Early career teacher support

Announced today, Ambition Institute will run two pilot programmes, supported by the Education Endowment Foundation's (EEF) early career teacher pilot fund.

Both models are based on an instructional coaching approach, providing in-school mentors of early-career teachers (ECTs) with six twilight modules designed to improve their understanding of instructional coaching approaches and the content of the Early Career Framework (ECF), plus one-to-one feedback  sessions with an expert coach, access to online ECF content and a coaching guide.

The first project: “Early Career Support - for mentors only” focuses exclusively on this training for the mentor and support for the induction lead in schools.

The second project: “Early Career Support - for mentors and their NQTs” additionally provides an initial launch session for the school’s early career teachers, followed by a direct mentee induction package comprising 12 twilight group training sessions and access to weekly model videos.

10 primary and 10 secondary schools will be recruited for each model (40 schools across both projects).
 
Improving the quality of support offered to ECTs has the potential to improve the retention and skills of our teacher workforce significantly. The Department for Education’s newly launched ECF lengthens the induction period for newly qualified teachers (NQTs) from 1 to 2 years, increases the entitlement of early career teachers to support and training, and specifies content that should be covered during the induction.
 
Schools can apply to take part in these fully-funded pilots by visiting our Early Career Support programme page.
 
Melanie Renowden, interim CEO of Ambition School Leadership and the Institute for Teaching said, "We are delighted to be working with the EEF to pioneer new approaches to the delivery of the government’s Early Career Framework.

"We know that instructional coaching helps educators, particularly those serving children from disadvantaged backgrounds, to keep getting better.  This pilot provides an important opportunity to learn what works best when developing mentors’ knowledge, skills and confidence in using instructional approaches with NQTs."