Team Teach:

Frequently Asked Questions

Courses are delivered in the form of open courses, hosted by us in public venues and open to anyone to book onto, and as private courses, booked by and exclusive to your organisation, delivered within your setting.

You can find out more information about all our courses and book onto them here.

It is advised to register for a reaccreditation course straight after you have completed and passed a Team Teach course. The reason being that the courses can become booked up quickly and it can be difficult to book onto a course last minute, so this ensures you don’t miss out and/ or forget to book at a later date. Bookings can be made on our website.

Course Type Expiry
Level One – 6 Hour Course 24 Months
Level Two – 12 Hour Course 12 Months
Advanced Modules 1 Year
Intermediate Trainer 1 Year
Intermediate Reaccreditation 1 Year
Advanced Trainer 1 Year
Advanced Reaccreditation 1 Year

Team Teach is an accredited, award-winning provider of training in behavioural support strategies. The Team Teach approach and philosophy has been developed by practitioners with over 25 years’ experience in delivering respectful, accessible and practical behaviour support solutions. We are the only company of our kind to have received a National Training Award, the highest level of award in the UK.

Focused on teamwork and communication, our courses foster more supportive working practices, helping people recognise the needs of the children and adults they work with, offer help where necessary, and be able to make use of support when offered.

  • Team Teach provides organisations with, and stresses the importance of, documentation that underpins and supports the process and people involved. This includes: Policy (Local & Corporate), preferred de-escalation strategies, behaviour plans involving physical interventions, incident reports, risk assessment forms, expressing concerns and complaints, and recording, monitoring and evaluating templates which allow authorities/service settings to develop them specifically for their own needs.
  • A supportive framework for trainers and local authorities, including rigorous quality control and assurance procedures (Summary Evaluation Form, course members record of completion and random sampling form, post-practice questionnaire).
  • Any course participants who have completed our Level One – 6 Hour course, Level Two – 12 hour course or our Advanced modules will be able to access our Useful Resources area which provides a range of materials such as technique videos and other course information.
  • Trainers can access a login area of the Team Teach website with updated news, good practice materials, written guidelines/policies and course materials. These are all made available within the Trainers’ Area which requires registration.

Our courses equip individuals and teams working with both children and adults in a variety of settings to transform challenging situations and behaviours into positive outcomes and maintain positive relationships.

Browse our full range of courses.

Following successful completion of a Team Teach course, participants will:

  • Be able to apply the basic values, rationale and principles of the Team Teach approach.
  • Understand relevant legal standards and expectations related to use of force.
  • Understand the reporting, recording, monitoring and evaluating requirements of incidents involving physical controls and reasonable force. Have knowledge and understanding of aggression and conflict, being able to recognise typical signs and causes.
  • Understand the importance of using de-escalation strategies where possible. Be aware of the concept of the conflict spiral, levels of behaviour and the need for an appropriate staff response in order to maximise the opportunity to calm the incident through non-verbal and verbal strategies where possible.
  • Understand the whole-setting holistic approach to behaviour support, including the importance of self-awareness and self-control while supporting behaviour.
  • Be able to conduct a follow up process with the service users and is aware of the importance of a support and supervision, repair and reflection process for both staff and individuals involved following a serious incident involving physical interventions.
  • Be able to use positive and protective personal safety skills in order to minimise risk to all involved (optional).
  • Perform a range of positive handling strategies, gradual and graded, involved in holding, guiding and escorting safety, from least intrusive to more restrictive holds.
  • Use positive handling strategies that provide for a range of appropriate de-escalation options including; keeping standing, from standing into chairs, from standing to the floor, into a knees position where possible. Staff to perform a physical technique specific to smaller children (standing, chairs and ground sitting options).
  • Be aware of the need to avoid taking down to the floor in a supine or prone position, other than in the most exceptional circumstances, for staff to know how to make safe in such a position.

Individually numbered certificates are issued to those successfully completing the course, which requires passing a quiz, achieving full attendance and demonstrating appropriate attitudes, knowledge and understanding. All elements of trainees’ participation are individually recorded by the trainers, and records made available to staff and management. Team work is assessed through the application of the communication help scripts provided and through physical activities throughout the course.

Course members are supported by Team Teach only in relation to the physical skills in which they demonstrated competence during training. Competence in the physical techniques is defined as the “ability, within the training context, to perform a skill without being prompted.”

Follow-up support for individual participants, as required, are discussed and agreed with the commissioning manager, as are timings regarding reaccreditation. A trainee’s Individual Evaluation Form and a Trainer Summary Evaluation Form are completed following training and sent to the Service Manager. A post-course questionnaire can be distributed to staff groups 1-3 months following the training, which informs future training needs.

The initial meeting between the Service Manager and lead trainer decides the optional risk-reduction physical elements to be delivered, and advises the organisation on the paperwork that underpins practice.

Team Teach uses effective learning styles. The training approach is largely visual and involves a high level of interaction and involvement by trainees. The delivery methods vary, including a presentation interspersed with media clips and relevant working examples, facilitated role play, table top discussions around set activities, and a low-level physical team-building warm up leading to the core and optional physical activities. Trainees take a quiz to measure their knowledge and theoretical understanding.

At the end of your Team Teach course, once awarded a full pass, you will receive an electronic certificate which will be sent to the email address you provided during the registration process.

The certificate can be issued up to 10 working days after the course end date. To request a paper copy contact Team Teach on +44 (0) 020 3746 0938 or by sending an email to info@teamteach.co.uk. Please note there is an administrative charge for paper copies.

If you have lost a copy of your Team Teach certificate, please contact Team Teach on the above details and a new one will be issued electronically, unless otherwise requested.

Yes. Providing the external trainer is only assisting, and that the liability insurance arrangements are the clear responsibility of the leading in-house trainer(s), it is possible for trainers to act assist across local authorities, trusts and services.

No. Only Principal, Senior and Senior Assist trainers contracted to and licensed by Team Teach can provide training outside of their employer’s service settings. Employers/local authority trainers are permitted to train only direct employees of their single employer e.g. a council, local authority etc.

Academy Schools/Colleges therefore fall outside of this authority pay structure. Local Authority trainers cannot lead training in Academy Schools/Colleges, or to supply or agency staff, without an Employer Area Operating Licence.

The first step is to have the support of your employer, since the employer trainer certificate allows individuals to provide training to employees of their employer.

Secondly, you will need to have passed (a minimum of) the Team Teach Behaviour Support Level One – 6 Hour course. The Behaviour Support Level Two – 12 Hour course is preferred and more appropriate for individuals who wish to take their training qualification into special services (Children’s Homes, Special Schools and units, Hospitals, etc). Individuals can then apply for a 5-day Intermediate Trainer course whereby, once fully passed, you will become a certified Team Teach trainer.

Best practice suggests that the initial Behaviour Support Level One – 6 Hour course should be a closed event for that service setting, and that the aspiring trainers should be part of the closed staff group receiving the training.

Protocols do not allow employer trainers to deliver training to new staff groups on their own. Therefore, it is always a good idea to have at least two, preferably three, individuals trained for each employer setting.

Requirements for applying for an Intermediate Trainer course:

  • Positive Behaviour Support Level One – 6 Hour certificate that is valid; and/ or
  • Positive Behaviour Support Level Two – 12 Hour certificate that is valid (preferred qualification).

Team Teach does not issue trainer certificates that allow individuals to go into private practice.

The best results occur when parents are active partners with the service in understanding and supporting use of the Team Teach behavioural framework approach. This is best achieved through sharing and involving the parents in their child’s Individual Support Plan. All aspects of this plan should be explained, especially the preferred de-escalation skills, as well as any identified physical interventions and the agreed reporting process concerning “restraint” incidents involving their children.

Where a child has a known medical complication and staff must plan for a physical response, as identified within the Individual Support Plan, then the written view of a medically qualified person (normally doctor or consultant) that knows the child and their condition best should be sought. This should include showing them the techniques that are being considered in relation to the child’s plan.

It should be explained to parents that the Team Teach approach is a behavioural framework, with an emphasis on safety for all, with the need for staff to understand what is potentially causing the behaviours of concern and what environmental changes, non-verbal and verbal strategies should be used first where possible before any restrictive physical interventions are applied. Parents can also be shown the Team Teach workbook and theory table-top activities that staff underwent on the course to help explain the need to personalise the agreed responses within the positive handling plan. If appropriate, selected physical interventions can be demonstrated to the parents, via a video file or in person through trainers, but it must be made clear to parents that they are not being trained through such a process.

It is then down to leadership and management within a setting to put this framework to its most effective and caring use. All incidents of restraint should be recorded, reported and reviewed.

The DfE produced the following guidance in August 2012: “It is good practice for schools to speak to parents about serious incidents involving the use of force and to consider how best to record such serious incidents. It is up to schools to decide whether it is appropriate to report the use of force to parents. In deciding what is a serious incident, teachers should use their professional judgement and also consider the following: the pupil’s behaviour and level of risk presented at the time of the incident, the degree of force used, the effect on the pupil or member of staff the child’s age.” (DFE Use of Force, August 2012).

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