Select Page

Introducing our new Language and Literacy specialism for the Specialist Teaching Assistant Apprenticeship – in partnership with Elklan

We’re delighted to announce a strategic partnership with Elklan, a renowned provider of accredited training in Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN). This collaboration marks the launch of our new Language and Literacy specialism within our Level 5 Specialist Teaching Assistant Apprenticeship programme.

This new specialism has been designed to equip teaching assistants with the skills to support five to eleven-year-olds with their language and communication, including those with identified speech, language and communication needs. Independent studies have shown that children can make significant progress – as much as seven months – with an Elklan-trained practitioner, compared to a control group that only made two month’s progress.

This vital training opportunity, which schools can fund using the Growth and Skills levy, comes at a crucial time for the UK’s education system. We’ve seen recent figures revealing a rise to 1.9 million children with speech and language needs in the UK, up from 1.5 million just two years ago. The long-term implications of these challenges are profound, with data showing that children who struggle to talk and understand words are six times more likely to be behind in English and eleven times more likely to be behind in Maths at age 11.

Our new Language and Literacy strand is initially being rolled out to Primary school teaching assistants. This programme has been seamlessly mapped to the Level 5 apprenticeship and includes fortnightly live remote teaching sessions delivered by an Elklan tutor or apprenticeship expert respectively. Our current Literacy specialism will remain unchanged, and both Primary and Secondary TAs will continue to have the option to study on this strand, should they prefer.

Upon completion, apprentices will gain The Level 5 Specialist Teaching Assistant Apprenticeship and Elklan’s Level 3 qualification in Speech and Language Support for 5-11s. To be eligible, TAs must also meet the following criteria:

  • Have at least a year’s worth of experience working as a TA or an equivalent role
  • Have lived in England for the last three years
  • Be employed at least 16 hours a week and spend at least 50% of working hours in England
  • GCSE English at Grade 4 or equivalent Level 2 Functional Skills

“We are incredibly excited to partner with Elklan, an organisation with such an incredible reputation for excellence in communication and language training,” said Dr Siobhan Mellor, Director at Educational and Sporting Futures and parent company, Real Group. “This collaboration represents a significant step forward in our commitment to new apprenticeship programmes that support teachers and TAs to deliver early intervention and support for children, regardless of whether a label is present or not. The new specialism will directly impact the educational journey and well-being of countless Primary school pupils across the country.”

The Language and Literacy specialism will support TAs to plan, deliver and evaluate activities and interventions to support individual, group and whole class literacy learning. It will also integrate key elements of Elklan’s training, focusing on areas such as:

  • Understand their role in developing children’s communication.
  • Help identify children with speech, language, and communication needs.
  • Implement strategies to support children with diverse SLCN, including targeted approaches for those with higher needs (e.g., developmental language disorder, autism, speech sound disorders).
  • Develop skills to support communication in various teaching settings.
  • Communicate confidently with parents about their child’s speech, language, and communication.
  • Share a common language with Speech and Language Therapy (SaLT) services to provide effective support.

Henrietta McLachlan, Director and Co-Founder of Elklan, commented, “We are delighted to join forces with Educational and Sporting Futures to bring this new specialism to the Level 5 Specialist Teaching Assistant Apprenticeship. Children and young people with SLCN can face numerous disadvantages. Our mission at Elklan is to change the way people engage with them so that they can achieve their full potential, and this partnership is another vehicle to enable us to achieve that aim. By embedding our expertise directly into an apprenticeship framework, we can equip teaching assistants in England with the specialised skills needed to improve communication support in schools.”

Jo Pountney, Director of Educational and Sporting Futures added, “We’re looking forward to working closely with the Elklan team and excited about the possibilities of further collaboration. We will continue to place an emphasis on choice and flexibility throughout our specialist TA apprenticeship strands, because we know how important this is to busy teaching assistants.”

This new specialism is set to launch in September 2025 and is expected to attract ambitious individuals looking to make a significant impact in educational settings. Employers will benefit from highly skilled, confident Specialist Teaching Assistants who can effectively support all learners, including those with SLCN.

Explore the Specialist TA Apprenticeship

This new specialism will launch in September 2025. Find out more here.

Explore our Level 5 Specialist Teaching Assistant Apprenticeship

Get in touch and explore how we can support your school to upskill new or current support staff.

Call us: 01784 222300
Email: info@esfapprenticeships.co.uk

About Elklan

Elklan provides effective and accessible training to ensure everyone in a child’s network can support the development of children’s speech, language and communication. Elklan delivers courses to teachers, teaching assistants, early years practitioners and parents, empowering them with the knowledge and practical strategies to utilise speech and language therapy methods in the classroom to develop children’s communication skills. Elklan has trained over 90,000 educational practitioners through a network of over 4,500 tutors.

Elklan’s main offer is a range of core speech and language support courses and the Communication Friendly Settings programme. The core courses equip practitioners with strategies to support language and communication development in the classroom and recognise and address SLCN. The CFS programme facilitates those practitioners to cascade the essential methods from the core courses to the rest of the staff within their setting. In completing the CFS award and improving provision amongst your team, the whole setting will become an environment which supports the communication and language development of all pupils.

Through building strong foundations in the UK, Elklan’s training methods are spreading on a global scale. Their renowned courses are evidence-based, accredited and vital to children. Effective communication with family, friends and teachers is essential to children’s education and development inside and outside the classroom. Communication is truly at the core of everything they do in life. Elklan empowers you to provide the best possible start for your young people.

For more information visit elklan.co.uk/