Education CPD & Professional Development

Training that changes practice, not just awareness

Practical, evidence-based CPD for the whole workforce — from classroom teachers and TAs to SENCOs and senior leaders. Every programme builds confidence, improves outcomes, and creates measurable impact you can evidence.

Why this matters now

The training gap is real — and it’s measurable

For too long, SEND and inclusion training has been inconsistent. Almost half of teachers say more training would help their confidence. Only one in five has had any SEND-specific training at all. The gap between policy and classroom practice is where children fall through.

1 in 5
Primary teachers have had any training on meeting the needs of pupils with SEND
89%
Of teachers want to improve their knowledge of at least one special educational need
50%
Of secondary teachers lack confidence supporting students’ mental health needs
30%
Increase in AP placements since 2020 — schools are overwhelmed
Government SEND Reform — £4bn investment

The government’s SEND reform plans include high-quality training materials for every school and college, developed alongside experts. This training will reach the whole workforce — including teaching assistants and support staff who play a vital role in supporting inclusion every day. For experienced teachers and leaders, this represents a marked shift: while existing training supports those new to the workforce, there is a clear gap for those in-post looking to build their skills further. Our CPD fills exactly that gap.

Signature workshops

Five programmes designed for impact

Each workshop is delivered flexibly to slot into teachers’ busy schedules, promoting practical skills about how to make education more inclusive — and how targeted support can ensure every student reaches their full potential.

Signature

Embracing Neurodiversity: Strategies for Supporting All Learners

From awareness to adaptive practice. Understanding neurodivergent profiles (autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, DLD), strengths-based approaches, practical classroom strategies for sensory needs, communication, and executive function.

All teaching staff, TAs, SENCOs, SLT
Signature

Understanding Your SEMH Students: Strategies That Actually Work

Moving beyond crisis management. SEMH as a bio-psycho-social construct, the link between trauma and behaviour, whole-school approaches to emotional regulation, co-regulation strategies, and building a wellbeing-informed classroom.

All staff, pastoral teams, behaviour leads, TAs
Signature

Behaviour as Communication: Beyond Sanctions to Real Change

A relational, trauma-informed approach to behaviour that reduces exclusions and builds belonging. Why traditional behaviour systems fail neurodivergent and SEMH learners, de-escalation techniques, restorative approaches, and evidencing your behaviour approach for Ofsted’s inclusion judgement.

All teaching staff, TAs, pastoral teams, SLT, governors
Signature — FE & AP

The NEET Landscape: Inclusive Re-engagement That Gets Results

Nearly one million young people are NEET. Understanding the Risk of NEET Indicator (RONI), early identification, designing inclusive re-engagement programmes, the Youth Guarantee, and tracking destinations with measurable impact.

FE staff, AP leaders, careers leads, 14–19 coordinators
Signature

SpLD in Practice: The Road to Achievement

Practical, evidence-based strategies for dyslexia, dyscalculia, and processing differences — from identification to intervention. Adaptive teaching, assistive technology, building learner confidence, and tracking progress.

Class teachers, TAs, SENCOs, literacy/numeracy leads
Full CPD menu

Workshops across all four areas of need

Mapped to the SEND Code of Practice, aligned to EHCP outcomes, and designed to build confidence across your entire workforce — from NQTs to experienced leaders.

📘 Cognition & Learning

Practical strategies for specific learning difficulties, memory, and executive function.

Identifying & Meeting Literacy Difficulties

Evidence-based approaches to identifying and supporting children with reading, writing, and spelling difficulties — including dyslexia screening, intervention, and progress monitoring.

Teachers, TAs, SENCOs

Identifying & Meeting Maths Difficulties

Understanding dyscalculia and maths anxiety. Practical strategies for building number sense, using manipulatives, and adapting the maths curriculum.

Teachers, TAs, maths leads

Supporting Memory Difficulties

Understanding working memory, long-term memory, and retrieval. Classroom strategies that reduce cognitive load and help learners retain and recall information.

All teaching staff, TAs

Executive Functioning & Learner Independence

Understanding planning, organisation, self-regulation, and flexible thinking. Strategies to develop independence without creating learned helplessness.

All teaching staff, TAs, SENCOs

💚 Social, Emotional & Mental Health

Building confident, emotionally literate staff who can support the children who find school hardest.

Making Sense of ADHD / Attention Difficulties

What ADHD looks like in the classroom (including masking and the inattentive profile), practical strategies for focus, regulation, and task completion. Moving beyond “just try harder.”

All staff

Trauma-Informed Practice

Understanding the impact of adverse childhood experiences on learning and behaviour. Building a trauma-informed classroom without pathologising children.

All staff, pastoral teams, DSLs

💬 Communication & Interaction

Supporting autism, speech and language needs, and social communication differences.

Making Sense of Autism

Understanding the autistic experience from a strengths-based perspective. Sensory needs, social communication differences, demand avoidance, and creating autism-friendly environments.

All staff

Understanding Responses of CYP with Social Communication Differences

Why some behaviours are communication, not defiance. Responding to distress, shutdowns, and meltdowns with understanding and practical de-escalation.

All staff, TAs, pastoral teams

Using Structure & Visuals for Social Communication

Visual timetables, task boards, now/next strategies, and structured communication frameworks that support understanding and reduce anxiety.

Teachers, TAs, early years staff

Speech, Language & Communication in Secondary & FE

Supporting SLCN and Developmental Language Disorder in post-primary settings — where language demands increase but support often drops away.

Secondary teachers, FE staff, TAs

👂 Sensory & Physical

Practical support for sensory processing, hearing, vision, and physical needs.

Sensory Processing Differences

Identifying and supporting children who process sensory information differently — sensory seeking, avoidance, and classroom modifications that cost nothing.

All staff, TAs, SENCOs

Physical Development, Safety & Toileting Needs

Practical, dignity-centred approaches to supporting physical needs in school. Building staff confidence in an area many find uncomfortable.

TAs, SENCOs, early years staff

Glue Ear & Temporary Hearing Loss

Identifying and supporting children with conductive hearing loss — one of the most common and most overlooked conditions affecting learning.

All teaching staff

Making Resources Accessible for Vision Impairment

Adapting teaching materials, classroom environments, and digital resources for learners with vision impairment — practical, low-cost changes.

Teachers, TAs, resource leads
The evidence is clear

The scale of the training gap — in numbers

Data from across the sector paints a consistent picture: the workforce is not yet equipped to deliver the inclusive education that children need and that policy now demands. These figures span primary, secondary, and post-16 settings.

Teacher preparedness

Only 10% of primary and 15% of secondary teachers feel their training prepared them for SEMH needs

Surveys by Teacher Tapp show that roughly two-thirds of teachers feel unprepared to meet the needs of pupils across any major area of SEND. The gap is widest in social, emotional, and mental health — the fastest-growing category of need.

Source: Teacher Tapp / Evidence Based Education
Support staff capacity

96% of support staff say shortage of trained personnel is a barrier to inclusion

The NEU’s State of Education 2026 report found support staff are even more likely than teachers to cite a lack of training as a significant barrier. These are the staff working closest to the children who need the most support.

Source: NEU State of Education 2026
Speech & language

49% of teachers have not had sufficient training to support speech and language development

Almost half of teachers across primary, secondary, and FE settings lack the training to support children’s speech and language needs — despite 30% of pupils with SEND having speech and language as their primary area of need.

Source: I CAN / Speech and Language UK
Specialist shortages

29% of schools cite a shortage of trained SEND staff

Research by Schools North East shows nearly a third of schools are relying on untrained or temporary workers to fill SEND roles — creating a dangerous gap between what children need and what they receive.

Source: Schools North East / Parliament UK
Systemic impact

The lack of localised, role-specific training leads to over-reliance on teaching assistants and a widening achievement gap

Educational reviews including Parliament UK and Durham University studies have found that without sustained, quality-assured CPD, schools default to delegating SEND support to the least-trained staff. This widens the achievement gap in core subjects and undermines inclusion at a structural level. The solution is training that reaches the whole workforce — from TAs and support staff to experienced teachers and leaders — not just those entering the profession.

Source: Parliament UK / Durham University
What the data tells us

These are not niche problems — they affect every primary school, every secondary school, and every college in the country. The government’s £4bn SEND reform investment explicitly recognises that high-quality, accessible training for the entire workforce is the single most important lever for making inclusive practice the norm. Our CPD is designed to close exactly these gaps — with measurable evidence that it has.

Alignment & measurement

How every workshop connects to EHCP outcomes and the inspection framework

Every programme is designed so that what staff learn directly supports the outcomes in children’s EHCPs and aligns to Ofsted’s Education Inspection Framework. This turns CPD from a “nice to have” into an evidenceable investment in inclusion.

Area of needEHCP outcome alignmentOfsted EIF / report card linkHow we measure impact
Cognition & LearningAcademic progress targets; literacy/numeracy milestones; independence in learningQuality of Education — adaptive teaching, progress of SEND pupilsPre/post staff confidence audit; pupil progress data at 3 and 6 months
SEMHEmotional regulation; social skills; attendance; reduction in behavioural incidentsInclusion — belonging, attendance, fair behaviour systems; Leadership — staff wellbeingBehaviour incident data; exclusion rates; attendance; staff wellbeing survey
Communication & InteractionFunctional communication targets; social interaction goals; reduced anxietyQuality of Education — accessible curriculum; Inclusion — achieve, belong, thriveCommunication milestones; staff confidence; pupil/parent voice
Sensory & PhysicalAccess to learning; physical independence; sensory regulationInclusion — barriers removed; Leadership — reasonable adjustments evidencedAccessibility audit; staff confidence; reduction in sensory-related incidents
NEET / Re-engagementAttendance; engagement; successful post-16 transitionPersonal Development; Inclusion; Leadership — destinations dataRONI data; destination tracking; attendance; learner voice
Impact for your setting

What changes after we work with you

Our training enables every child to feel safe and welcome in school — promoting good attendance, attainment, and wellbeing. A well-trained, supported workforce benefits all children, but is especially important for those who find learning most difficult.

Staff confidence increases

Measured via pre and post confidence audits. Staff leave knowing what to do on Monday morning, not just what to think about.

Inclusion evidence strengthens

Every programme produces data you can present to governors, inspectors, or parents — not just a folder of certificates.

Behaviour incidents reduce

When staff understand behaviour as communication and have the strategies to respond, exclusions and referrals fall.

EHCP outcomes are better met

Training mapped to the four areas of need, so what staff learn directly supports the targets in children’s plans.

Attendance improves

Children who feel safe, understood, and included come to school. The link between belonging and attendance is well evidenced.

Parents’ confidence grows

When parents see staff who genuinely understand their child’s needs, trust in the school increases and complaints decrease. This marks a key step towards restoring parents’ confidence that their children will be supported throughout every stage of education.

Pricing

Flexible packages for every setting

Delivered in your setting, on your schedule. All programmes include pre/post measurement so you can evidence the impact.

£750+

Twilight Session

Focused 2-hour session on one topic. Perfect for a staff meeting or INSET starter.

Most popular
£1,800+

Full-Day Workshop

Complete programme for up to 30 staff. Pre/post confidence audit, materials, and follow-up action plan included.

£9,500+

Annual Partnership

Full-year programme: 6 sessions, coaching clinics, and a written impact report for governors.

Get started

Book a free discovery call

Tell us about your setting, your team, and where the gaps are. We’ll give you an honest view of what would make the biggest difference — and whether we’re the right people to help.

Request a discovery call

Legal

Registered in England & Wales

britanny@inclusivepracticesolutions.com