Since September 2021, Teacher Tapp and Gatsby Foundation have been asking Early Career Teachers (ECTs), their mentors and senior leaders how the new Early Career Framework (ECF) is working for them. This new framework was introduced in order to improve early career support and development for teachers. It extends the period of support to two years and by offering a package of mentoring, training and self-study materials.
Few teachers want to see the ECF scrapped in its entirety. However, many say that further iteration is required in order to make it more effective. So, what are teachers saying that needs to change?
A significant proportion of early career teachers (44%) told us they would opt-out of the external provision part of the ECF. A further 10% want to opt-out of the framework altogether. In particular, it is the externally-provided training that comes in for a lot of criticism from teachers, including that it is not suitable to the needs of early career teachers and not a good use of time.
