A critical aspect of inclusive policies and practices is the role that Teacher Assistants (TAs) are supposed to assume within mainstream classrooms. Despite the evidence, TAs are still linked to the most vulnerable children, especially those with severe afflictions. This exploratory mixed method of investigation analyses the differences between the job requirements standardised by the Catalan Government (Spain), the roles the TAs believed they had been hired to perform and the tasks they were really carrying out in their schools.

Early school leaving (ESL) is a serious concern for education authorities in many countries such as Spain. This investigation is aimed at identifying the weak points of educational support policies and making proposals to strengthen them. The article reviews more than 40 documents, including state-level and regional-level laws and regulations about educational support. The analysis of the legal framework was based on three relevant axes for the educational support configuration: support needs attribution, support strategies and agents of support.