Respect Strategies: Best Practices for Teacher-Paraprofessional Collaboration

Respect for each other's work and authority helps create a positive relationship. Respect helps promote collaboration and positive communication between teachers and paraprofessionals.   

Albion College

Researchers believe that there are three main components to having a good teacher-paraprofessional relationship. 

- solidarity 
- clarifying roles 
- demonstrating respect

Best Practices for Teacher and Paraprofessional Collaboration

Barnes, Tia N., et al. “Cultivating Effective Teacher–Paraprofessional Collaboration in the Self-Contained Classroom.” Beyond Behavior, vol. 30, no. 2, 2021, pp. 107–115., https://doi.org/10.1177/10742956211021858. 

Cultivating Effective Teacher–Paraprofessional Collaboration in the Self-Contained Classroom

Solidarity between the teacher and paraprofessional helps promote uniformity and helps support better classroom management. A positive relationship can help create a positive learning environment for the students. It can also facilitate concise instruction and less wasted instruction which helps with time management. 

Best Practices for Teacher-Paraprofessional Collaboration: Solidarity

The clarity of roles is also an important aspect of good teacher-paraprofessional collaboration. Both parties need to have a clear idea of what their roles are to not lead to confrontation or confusion regarding what needs to be done. The teacher should analyze the needs of the students and classroom and instruct the paraprofessional on how they can best help. 

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