APPLY NOW FOR LEVEL 5 TRAINING: SEPT 2025 START
Teacher Training
Fairley House is the first and only school in the country to create and run teacher training for specific learning differences (SpLD). Since 2006 we have trained nearly three hundred teachers and therapists across both our industry-leading Level 5 and Level 7 courses.
We offer recognised courses in specific learning differences (SpLD) both to our own staff and external teachers who want to boost their qualifications and career prospects. Our courses are Patoss approved and validated by the CPD Standards Office.
The course was well organised, and the timing and pacing helped me manage working full-time and meet the course deadlines. My tutor was perceptive and encouraging throughout the year.
OCR 5 has changed my life and has allowed me to pursue a teaching career that suits my lifestyle and my family, while benefiting the greatest number of learners possible.
The organisation of the course was excellent, particularly the week-by-week breakdown that enabled me to balance and organise my life.
I felt my tutor was exemplary and went above and beyond. Overall, one very happy customer and it is one of the best things I have done.
Testimonials from Course Participants
Level 5 Course
The Level 5 course trains teachers to assess children with literacy and numeracy difficulties, to design teaching programmes based on assessment to teach diagnostically.
The majority of lectures are delivered by the Course Director, Phil Wain with assistance from Joan Cameron (specialist teacher and ex-SENCo at Fairley House School). There are weekly lectures and seminars and a team of tutors provide regular feedback to all submitted work.
The year long course involves weekly after school sessions (16:30 – 19:00), 20 hours of guided teaching with two learners with SpLD, an assessed essay and final presentation.
All areas observed were judged to be of high quality. Fairley House runs an excellent Level 5 course that is of great value in training teachers and teaching assistants to teach learners with dyslexia/SPLD.
The course is rigorous and well run with supportive and committed tutors.
Candidate feedback indicates that they learn a great deal and that the course changes their teaching.
The course deserves to be deemed ‘the gold standard’
An independent external quality assurer appointed by CPD Standards
Level 7 Course
Our face-to-face Level 7 Specialist Teacher Assessor course trains specialist teachers to assess and diagnose children and adults with dyslexia, as well as gain the skills and knowledge to devise and run intervention programmes for students with specific learning differences and complex needs.
The course also trains candidates to assess students for examination access arrangements. Following successful completion candidates are qualified to assess for, and diagnose, dyslexia and to assess for access arrangements. The majority of lectures are delivered by the Course Director, Phil Wain. There are weekly lectures and seminars, along with a team of tutors provide regular feedback on all submitted work. The year-long course involves weekly after school sessions (16:30 – 19:00), 12 hours of guided teaching with a learner with SpLD, assessed essays and student assessments. This course is research-based, requires independent study at a post-graduate level and candidates will be expected to read and think widely around the subject.
We plan to use the newly published ‘Test of Dyslexia’ as a tool for dyslexia assessment and diagnosis, and full training in deploying this brand-new tool will be provided on the course.
The course is due to run in September 2025 subject to demand.
History of our Teacher Training
Teacher training at Fairley House has its origins in the very first diploma in SpLD back in 1985 as UCL launched the RSA diploma in SpLD, the first recognised course of its kind. Jackie Murray, Fairley House School’s former head (1997-2013) and Educational Psychologist took this pilot course, passing with distinction, before becoming course tutor.
Then in 1988, Daphne Hamilton-Fairley, the founder of Fairley House, persuaded the National College of Speech Sciences (NHCSS, now UCL’s Department of Human Communication) to run the course and Jackie became the London University Course Convenor, where she worked for 6 years.
This course continued until 2005 and all Fairley House Staff were trained at UCL. Fairley House then set up its own OCR Diploma course due to lack of other teacher training options. It then opened to other teachers, and the OCR Level 7 course was introduced.
In 2018, OCR decided to stop validating the SpLD courses. Fairley House School then coordinated a meeting with country-wide leaders and the Helen Arkell Dyslexia Centre to write new and updated Level 5 and 7 courses which were then validated by CPD. These have run since 2019 and are fully PATOSS approved.
We are proud to say that since 2006 we have trained 258 teachers and therapists in Level 5, and since 2013 we have trained 41 teachers and therapists in Level 7.
Our School
London’s leading day school for children with specific learning differences
