The niche of Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs): perceptions and reflections

The aim of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of the Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs’) niche in the current UK higher education system by means of reflecting on the results of a survey undertaken at a department of the University of Sheffield. The survey highlights that GTAs occupy an ambiguous niche; they are simultaneously teachers, researchers, students and employees, with considerable tensions emerging as a result of the often conflicting rights and responsibilities associated with such roles. The paper concludes that a dialogue should take place within and between universities in order to decide the desired status of the GTA within the UK higher education system and design a workable framework to sustain it.