The Department for Education has admitted the early career framework (ECF) needs more “flexibility”, as new data shows the number of mentors is as low as 500 fewer than needed in some parts of the country.
Schools minister Robin Walker has written to schools today to promise that the DfE was “making improvements” to the framework in areas it has heard is “causing some difficulties”.
Mr Walker also wrote that he knew that establishing the new ECF induction programme has been a “huge undertaking for those implementing it”.
He added that to “help” with the implementation, the DfE would be “reviewing materials to make them as user-friendly as possible”; “simplifying the digital service, making it easier to navigate and reducing the amount of information you need to provide”; and “streamlining the registration process to ensure it is quick and easy to sign up your early career teachers and mentors”.
Mr Walker also announced the creation of new materials for school leaders, mentors and early career teachers to answer common questions about induction and ECF-based training.
The letter comes as DfE data published this morning reveals that 25,119 early career teachers have started the programme since the national roll-out of the ECF in September 2021.
The number of mentors recruited was almost 10 per cent lower, with a total of 22,956 trained to work with ECTs since the start of the academic year.
The framework aimed for ECTs to be mentored on a one-to-one basis when it was launched last year in order to “improve support for early career teachers”.
Using estimates based on past data, the DfE suggests that the “vast majority” of ECTs in England are enrolled in the full induction programme.
There were some early roll-out areas for eligible schools in the North East, Greater Manchester, Bradford and Doncaster in autumn 2020.
Regional differences
The North West had the greatest disparity between new teachers and mentors, with 2,560 mentors recruited, compared with 3,026 ECTs.
The West Midlands also had a significant gap, where 2,719 ECTs were trained as part of the ECF compared with 2,406 mentors.
The data suggests that some mentors will have had to guide more than one ECT across all areas.
There have previously been concerns raised about the increased workload that the ECF creates for newly qualified teachers as well as their mentors.
Overall, there were 25,119 ECTs involved and 22,956 mentors recorded as receiving training.
The DfE admitted that a small number of mentors replaced others who withdrew from the early roll-out or expansion programmes.
Replacement mentors were counted towards the total number of mentors trained as part of these programmes.
New guidance in September
Mr Walker added that the DfE will also be producing guidance before September 2022, advising mentors on how to maintain the “high quality” of the ECF, while also using their own “professional judgement”.
He said the DfE was also “exploring other ways” to “encourage appropriate flexibility” in the delivery of the programmes, including giving mentors more options for when they engage (including commencing training in the preceding summer term) and using more online delivery where appropriate.
The DfE is also exploring the possibility of introducing “more flexibility” around when the induction programmes are delivered, especially in the autumn term of the first year of the programme.
