Teachers working with ESOL paraprofessionals in a secondary context: Examining supervision

• Supervision of paraprofessionals in secondary school reading programmes inadequate.
• Selection of reading materials and production of task sheets an issue.
• Lack of regular planning and supervision meetings.
• Working closely with teacher opportunities for modelling good practice.
• Commitment from management needed to maximise benefits for students.

Internationally paraprofessionals are increasingly employed as one option of providing support for English language learners (ELLs) in schools. Consequently more teachers are working with paraprofessionals and becoming responsible for their supervision. This article examines the supervision of eight paraprofessionals working in secondary schools in New Zealand. To maximise learning benefits for ELLs, we argue that robust systems of supervision are required for ESOL paraprofessionals. While this study is located in New Zealand we believe it illuminates issues that are of international interest in education systems that are struggling to stay abreast of and adequately cater for ethnic and linguistic diversity.