FAQs

Team Teach delivers entry-to-advanced level courses to 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.

Courses are delivered in the form of open courses and as closed, on-site training for groups.

Our Positive Behaviour Management Level One – 6 Hour course is available as either an open course or a closed, on-site course.

Positive Behaviour Management Level Two – 12 Hour and Positive Behaviour Management Advanced Modules are available as closed, on-site courses only.

We also run both open and closed Train-the-Trainer courses allowing individuals to lead on and support the delivery of training in positive behaviour management strategies throughout their organisation.

Trainer courses are delivered at two levels, Intermediate and Advanced, including the associated Reaccreditation courses. Browse our Train-the-Trainer courses.

If you would like to enquire about any of our courses, contact us or register your interest 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 get 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.

Team Teach is an accredited, award-winning provider of training in positive behavioural management strategies. The Team Teach approach and philosophy has been developed by practitioners with over 20 years’ experience in delivering respectful, accessible and practical behaviour management 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 positive handling, 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 in Positive Behaviour Management.

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 management, including the importance of self-awareness and self-control whilst managing challenging 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 positive handling strategies.
• 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.
• Be able to respond to situations where standing fights between service users may happen.

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@legacy.teamteach.com. 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 Positive Behaviour Management Level One – 6 Hour course. The Positive Behaviour Management 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 Positive Behaviour Management 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 Management Level One – 6 Hour certificate that is valid within the previous 36 months; and/ or
• Positive Behaviour Management Level Two – 12 Hour certificate that is valid within a period of 24 months (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 Positive Handling 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 Positive Handling Plan (PHP), 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).

The Gold Standard Award recognises and celebrates organisations who implement both the Team Teach protocols and ethos in an outstanding manner.

An organisation will require a portfolio of evidence which should be submitted to Team Teach. This will be verified and then sent on to a Principal Trainer for an additional verification and visit process. At this stage (verification visit) supplementary evidence via interviews will be required from key people e.g. staff, governor, head of setting, parent and pupils. On successful completion of the above, the Principal Trainer will arrange to present the service with the Gold Standard Award Certificate.

The Certificate is valid for a maximum of three years, after which the organisation can reapply to go through the process if they so wish. Please note costs apply.

If you are interested in becoming a Team Teach Gold Standard Organisation, please contact us via email info@legacy.teamteach.com or by phone +44 (0) 203 746 0938.