Early Career Framework

Introduction

The first few years of the teaching profession are essential for developing the knowledge, skills and confidence needed to be the very best teachers and future leaders. We support Early Career Teachers through our partnership with University College London to deliver the Early Career Framework, a funded entitlement to a structured two-year package of high-quality professional development at the start of the teaching career.

The ECF is part of the statutory entitlement for Early Career Teachers (ECTs). Full details of the induction can be found in the Statutory Induction Guidance.

Our Programme

“The Early Career Framework Programme has allowed me to develop my teaching practice and has given me new information and pieces of advice to try out in the classroom weekly. The networking and support has also been really useful, allowing all professionals to come together and discuss different viewpoints and teaching practices from various different organisations/colleges.”

The Early Career Framework (ECF) is the evidence base which underpins the training curriculum and entitlement for Early Career Teachers’ (ECTs). It sets out what all ECTs should learn about; and learn how to do, during the first two years of their careers. There are five core areas:

Behaviour Management
Pedagogy
Curriculum
Assessment
Professional Behaviours

The ECF builds on the core content framework (CCF) of initial teacher training. Over the two years of the Early Career Framework, all new teachers will receive:

Two years of newly developed, funded, high-quality training available as a Full Induction Programme (FIP), Core Induction Programme (CIP) or school-based programme.
Funding for 5% time away from the classroom for teachers in their second year from 2023.
A dedicated mentor, and support for mentors including access to funded high-quality training and funding to cover mentors’ time with the mentee in the second year of teaching.

We provide the Full Induction Programme (FIP)

This is a fully funded, provider-led and quality assured programme. East Manchester Teaching School Hub is providing this in partnership with University College London for teachers across all phases and sectors. We recruit experienced and expert facilitators to support ECTs and mentors throughout the programme. We facilitate, phase specific local clusters, and, have a special school and post-16 cluster groups to support meaningful networking and peer support.

The UCL programme consists of nine modules over two years. The eight standards of the ECF are combined into five modules in Year One that fully address the content of all standards. There are four modules in Year Two that deepen ECTs’ knowledge and practice in relation to aspects of the ECF that are most pertinent to each ECT.

ECT learning in each half term is fostered through an integrated programme of ECT self-study, ECT mentor meetings and face-to-face training events. The programme also provides professional development for mentors.

UCL’s ECF programme is a fusion of university and school-based expertise working in partnership to create and implement a programme which is:

Knowledge and evidence-based: Informed by a deep understanding of the development needs of ECTs and Mentors.
Drawn from expert theory and current practice: Co-designed by teachers and school leaders, teacher educators and academics with rich experience of translating evidence into practice.
Inquiry-based spiral learning: The understanding of key themes is established in Year 1, which then extended and deepened through three practice-based inquiries in Year 2.
Embedded in practice: The applied learning complements practice rather than being a ‘bolt on’ that would add to workload.
Regional: Our Delivery Partners give a local flavour to each region, using delivery that meets the needs of schools in their region.
Flexible: Delivery Partners can follow our proposed sequence or create their own to meet the needs of ECTs and Mentors.

View UCLs programme handbook here or to read more about the programme structure and content; have a look at the UCL website.

Reading & Resources

ECF Bulletin

We publish a fortnightly ECF Bulletin for ECTs, Mentors & Induction Tutors which you can find on our News page.

Programme Handbook

For further information on our programme, please have a read of our Handbook.

DfE resources

Full details about the Early Career Framework, including the approaches to delivery of an ECF induction, and the funding arrangements for schools are published on the DfE website.

To hear more about the benefits of the Early Career Framework, have a look at the DfE video.