Teacher training leader Professor Sam Twiselton is to head an expert panel drafting guidance to support teachers in the first few years of their career.

The panel will review the content of initial teacher training and recommend ways to align this with the Early Career Framework (ECF), the extended support for newly-qualified teachers announced earlier this year, the Department for Education said today.

The panel’s guidance will be used underpin a training programme for all new teachers, beginning with updated core content for initial teacher training and leading into the Early Career Framework.

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Professor Twiselton, director of the Sheffield Institute of Education at Sheffield Hallam University, said: “The highest-performing countries around the world share a focus on developing teachers, which will be at the heart of what this group is looking to achieve.

More support for new teachers

“Bringing initial teacher training and the Early Career Framework into close alignment provides a unique opportunity to ensure that all newly qualified teachers have access to a shared understanding of how best to develop in their careers.”

The advisory group will also include:

• James Noble-Rogers, executive director of the Universities Council for the Education of Teachers 
• Emma Hollis, executive director of the National Association of School-Based Teacher Training 
• Professor Becky Francis, director of the Institute of Education, University College London
• Marie Hamer, executive director of learning design and teaching programmes at Ambition Institute
• Reuben Moore, executive director of programme development at Teach First
• John Blake, director of policy and strategy at NowTeach

The ECF was announced as part of the government’s teacher recruitment and retention strategy. The government said then that it would provide the starting point for a review to the ITT core content guidance to ensure that the ECF “builds on and complements ITT”. 

The ECF will extend the length of the induction phase to two years. Teachers will get 5 per cent off-timetable, during their second year, for additional support and training. 

It comes after research revealed that taking on a full teacher workload in the second and third years of teaching can lead to “practice shock”.

And there has been growing concern about early drop-outs, as figures show that nearly a third of teachers leave within five years of starting work.

Nick Gibb, the schools minister, said: “The Early Career Framework is a fundamental shift in the support available to teachers starting out in their careers, ensuring that newly qualified teachers continue to be mentored to help them develop the key skills teachers need.

“The advisory group that convened today will play an essential role in helping us to ensure that the training teachers receive is consistent, and of the highest quality, as the full programme is rolled out.”

The group is expected to make its final recommendations by the end of summer 2019.