through discursive spaces, are embedded in discourses on teacher professionalism. Hence, negotiations emerge between the teacher assistants’ own values and institutional values communicated at the societal level. Furthermore, the analysis shows values in relation to local pluralization through the construction of multiple meanings in ambiguous and uncertain spaces. For instance, the teacher assistants’ values are articulated in relation to being a ‘spider in the web’ oriented towards the whole-class setting or the whole-school setting. Moreover, ambiguities and uncertainties emerge in values regarding what is and what ought to be in the local school context. The teacher assistants recurrently balance is and ought to be in relation to teachers’ institutional conditions and values at the societal level (Biesta, 2009). Nevertheless, the teacher assistants’ values are concurrently articulated in relation to the role as ‘unwritten’ and ‘open’ illustrating reconstruction in partly new spaces. In conclusion, ambiguous and uncertain spaces create both possibilities, dilemmas and tensions in terms of values on what is and what ought to be regarding teachers’ institutional conditions and teacher assistants in the local school context. In a wider sense, the analysis illuminates translation and recontextualization (Nordin & Sundberg, 2018) through the negotiation of values at the local level.

Ackesjö, H. (2020). Defining Boundaries in Teachers’ Work: Negotiating Territory through the Introduction of Teacher Assistants [Markering av Lärararbetets Gränser – Territorium i Omförhandling via Införandet av Lärarassistenter]. Swedish Educational Research Journal. Vol. 25(1): 35–53. Biesta, G. (2009). Good Education in an Age of Measurement: On the Need to Reconnect with the Question of Purpose in Education. Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability. Vol. 21(1): 33-46. Fairclough, N. (1992). Discourse and Social Change. Cambridge: Polity Press. Hammersley-Fletcher, L and Qualter, A. (2009). Chasing Improved Pupil Performance: The Impact of Policy Change on School Educator’s Perceptions of Their Professional Identity, the Case of Further Change in English Schools. British Educational Research Journal. Vol. 36(6): 903-917. Hofbauer, S., Kelly, P and Beck, A. (2021). Between Inclusion and Improvement: Evidence and the Politics of Teaching Assistants in England. Vermessen? Zum Verhältnis von Bildungsforschung, Bildungspolitik und Bildungspraxis. Kemethofer, D., Reitinger, J. and Soukup-Altrichter, K. (Eds.). Münster/New York: Waxmann. Lawn, M and Lingard, B. (2002). Constructing a European Policy Space in Educational Governance: The Role of Transnational Policy Actors. European Educational Research Journal. Vol. (2):290–307. Lindqvist, P. (2020). Låt lärarna vara lärare – idéer om lärararbete i det offentliga samtalet om lärarassistenter. [Let the Teachers Be Teachers – Ideas about Teachers’ Work in the Public Discourse on Teacher Assistants]. Swedish Educational Research Journal. Vol. 25 (4). 7-29. Lindqvist, P., Ackesjö, H., Fonseca, L., Gardesten, J., Herrlin, K., Nordänger, U-K., Klope, E and Johansson, M. (2020). (Lärar)avlastande Yrkesgrupper - Var Går Gränserna? Rapport [(Teacher)easing Groups – What are the Boundaries?]. Växjö: Linneaus University. National Agency for Education. (2020). Redovisning av uppdrag om att ta fram stödmaterial för hur lärarassistenter (…) ska kunna avlasta lärare. [Governmental Mission on Creating Support Materials on How Teacher Assistants (…) May Relieve Teachers]. Swedish Ministry of Education and Research. Nordin, A. (2016). Teacher professionalism beyond numbers: a communicative orientation. Policy Futures in Education. Vol. 14(6). 830-845. Nordin, A and Sundberg, D. (2018). Exploring Curriculum Change Using Discursive Institutionalism: A Conceptual Framework. Journal of Curriculum Studies. Vol. 50(6): 820–835. Schmidt, V. (2008). Discursive Institutionalism: The Explanatory Power of Ideas and Discourse. Annual Review of Political Science. Vol. 11. 303-326. Uljens, M and Ylimaki, R.M. (eds). (2017). Bridging Educational Leadership, Curriculum Theory and Didaktik: Non-affirmative Theory of Education. Educational Governance Book Series. Open Access. Cham: Springer. Wodak, R and Krzyzanowski, M. (eds). (2008). Qualitative Discourse Analysis in the Social Sciences. London: Palgrave Macmillan.