Before the first lesson
Share teaching strengths, subject confidence and questions about the partnership. Agree a regular meeting time, shared planning space, communication channel and resource deadlines.
EAL co-teaching · Practice guide 01
Start the partnership well
Agree how two teachers will share responsibility for subject learning and English development.
Know the learners together
Review reading, listening, speaking and writing evidence, prior schooling and useful languages. A single overall score cannot tell you which scaffold a particular task needs. EAL is a language-learning profile; additional learning needs require their own evidence and support.
Make parity visible
Introduce both adults as teachers. Put both names on shared classroom materials where appropriate. Agree help-seeking, behaviour routines, handovers and how both will teach all learners.
Resolve a difficulty privately
Describe the classroom event, explain its effect on learning, invite the other perspective and agree one change with a review date. Seek school support for persistent workload or conduct problems.
Worked classroom example
Class introduction: “We are both your teachers. One of us brings subject expertise and one brings expertise in learning through English. We will both explain, question and give feedback, and you can ask either of us for help.”
Conversation starter: “During the explanation I could not find a moment to model the comparison language. Could we reserve two minutes after your diagram next lesson, then check whether learners use it?”
Share the work
Subject teacher shares the unit sequence and disciplinary criteria. EAL teacher identifies language demands and relevant learner evidence. Both negotiate teaching, assessment, communication and preparation responsibilities.
Evidence to look for: Learners seek help from both teachers; both have planned instructional contributions; preparation deadlines are realistic.
Your working template
Draft here, then download an editable HTML copy. Drafts are saved locally in this browser when available. Use anonymised observations.
Developed from Duncan Rose’s supplied co-teaching training and programme materials (2022–2025), with newly written classroom examples. School-specific procedures and individual staff responses are excluded.