Shadow Teachers and Learning Support Aides at Home in Dakar

If you've recently moved to Dakar with a child who had a classroom aide, a shadow teacher, or an IEP support worker back home, you may already have discovered the gap: there is no state-funded equivalent here.

This page explains what actually exists, and how families arrange support in practice.

What Senegal does and doesn't have

Senegal's Social Orientation Law No. 2010-15 establishes the rights of people with disabilities, including in education, and created the carte d'égalité des chances (equal opportunity card), which provides benefits including reduced private school fees.

What it does not provide is a funded classroom support worker. There is no local equivalent of the French AESH system or a US-style IEP aide assigned through the school district. If your child needs one-to-one support in class, arranging it is up to you.

What international schools in Dakar actually offer

Dakar's international schools do have learning support programmes, typically covering ADHD and executive function, dyslexia and related learning differences, Autism Spectrum Disorder (usually Level 1 only), and speech and language needs.

Read their admissions language carefully, though. Support is generally described as depending on available resources and current caseloads — meaning admission to the school is not a guarantee of the level of support your child needs, and provision may change from year to year.

This is not a criticism of these schools. It's simply the reality of running learning support with a limited specialist team, and it's why many families supplement with outside help.

What a shadow teacher actually does

A shadow teacher (also called a learning support aide, or AVS in French) works alongside your child during the school day. The role is not to do the work for the child, but to:

Help decode and break down instructions Manage transitions between activities, which are often the hardest moments Support self-regulation before a situation escalates Bridge communication between the child, the teacher and you Gradually reduce support as independence grows — a good shadow works toward their own redundancy

Getting the school's agreement first

This is the step families most often skip, and it causes problems. Before hiring anyone, confirm with the school:

Whether they permit an external aide in the classroom What the aide's role and boundaries would be Who the aide reports to, and how communication with the teacher works Any safeguarding, background check or insurance requirements

Some Dakar schools welcome external shadows readily; others don't. Ask before you commit.

Home-based support as an alternative

Not every child needs in-class support. For many, targeted work at home is more effective and far less costly: homework strategies adapted to how the child actually processes information, executive function skills, and pre-teaching upcoming material so the child arrives in class already familiar with it.

This last approach, pre-teaching, is often underused and works particularly well for children who struggle to process new information at classroom pace.

How Tutonovas works

We place trained shadow teachers and specialised educators with families across Dakar, in school or at home, in French or English. We're an educational service, not a clinic: we don't diagnose, and we work alongside whatever medical or therapeutic support your child already has.

We work with children who have a formal diagnosis, and equally with children who are still waiting for assessment — because school doesn't pause while you wait.

Message us on WhatsApp to discuss your situation, or see our AVS / shadow teacher service.

FAQ

Do your staff speak English? Yes we can match English-speaking or bilingual support depending on your child's school and home language.

Can support start mid-year? Yes. Many families reach out mid-term when a situation becomes unmanageable.

Do we need a diagnosis first? No. A diagnosis helps us tailor support, but it isn't a requirement.