Wirelessly posted
In primary and secondary school, they're meant to help divide the labour alongside teachers.
In the mainstream deaf education, someone who is not certified to work with the Deaf (interpreters, CART etc) are usually assigned to the student when finding a qualified person is a daunting task. Casually, I would sarcastically call them "interpreters" with air quotes because a few of them believe just because they can sign, they can occupy the same role as an interpreter in the classroom; but really, on paper, they're really just teacher assistants.
