Maslow’s Hammer: teacher assistant research and inclusive practices at a crossroads

Internationally, teacher assistants (TAs) have emerged as a prominent feature of inclusive educational service delivery and existing research has focused extensively on their roles, training and supervision. In the context of this special issue on TAs, this article describes reasons why relying extensively on TAs as a central feature of inclusive educational service delivery can be problematic and provides suggestions of what educational teams can do when considering the use of TAs. Recommendations for future research are offered that encourage the field to explore existing gaps while remaining cognisant of the contributions of TAs.