“Sometimes the obvious isn’t obvious”: School Support Staff Experiences of Interpreting in SEND Family Meetings as Non-Professional Interpreters: An IPA Study

Interpreting services can be required to facilitate communication in Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) meetings. Schools may meet the linguistic needs of families via bilingual support staff interpreting informally. There is sparse literature on interpreting in UK educational settings, particularly from the perspectives of those who carry out the role. This research highlights the experiences of bilingual support staff who informally interpret in SEND meetings, addressing a significant research and practice knowledge gap. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to explore the experiences of five bilingual support staff interpreting between English and Bengali/Sylheti in primary schools. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analysed idiographically before cross-case analysis led to the construction of six Group Experiential Themes: Finding role and boundaries; Commitment to meaning making; Feeling and managing the load of interpreting; Personal values guide professional role and meaning; Awareness and responsiveness to the emotional experience of parents; Connecting through unique knowledge, strengthening and empowering families. The findings reveal that bilingual support staff perform a skilled, layered role whose complexity is largely invisible to others. Their deep community knowledge, relational investment and personal values make a significant contribution to SEND meetings. The implications of these findings extend across multiple levels: individual Educational Psychologists reflecting on collaborative practice with interpreting staff; schools developing clearer policies and recognition of the role; and Educational Psychology Services considering how language access and the support of bilingual staff can be embedded within service-level thinking.