This multiple-article dissertation explores institutional support for student academic engagement through the lens of the Academic Communities of Engagement (ACE) framework. A literature synthesis explores the current research on teaching assistant (TA) support in online and blended environments in higher education, with a special emphasis on their role in providing support for affective engagement, in addition to supporting cognitive and behavioral engagement. The review suggests that additional research needs to be done in this area to better understand the role of TAs in online environments and how institutions can prepare them for this role through meaningful training. The second article provides insight into students' barriers to learning online and how the institution can support these students. Researchers gathered survey results of 1295 university students regarding the barriers they experience and the support they receive from the institution to support their academic engagement. Descriptive statistics and thematic coding revealed specific practices institutions could implement to help students overcome barriers to fully engaging in their learning. The third article presents how online teaching assistants (OLTAs) interact with students to support their engagement in online and blended learning courses and how a training course may influence their interactions. Researchers gathered data from a tracking instrument that documented OLTA-student interactions over a 2-week period and conducted interviews with 10 OLTAs. Descriptive statistics and thematic coding indicated that TAs supported students in several ways and that their training program most likely influenced how they approached these interactions.

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The aim of this dissertation is to describe the role of teaching assistants in the matter of support for pupils with barriers in learning at primary school. In the theoretical part, the main focus is on legislative anchoring of teaching assistant's position, on establishing the responsibilities and the content of teaching assistant's work, on methodical support which is provided by schools' headmasters or particular organisations, on support for teachers and on discovered benefits that are secured by the role of teaching assistant. Everything mentioned is placed in contrast with the scholar system in Great Britain, especially with the way the local authorities deal with the post of teaching assistant. The empirical part of the dissertation explore the cooperation of teaching assistant and teacher by using the method of in-depth interview with teaching assistants and observation their work in class. The result of the dissertation is showing the evidence of teaching assistant's importance in educational process and his/her help and support for teacher. KEYWORDS Teaching assistant, teacher, cooperation, pupil with special educational needs, conditions for a teaching assistant in the Czech Republic and in Great Britain

The aim of this diploma thesis is to analyze the integration of children with disabilities into a general kindergarten within the regions of Nymburk and Kolin, to describe appropriate auxiliary measures, and to use the analysis to form efficient strategies or a series of auxiliary measures. This study is focused on the process of integration at preschool institutions. It builds upon structural descriptions of particular cases in order to showcase efficient and beneficial cases, describe risks and specifics of this level of education. This thesis aims to map particular cases of integration of children with disabilities, characterize the current developments of integration at general kindergartens.

This research explored the factors that influence whether Learning Support Assistants (LSAs), who support the learning of pupils with very complex learning needs, are equipped with the necessary skills to help these students learn. A significant feature in the delivery of educational support to pupils with low incidence needs is that it is LSAs who provide the majority of educational instruction and, furthermore, these paraeducators work with only limited supervision from class teachers. It therefore follows that if high quality educational assistance is to be available to pupils, then those undertaking the majority of this support need to have appropriate pedagogical knowledge. I explored this complex subject by undertaking a workplace ethnography at a single special school over the course of an academic year. In my ethnography, I used a number of data collection methods, including semi-structured interviews with teachers, LSAs and therapists, as well as participant and non-participant observations. The limited literature on the topic of LSA learning concludes that they are not being provided with the learning opportunities they need for the demanding work they do. However, because of the scarcity of information in the literature pertaining to the development of this important group of the educational workforce, I needed to look to the literature on organisational learning more broadly to inform my work and relate it to my own area of interest. The lack of priority given to non-formal learning was a key theme across these texts, with opportunities for participative learning emerging as an important feature. However, this aspect alone could not explain the reasons why these paraeducators did not have access to learning provision appropriate to their needs and so I looked to other theories of workplace learning. The conceptual and analytical approach of the Working as Learning Framework (WALF) (Felstead, et al., 2009), with its incorporation of the concepts of systems of production, discretion, and learning environments and territories, offered me the opportunity to scrutinise the situation regarding the learning and development of LSAs from a wide perspective. Through my adoption of the WALF I have identified the influences that shaped the workplace learning environment of the LSAs at the special school. In doing so, I have added to the limited research on this important and yet inadequately understood group. Although my study focused on one special school this research can inform how the abilities of paraeducators in different educational settings can be developed, because of my adoption of the theoretical standpoint of the WALF. Furthermore, by applying the WALF, my thesis has utilised workplace learning theory to make an important intellectual contribution to the discussion about how high quality educational provision can be delivered. My thesis is also apposite, because the number of children with more complex learning difficulties is increasing and these individuals require specialist paraeducators to be appropriately equipped to meet their needs, whether they are being educated in special or mainstream schools.

The aim of this bachelor thesis has been to explore how teachers with long experience in the profession look upon the school librarian, if they see and are affected by any stereotypes. As my method I have interviewed five teachers and asked them a series of questions about how they have worked with the school librarians during the years and what they have thought about when they would hear the word librarian. I have used three major research questions: Since teachers visit the school library quite often in their occupation, how do they perceive the school librarian? How are teachers affected by the stereotypical image of the librarian? According to the teacher, has the librarian changed during the last 40 years? I have tried to distinguish if the teachers I interviewed talked about any stereotypical attributes, based on which I conducted an analysis about my findings. I was surprised to find that the teachers do not seem to have a stereotypical image of the school librarian, rather that they know that stereotypes exist but that they have realized that the librarians they met in their profession do not fit in any of the stereotypes. Still when they did talk about the stereotypical librarian they immediately thought of the old grumpy lady with her hair in a bun and glasses, who is very strict and boring. This study is rather limited by its size, which is why my findings only reflect a part of what teachers might think and not necessarily what everyone thinks.

This diploma thesis focuses on the topic of motivation for a job of teaching assistant and reasons for maintaining in the status. The theoretical part of the diploma thesis is divided into seven chapters. It is mainly focused on development of school integration, pupils with special educational needs and posibilities for taking part into the regular schools in the Czech Republic. It describes attitudes of general public towards people with disabilities, indicators of educational inclusion and inclusive culture of school. It describes the role of a teaching assistant his duties, competences and workload in educational context. The main object of a research presented in the empirical part is to examine the reasons that are related to acceptance of a job of teaching assistant. Furthemore, it analysed motivation for remaining in the status of teaching assistant in a long term. The research was realised by the in-depth interviews.

This master thesis has theoretically empirical character. The theoretical part is based on expert literature and is focused on the issue of one of the specific studying disorders ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). The empirical part contains qualitative research. Research was performed via a questionnaire. Teachers from chosen schools from South Bohemia district were participating in this research. The goal of this thesis is to find out if the teachers are familiar with ADHD and if they are, what is the way they deal with this specific disorder during classes.