We are in a great position to have not one, but two experienced and qualified Tutors who can deliver these skills to those in need. Here Louise, one of our Team Teach Tutors (and our Compliance Team Leader) talks about the Team Teach course, why it’s important, who should do it and what she likes about it.

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Since November 2018, Jaleesa and I have been qualified Team Teach Tutors. We gained our qualifications after a weeks’ intensive training course, that was based in Lechlade in Gloucestershire. The course was run by two very knowledgeable and qualified Tutors who between them had a wealth of 20 years’ experience in delivering holistic behaviour support techniques and strategies. I knew within the first hour of attending this course that Jaleesa and I would learn some fantastic skills, which we would be able to pass on to our candidates and the wide range of schools that we support daily. 

Since becoming a qualified Team Teach Tutor, Jaleesa and I have run multiple courses across different settings within the Birmingham and surrounding areas. Thanks to our consultant’s great relationships with schools, we’ve been able to deliver the training in a number of schools during the school holidays making use of their empty assembly halls. A bonus of running the courses within a school setting is that it provides our candidates with a familiar environment to learn in, which is pretty much identical to their place of work.

Our Team Teach Training is a 2-day course and consists of theory-based learning, as well as physical holistic behaviour support techniques. Anyone who knows what team teach is will know why it is so important to have these skills in place especially when working as a teacher or teaching assistant in SEN schools or children’s residential settings. Team Teach is an accredited, award-winning provider of positive behaviour management training, equipping individuals and teams in a variety of settings to deal with challenging situations and behaviours in ways that lead to desirable outcomes and positive relationships at work or in daily life. 

When asked if I wanted to join Jaleesa to train with her to have these skills, I jumped at the chance to do it! Not only am I a sucker for a qualification but I am also passionate about building positive relationships, learning, and teaching others and helping people develop new skills. It was a path that I did not regret taking and my love for teaching this skill has flourished more and more, with every course we have delivered. My fondest outcome will always be the look on our candidate’s faces when they finally learn how to carry out techniques correctly, with no flaws, and how happy it makes them, to have overcome their learning obstacles. It’s such a great feeling and one I doubt, I will ever get tired of! 

We work with a wide range of special education needs and residential settings, whose staff members have highly benefited from completing our Team Teach Training course and who have received more work as a result (many SEN settings require a Team Teach qualification or something similar). However, the course isn’t just for those working in special educational needs schools, we also deliver the training to teachers and teaching assistants working in mainstream schools too.

Each of our training sessions is tailored specifically to each setting to ensure that those attending get the most from the course. I’m really proud to say that so far we’ve had fantastic feedback from schools and candidates alike, for our flexible and structured approach to delivering Team Teach. We’ve even been recommended to other schools! 

Feedback is really important to us as we are always looking to improve. However, as stated above, so far, we have had nothing less than excellent feedback. To quote one of our long-standing candidates who said “The course was delivered by two very well-presented individuals from Smile Education. I left the course feeling enlightened, well-informed, and confident to use these skills in my place of work. I was shocked to find out that the girls had only been delivering Team Teach courses for a short time because it felt like they had been doing this for years. I would highly recommend.” 

Team Teach Tutors are required to retrain every 12 months. Jaleesa and I retrained in March this year and successfully achieved a new accreditation and of course, an updated qualification certification. We look forward to running more course in the near future!

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If you are considering completing a Team Teach qualification or you are looking to organise a Team Teach Training session for your school, please do get in touch. You can learn more about the training offered here.