Teach for the world they will live in.
Practical, evidence-based training for school leaders and teachers, from Early Years to the end of Secondary. Learn the science of how children learn best, explore modern ways of teaching for the world we live in, and leave with a plan to make it happen in your school.
- Expert-led by Tirzah Elese and the ExelAcademy team
- No prior knowledge of neuroscience, projects or AI needed
- The AI tools are planning tools for teachers, not for pupils
supporting teachers to shape a brighter future
30%
rise in attainment
45%
better attendance & engagement
5,000+
professionals trained worldwide
we teach teachers the way we want children to learn
How every course works
Every ExelAcademy course follows the same three steps. Short, clear science first. Then the new way of doing it. Then a real project to make it work in your own school.
Step 1 · The evidence
Understand the science
Short, clear explanations of how the brain pays attention, remembers and wants to come back for more.
- The neuroscience of attention, curiosity, emotion and memory
- Why relevance comes first, and why it changes behaviour
- Bite-sized science you can share with colleagues and pupils
Step 2 · The new way
Teach for the world we live in
Experience the approach as a learner, then practise it with feedback, so it feels natural before you try it in class.
- Real-world, project-based learning that covers your curriculum
- The teacher as facilitator: coach, question, step back
- Learning spaces and AI planning that free up your time
Step 3 · Make it real
Plan it for your school
You learn the way we want your pupils to learn: through a project. Yours is your own classroom and your own unit.
- Turn a unit you already teach into a real-world project
- Build a step-by-step plan for your first term
- Coaching check-ins once you are back in school
What you take back to school
You don't leave with notes. You leave with plans you made for your own classroom, and support to see them through.
A project from your own unit
A real-world project, planned during the training, ready for one of your classes.
A first-term plan
Clear next steps for you, your class and your school, so the change sticks.
The ExelAcademy AI Planner
A planning tool for teachers that turns units into personalised projects in hours.
Templates and cheat sheets
Project templates, brain-friendly lesson openers and higher-order questioning prompts.
Territory Mapping
A tool to set shared goals with pupils and teams: what you are hunting, protecting and growing.
Ongoing coaching
Monthly coaching with Tirzah to help you embed the approach in your school.
Ideas you'll hear all through the training
- Lose the tables. Find the learning.
- Stop teaching. Start learning.
- Talk less. Ask more.
- Open with a mystery, not an objective.
- Relevance first. Always.
- Learning that looks like life.
- Find the why. Find the superpower. Go.
13 courses available
Choose your course
Our courses sit in three areas. Pick an area, then open any course to see what your school gains.
Area · 5 courses
Neuroscience of Engagement & Learning
Teach the way the brain actually learns.
01Making Learning Visible
When learners and teachers can see where they are, where they're going and what comes next, progress accelerates.
Your school gains
- Clear success criteria learners can use themselves
- Feedback and self-assessment routines that show real progress
- Classrooms where thinking is seen, shared and built on
02Closing the Two Sigma Gap
In 1984, Benjamin Bloom found that one-to-one tutoring with mastery learning lifted students two standard deviations: the average tutored learner outperformed around 98% of peers in a conventional class.
His real question, the “Two Sigma Problem”, was how to achieve something close to that at scale, without one expert teacher for every learner. Forty years on, hybrid learning finally gives us new ways to answer it.
The model: the project gives purpose and real application; AI gives each learner responsive, individual support; teachers lead the relationships, judgement, motivation and collaboration that only humans can.
Your school gains
- Mastery learning and feedback cycles that work at class scale
- A practical hybrid model: where AI support helps, and where humans must lead
- Learners who progress when ready, not when the calendar says
03Beyond Recall
Move learners from remembering to understanding, applying and creating, so knowledge becomes usable, not just testable.
Your school gains
- Retrieval and transfer techniques grounded in cognitive science
- Task design that builds deep thinking
- Assessment that shows real understanding
04Motivation by Design
The science of attention, curiosity and reward. Design lessons learners want to lean into.
Your school gains
- How attention and motivation work in the adolescent brain
- Lesson hooks, challenge and autonomy that build intrinsic drive
- Measurable gains in attendance and engagement
05The Myth of the Year Group
Age is not readiness. Rethink how learners are grouped and progressed, so every child moves at the pace of their understanding.
Your school gains
- Practical models for stage-not-age grouping
- Strategies to stretch the ready and support the rest
- A plan to pilot flexible progression in your school
Area · 4 courses
Leaders in Education
Lead the change, don't just manage it.
Led by Tirzah Elese: Master's in Leadership & Management, and 15 years as a Director leading 450 schools.
01Leading Education Change
Transformational leadership for schools ready to evolve: set the vision, win hearts and minds, and make change stick.
Your school gains
- A clear change roadmap for your context
- Tools to build staff buy-in and shared ownership
- Ways to sustain momentum beyond the launch
02Human Authority
As AI enters every classroom, keep human judgement, wisdom and responsibility at the centre of learning.
Your school gains
- Clear principles for human decision-making in an AI school
- Roles and responsibilities for staff, learners and tools
- Confidence to lead the conversation with parents and governors
03Learners First Leaders
Grow student leadership and agency through the RISE framework: Realise, Innovate, Strategise, Execute.
Your school gains
- Structures that give learners real ownership
- RISE embedded in projects and school life
- Confident, capable young leaders across the school
04Beyond the Credentials
The world needs more than top grades. Equip teachers to build the real-world skills and character the future demands.
Your school gains
- A shared language for the skills that matter beyond the exam
- Practical ways to teach and evidence real-world capability
- A culture that values who learners become, not just what they score
Area · 4 courses
AI in Education
Tools in our hands. Purpose in our minds.
Cutting-edge, practical and hands-on: exactly how AI can lighten teacher workload and personalise learning.
01Extend, Never Replace
Use AI to extend what great teachers do, never to replace the relationships at the heart of learning. Leave with workflows you'll use on Monday.
Your school gains
- Hands-on AI for planning, marking, feedback and differentiation
- Hours of workload saved each week, reinvested in learners
- Clear lines between AI support and human teaching
02The 80/20 Rule, Inverted
Flip the classroom ratio: 20% teaching, 80% learners doing, creating and solving real problems, with AI personalising the support each learner needs.
Your school gains
- A model for project-rich, personalised lessons
- AI workflows that free teachers to coach, not just deliver
- Real-world projects mapped to curriculum outcomes
03Guardrails, Not Guesswork
Safe, ethical and confident AI use across your school, with clear policy and practical boundaries.
Your school gains
- A ready-to-adapt AI policy and acceptable-use guide
- Safeguarding, privacy and academic integrity covered
- Staff and learners who know what good looks like
04What Is School For Now?
A provocative, hopeful session for staff, leaders and governors on the purpose of school in the age of AI.
Your school gains
- A shared vision for your school's future
- Clarity on what to keep, change and let go
- Energy and alignment across your whole community
Need something bespoke?
We regularly design training around a school's own goals. INSET days, workshop series or full programmes.
for your students
Bring ExelQuests into your school
Embed real-world quests in your timetable, as enrichment, electives or cross-curricular projects, with training for your staff to lead them.
Speaking
Book Tirzah to speak
Keynotes, conference sessions and INSET openers that leave audiences energised, better equipped and excited to grow forward.
- The future of learning in an AI world
- The neuroscience of engagement
- Transformational leadership in education
- What is school for now?