Teaching Assistant Excellence Programme

Empower your team. Enhance learning. Elevate impact.

Develop the confidence, consistency and classroom impact of your Teaching Assistants through a sustainable whole school programme that builds expertise from within.

Created by ESP Education in partnership with Alpha International Training, the TA Excellence Programme gives your school everything it needs to deliver high-quality professional development for Teaching Assistants, Learning Support Assistants and Higher Level Teaching Assistants.

By combining a comprehensive TA Toolkit with specialist training for a nominated TA Development Lead, the programme enables schools to establish an effective approach to support-staff development without the ongoing cost of external training.

Recognising the difference Teaching Assistants make

Teaching Assistants play a vital role in supporting learning, inclusion, behaviour and pupil progress. However, many receive limited training or inconsistent opportunities to develop their practice.

The TA Excellence Programme provides a structured, practical and affordable solution. It equips support staff with the knowledge, confidence and professional skills they need while helping schools to establish greater consistency across classrooms.

The programme also recognises the dedication and professionalism of your support staff, raising the profile of Teaching Assistants as valued members of the school community.

A sustainable whole-school approach

Rather than relying on repeated external training, the programme develops a nominated member of your team to lead Teaching Assistant development within your school.

Your TA Development Lead receives specialist online “train the trainer” support before using the TA Toolkit to deliver high-quality professional development at a pace that reflects your school’s priorities.

Once trained, your Development Lead can deliver the programme:

  • To as many Teaching Assistants as required

  • In any order that meets the needs of your school

  • Through staff meetings, training days or regular CPD sessions

  • At a pace that works for your staff and timetable

  • Without having to plan sessions or source materials from scratch

Your school will also retain access to advice and guidance from the ESP Education team throughout the programme.

Teaching Assistants play a vital role in supporting learning, inclusion, behaviour and pupil progress. However, many receive limited training or inconsistent opportunities to develop their practice.

The TA Excellence Programme provides a structured, practical and affordable solution. It equips support staff with the knowledge, confidence and professional skills they need while helping schools to establish greater consistency across classrooms.

The programme also recognises the dedication and professionalism of your support staff, raising the profile of Teaching Assistants as valued members of the school community.

The TA Toolkit

Every participating school receives the complete TA Toolkit: a practical, ready-to-deliver professional development resource created specifically for British international schools.

The toolkit includes a range of structured training modules supported by presentation slides, session guidance and participant materials. It gives your school everything required to deliver engaging and consistent in-house training for Teaching Assistants, Learning Support Assistants and Higher Level Teaching Assistants.

The TA Toolkit helps schools to:

  • Make support-staff training straightforward to plan and deliver

  • Improve the consistency and classroom impact of Teaching Assistants

  • Build confidence, clarity and professionalism across the team

  • Raise the profile of Teaching Assistants within the school

  • Align development with wider school-improvement priorities

  • Establish lasting internal capacity for high-quality professional development

Developing your TA Development Lead

Your nominated TA Development Lead will participate in a series of online training sessions designed to strengthen their knowledge, confidence and leadership skills.

The training will support them to:

  • Understand and maximise the impact of the TA Toolkit

  • Identify priority modules based on the needs of the school

  • Plan and deliver engaging professional development

  • Encourage participation and secure staff commitment

  • Monitor the impact of training on practice

  • Support the implementation of learning in the classroom

  • Address barriers and underperformance

  • Access personalised advice and guidance

Following the training, your Development Lead will be equipped to manage an effective and sustainable programme of Teaching Assistant development across your school.

By participating in the TA Excellence Programme, your school can:

  • Build a more confident, skilled and effective support-staff team

  • Strengthen the contribution Teaching Assistants make to learning and pupil progress

  • Improve consistency of practice across classrooms and departments

  • Develop internal leadership and training capacity

  • Provide meaningful professional development for all support staff

  • Reduce reliance on costly external training

  • Demonstrate a clear commitment to recognising and investing in Teaching Assistants

Programme investment

The complete TA Excellence Programme costs £1,500 per school.

This includes:

  • Full access to the TA Toolkit

  • Online training for your nominated TA Development Lead

  • Ready-to-deliver training resources and supporting materials

  • Ongoing programme advice and guidance

  • School and Development Lead recognition awards

  • The ability to train as many Teaching Assistants as required

Develop excellence across your support-staff team

Give your Teaching Assistants the professional development, recognition and confidence they deserve while creating a sustainable model of training that continues to benefit your school.

To find out more or order the TA Excellence Programme, contact Liberty Taylor-Hopkins at liberty@espeducation.co.uk.