About the Service
This service is for School Support Professionals (shadow teachers or accompanying teachers) who are not employees or members of the Temenos team, but who need professional training, supervision, and coaching suited to the child they support.
Parents can arrange this service for a School Support Professional they have appointed or employed. School Support Professionals from outside Temenos can also contact us directly for their own training and supervision. The program is tailored to the child's needs and school context.
Effective support takes more than understanding theory. A School Support Professional needs to translate knowledge into everyday practice: when to help, when to reduce help, how to work with the teacher, how to respond to behavioral or regulation challenges, and how to encourage the child toward independence.
The program is therefore not the same training for every participant. It is built through assessment, an understanding of the child, observation of practice, coaching, supervision, feedback, and regular evaluation.
It Starts with Assessment
The program begins with an assessment of the School Support Professional to understand the knowledge, skills, and practice they already have. The assessment is the basis for choosing the most relevant development areas, not for grading. Areas explored can include:
- understanding the role, and the limits of the role, of a School Support Professional;
- the ability to help without creating dependence;
- the use of prompting, scaffolding, and fading support;
- support for the child's independence;
- communication and collaboration with teachers and parents;
- classroom management and support for the child's participation;
- emotional and behavioral regulation;
- executive functioning;
- social interaction and peer participation;
- learning accommodations and modifications; and
- observation, documentation, and evaluation of the child's progress.
The results become the basis for coaching and training goals, so each School Support Professional can have a different development focus.
Understanding the Child Before Training the Adult
A School Support Professional's competence cannot be separated from the child they support. A strategy that works for one child will not necessarily suit another.
So alongside the School Support Professional's profile, Temenos also studies the child's needs, strengths, challenges, learning patterns, regulation, executive functioning, social skills, and the school demands they face. Information comes from discussion with parents, relevant reports or assessment results, communication with the school, and observation at school where needed.
Understanding the adult, the child, and the learning environment.
A Customized Training Program
Based on the assessment, Temenos designs a development program tailored to the School Support Professional and the child. The focus can shift as both develop. Topics can include the role of a School Support Professional; supporting independence rather than dependence; prompting, scaffolding, and fading support; executive functioning support; emotional and behavioral regulation; classroom management; peer interaction; accommodation and modification; communication with teachers and parents; observation and documentation; goal setting and progress monitoring; implementing a PPI/IEP where relevant; and other strategies suited to the child's profile and the school's demands.
The training is not a uniform package, but professional development built on real needs in the field.
Practice-Based Coaching and Supervision
The program does not stop at theory. Its main focus is helping the School Support Professional apply strategies in real situations and reflect on their own practice. They can bring experiences, challenges, or cases from school into coaching sessions. The supervisor helps them reflect on the responses they have used, understand the factors behind the child's behavior or difficulties, develop alternative strategies, decide the right level of help, plan its gradual reduction, evaluate the effectiveness of strategies, and develop professional judgment for new situations.
Supervision is an important part of the literature on school support staff. Giangreco, Suter, and Doyle (2010) identified training, roles and responsibilities, interactions, supervision, and collaborative relationships as key areas of paraprofessional practice in inclusive schools.
Learn → Apply → Observe → Reflect → Receive Feedback → Adjust → Apply Again
The aim is for the School Support Professional not only to know what to do, but to understand why, when a strategy is needed, and when it needs to change.
Online Supervision and Direct Observation
Part of the coaching and supervision can take place online, so the School Support Professional receives professional support regularly. Temenos also conducts direct observation at school where needed, to see how the School Support Professional interacts with the child, gives instructions and help, reduces help as the child begins to manage, responds to regulation needs, works with the teacher, supports the child's participation in class, encourages peer interaction, and helps the child carry out school activities with growing independence.
The observations feed into the next round of feedback, reflection, and coaching. Supervision is based not only on verbal reports but on actual practice in the real learning environment.
Collaboration with Parents and School
Parents are an important part of this program. When parents arrange the service, Temenos gives regular progress updates: the competence areas being developed, progress visible so far, areas still needing coaching, strategies being applied, and recommended next steps. Reports focus on professional development and practice needs, so the supervision process stays constructive.
With the consent of those involved, Temenos can also communicate with the teacher or school to understand the learning demands, the class, the curriculum, PPI/IEP targets where available, and the role expected of the School Support Professional. A healthy teacher and School Support Professional collaboration needs clear communication, agreed role expectations, and an actively maintained professional relationship (Urbani et al., 2024). The School Support Professional is guided to work alongside the teacher, not to replace the teacher or work separately from the class.
A School Support Professional's growth does not happen in one training session. Temenos treats this program as continuous professional development that, over time, moves from basic skills toward more complex abilities: analyzing situations independently, choosing the right strategy, evaluating support, communicating professionally, planning fading support, and helping the child generalize skills.
Service Pathway
- 1
Initial consultation with parents or the School Support Professional
Understanding the main issue, the family's needs, the child, developmental and learning history, the school situation, and why supervision or coaching is needed.
- 2
Understanding the child and initial observation
Learning the child's profile from the parents, existing reports or assessment results, and an initial observation at Temenos where needed. If the child is already a Temenos client, a separate observation may not be necessary.
- 3
Initial assessment of the School Support Professional
Understanding their starting competence, understanding of the role, independence-supporting principles, strategies used so far, and areas to develop.
- 4
Designing the customized program
Setting priorities, targets, material, methods, and training duration from what is known about the child, the school, and the School Support Professional. Program length differs for each participant.
- 5
Coaching and supervision
Practical, contextual training: applying strategies, reflecting on practice, problem solving, feedback, and adjusting support.
- 6
Direct observation at school
Observing the School Support Professional's practice at school where needed: strategy use, interaction with the child and teacher, level of help, and next coaching needs.
- 7
Collaboration with parents and school
Aligning targets, strategies, accommodations, and support for the child, as needed and with the consent of those involved.
- 8
Evaluation and program adjustment
Reviewing the School Support Professional's competence and the child's response, then adjusting targets, coaching, supervision, and the duration of the next phase if still needed.
Program Goals
Temenos supervision and coaching does not aim to make the School Support Professional simply follow the supervisor's instructions. The goal is to help them develop professional judgment, so they become increasingly able to understand the child, read the situation, choose strategies, evaluate results, and adjust support responsibly.
The quality of support is measured not by how much help is given, but by the extent to which that help enables the child to become more able to learn, take part, interact, manage themselves, and function independently at school.
Better School Support Professionals create better opportunities for children to become independent.
References
- Giangreco, M. F., Suter, J. C., & Doyle, M. B. (2010). Paraprofessionals in inclusive schools: A review of recent research. Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, 20(1), 41–57. https://doi.org/10.1080/10474410903535356
- Urbani, J. M., LePage, P., & Watson-Alvarado, S. (2024). Building and sustaining a collaborative educational team: Teachers and paraprofessionals. TEACHING Exceptional Children, 57(1), 6–13. https://doi.org/10.1177/00400599241231215