Questions

Frequently asked questions

Everything schools usually ask about Setting The Standard and Learnalyze — what they cover, how they work, and how to get started. If your question isn't here, just ask us.

Setting The Standard — the course

What is Setting The Standard?

Setting The Standard is an internationally accredited online professional development (CPD) course for teachers from Elm Education. It has 9 sessions and 27 masterclass videos — over 15 hours of training — with a reflection check after each part and a completion certificate. It's available in both English and Arabic.

What do the nine sessions cover?

The nine sessions are: Positive Behaviour Management; How We Learn; Learning Objectives, Success Criteria & Planning; Planning the Learning Experience; Effective Learning Strategies; Individual, Group & Collaborative Learning; Effective Use of ICT; Assessing Learning; and Feedback. Together they cover the full arc of a lesson — from the climate for learning, through how learning actually happens, to planning, teaching, assessing and giving feedback.

Who is the course for?

Every teacher, at any stage of their career and in any phase of schooling. It works as an induction programme for early-career teachers, as structured CPD for experienced staff, and as a shared language of great teaching when a whole school takes it together — which is where it has the biggest impact.

How long does the course take to complete?

There are over 15 hours of masterclass video across 27 videos, plus reflection time after each part. It's self-paced, so most schools spread it across a term or a school year — typically one session at a time, in line with their CPD calendar.

Is Setting The Standard accredited?

Yes. Setting The Standard is accredited by The CPD Standards Office, the independent international body that assesses the quality of continuing professional development. Every teacher who completes the course earns a certificate of completion.

Is the course available in Arabic?

Yes. Setting The Standard is fully bilingual — the whole programme is available in both English and Arabic, leading to the same single certificate. That makes it practical for bilingual schools where some staff prefer to train in Arabic and others in English.

What are the reflection checks?

After each part of the course, teachers complete a reflection check on what they've just learned. They're marked to 100%, so a teacher finishes a session having demonstrated their understanding — not just having watched a video.

What is the teacher portfolio of evidence?

It's a set of activities, examples and guides that take the ideas from each session into real lessons. Instead of the course ending when the video does, teachers build a record of how they've applied what they learned in their own classroom.

Is the course self-paced, or are there live sessions?

The core programme is self-paced video, so teachers can fit it around teaching. The Tier 3 (Ultimate) whole-school licence adds 9 one-hour live interactive webinars to reinforce the skills and share best practice across your staff.

What's the difference between Tier 2 and Tier 3?

Tier 2 (Advanced, £7,495) gives whole-school access, the teacher portfolio of evidence for every teacher, leadership user guides, and set-up support. Tier 3 (Ultimate, £9,995) adds the full resource suite — lesson-observation templates, leadership guides and teaching & learning resources — plus the 9 live webinars and ongoing administrative support to plan and deliver the course. See full pricing →

How much does Setting The Standard cost?

£395 per year for an individual teacher. Whole-school licences are £7,495 for Tier 2 (Advanced) and £9,995 for Tier 3 (Ultimate), which adds live webinar training and leadership resources. Tailored packages are available for school groups and governments. See full pricing →

Learnalyze — AI lesson analysis

What is Learnalyze?

Learnalyze is an AI platform that turns lesson videos into evidence. It analyses each lesson across six dimensions of teaching excellence and gives teachers personalised, actionable feedback and coaching, plus objective whole-school data for leaders.

How does Learnalyze work?

A teacher records a lesson and uploads the video. Learnalyze analyses what happens in that lesson against your inspection framework, then produces a breakdown across six dimensions of teaching, with specific moments from the lesson as evidence. The teacher receives personalised coaching and an action plan, and leaders see the picture across the school on a dashboard. See how it works →

What are the six dimensions of teaching Learnalyze analyses?

Lesson Structure, Behaviour Management, Clarity, Formative Assessment, Engagement, and Adaptive Teaching. Every lesson is analysed against all six, so teachers can see their strengths as well as the one or two areas that would make the biggest difference next.

Can AI really observe a lesson?

AI can't replace a leader's professional judgement, and it isn't meant to. What it can do is watch every minute of a recorded lesson, apply the same framework every time, and point to specific evidence for what it reports. That gives teachers far more feedback than a twenty-minute drop-in once a term can, and gives leaders a consistent baseline to work from.

Does Learnalyze replace lesson observations by school leaders?

No — it takes the routine evidence-gathering off their plate. Leaders spend less time writing up what happened in a lesson and more time on the coaching conversation that follows, informed by analysis of a full lesson rather than a snapshot.

Is AI feedback consistent between teachers?

That's one of its main advantages. Human observers, however skilled, vary — between each other and between a Monday morning and a Friday afternoon. Learnalyze applies the same framework to every lesson in the same way, so when you compare two teachers or track one teacher over a year, you're comparing like with like.

Does Learnalyze work with my country's inspection framework?

Yes. Learnalyze evaluates every lesson against your own national inspection standards, wherever you are in the world — giving principals and executive leaders objective evidence for self-evaluation and school improvement.

What do school leaders and principals get?

A whole-school view: how teaching quality looks across departments and year groups, where the shared strengths and gaps are, and how that picture moves over time. For school groups and ministries, the same data rolls up across every school — so improvement can be tracked from a single classroom to a whole system.

Can I try Learnalyze for free?

Yes — you can get two full lesson analyses free, with no card required, by signing up at learnalyze.net.

How much does Learnalyze cost?

Learnalyze pricing lives on its own site — see learnalyze.net. If you're considering it alongside Setting The Standard, get in touch and we'll put together a combined package.

Using them together

How do Setting The Standard and Learnalyze fit together?

Setting The Standard builds the shared knowledge and skills of great teaching across your staff. Learnalyze then measures what actually changes in lessons and coaches each teacher individually. Create the change first, then let the data prove it. See how they fit together →

Should we start with the course, Learnalyze, or both?

Most schools take both from the start, and it's what we'd recommend. Setting The Standard gives every teacher the same evidence-informed picture of what great teaching looks like, while Learnalyze shows what's actually happening in lessons — so you can see the training taking hold in real classrooms rather than hoping that it has.

Once that standard is set and shared across your staff, most schools renew with Learnalyze alone. That's the programme working exactly as intended: the knowledge is embedded, and what you need from then on is to keep it alive — coaching every teacher lesson by lesson, and giving leaders the evidence that the standard is holding, year after year.

Do I have to buy both?

No. They're separate products and each works on its own — many schools use only one. They're simply designed to reinforce each other.

Enrolling & working with us

How do we enrol?

Send us a message telling us which option suits you — an individual place or a whole-school licence — and we'll get you set up. We reply personally, usually within one working day.

Do you work with school groups and governments?

Yes. For small and large organisations alike we build a personalised package around your priorities, your frameworks and your rollout plan — often combining Setting The Standard and Learnalyze as one complete school-improvement solution. Tell us what you need →

Do you work outside the UK?

Yes — Elm Education works with schools internationally, and everything we build is designed to be. The course is bilingual in English and Arabic, and Learnalyze evaluates lessons against your own country's inspection framework rather than a single national model.

Do you support school leaders as well as teachers?

Yes. The whole-school licences include leadership user guides and resources for planning and running the programme, and Tier 3 adds lesson-observation templates and ongoing administrative support. Learnalyze gives leaders the school-wide data behind it.

Who founded Elm Education?

Elm Education was founded by Phil Lupton, a teacher, school leader and national education adviser with more than 25 years' experience across the UK and internationally. Read more about Elm Education →

How do I get in touch?

Email hello@elmeducation.org or use the contact form below. We reply personally, usually within one working day.

Get in touch

Enrol, or ask us
anything.

Tell us a little about your school or your goals and we'll get back to you personally — usually within one working day.

hello@elmeducation.org

We'll reply by email, usually within one working day.