A shadow teacher is a trained therapist who supports one student inside their regular classroom, helping them access the lesson the class teacher is already delivering. The role runs to a written plan, is supervised by a qualified behaviour analyst, and is designed from day one to become unnecessary.
Most Dhaka schools now have students who need more than the timetable allows for. Very few have staff trained in behaviour support, and almost none have a plan for the moment a placement starts going wrong. The usual sequence is familiar: a student is admitted in good faith, the class teacher does their best, the behaviour escalates, and by the time anyone calls a specialist the school is already discussing whether the placement can continue.
Tender Twig works with schools across Dhaka to prevent that sequence — through in-class support, written behaviour plans, and training that leaves your own staff more capable than they were before we arrived.
What a shadow teacher is — and is not
The role is widely misunderstood, and the misunderstanding is where most placements go wrong.
A shadow teacher IS
- A trained therapist working to a written plan
- There to help the child access the class teacher’s lesson
- Collecting data on what is and is not working
- Actively reducing their own prompting over time
- Handing strategies to your staff so support outlives the placement
A shadow teacher is NOT
- A private tutor delivering separate lessons
- A minder whose job is to keep a child quiet
- Someone who completes the child’s work for them
- A permanent fixture attached to one student
- An extra pair of hands for general classroom duties
What a partnership includes
In-class shadow support
A certified IBT therapist in the classroom, working to a written plan and reducing support on a planned schedule.
Functional behaviour assessment
Structured observation to establish what a behaviour achieves for the student, before anyone writes a plan.
Behaviour intervention plans
A written, practical plan your staff can actually run — including what to do in the moment and what to stop doing.
Teacher training
Workshops for teaching and support staff on behaviour, attention, communication and inclusive classroom practice.
Transition support
Preparing an incoming student before day one, so a placement starts well rather than being rescued later.
Ongoing consultation
A named clinician your coordinator can call when something changes, without opening a new referral each time.
How it works day to day
The questions a coordinator actually needs answered before agreeing to anything.
- Scheduling
- We work to your timetable and term dates, and agree hours and days in advance rather than attending ad hoc.
- Safeguarding
- Every therapist is identifiable, briefed on your policies, and works within your school’s child protection procedures.
- Reporting
- Written summaries to the school at agreed intervals, plus parent reporting handled separately so nobody is caught between two accounts.
- Confidentiality
- Student information is shared only with staff who need it, and we do not discuss one family with another.
- Boundaries
- Our therapist supports one named student under a written plan. They are not additional teaching cover.
- Review
- Formal review with the school at set points to assess progress, adjust the plan and agree the fading schedule.
Our job is to stop being needed
A shadow who is still doing the same job in year three has failed, however well behaved the student is. Support that never reduces produces a child who cannot function without an adult attached to them — a new problem, arriving later.
So we agree exit criteria before we start, and we review them at every meeting. Typically we begin fading when the student can follow whole-class instructions without an individual prompt, ask the class teacher rather than the shadow for help, manage break and transition times without incident, and hold to the behaviour plan while the therapist is at a distance and then out of the room.
The training component matters for the same reason. When we leave, the strategies should stay — with your teachers, applicable to the next student who needs them.
Questions from Schools
What principals and coordinators in Dhaka ask us before starting.
A shadow teacher is a trained therapist who supports one student inside their regular classroom, helping them access the lesson the class teacher is already delivering. The role is defined by a written behaviour and skills plan, and the goal is to reduce support until it is no longer needed.
Done properly it reduces disruption. The therapist works quietly alongside one student, and the most common outcome reported by teachers is fewer interruptions to the lesson, not more. We agree seating and positioning with the class teacher in advance.
We do. The therapist is our employee, certified as an International Behavior Technician and supervised by an International Behavior Analyst who designs the plan and reviews the data. The school carries no employment or supervision burden.
Usually the family, with the school facilitating access. Some schools prefer to contract the support directly, particularly for teacher training or consultation covering several students. We can work either way.
It varies with the student, but the plan always includes a fading schedule and written exit criteria agreed at the start. Support that never reduces is not support, and we will tell you when a student no longer needs us.
Yes. Teacher training and consultation are available on their own, and for many schools that is the more useful starting point — it builds capacity across every classroom rather than around one student.
Talk to us before it becomes urgent
Whether you have a student in difficulty now or want to build your staff’s capacity for the ones ahead, the first conversation costs nothing.
Parent, not a school? See classroom support for families.