Teacher Training | ECT Handbook 22/23
Welcome to The John Wallis Academy Early Career Induction
Welcome to the Early Career Teachers programme. This programme harnesses the Early Career Framework (ECF) to help newly-qualified teachers develop their teaching during the first few years of their career. We have drawn on the best available evidence around how professionals learn to create a programme that will not only
have a lasting impact on NQT knowledge and practice, but will do so whilst respecting the busy and demanding working lives of teachers.
We believe that effective teaching is one of the biggest levers we have for improving the experiences, outcomes and life chances of the pupils in our care. It is a privilege to support you on your journey to keep getting better. This handbook provides an introduction to the programme.
If you have not already read through the Vision, Mission and Principles of the Teacher Training Programme at the John Wallis Academy, please familiarise yourself with these before continuing:
Goals and Features
Teaching is important. The quality of the teaching that our pupils receive is probably the biggest lever we have for improving their outcomes and future life chances (Slater
et al., 2012). However, teaching is a complex job. There is lots to know and to be able to do well. Getting better at teaching is not straightforward.
This programme draws on the best available evidence, alongside the ECF, to help craft a set of experiences that will help NQTs keep getting better during this critical period in their career. Key features of the programme include:
Regular bite-sized learning
Evidence from the science of learning suggests that we can only focus on a few things at once and that we tend to forget a lot of what we learn, especially when it is organised into one big block (Sweller, 2016). There is more chance of making progress when our learning is spread out and part of a regular, frequent routine.
Examples of classroom practice
Understanding the theory is important but it’s also critical that teachers and mentors get to see what this looks like in practice (Rosenshine, 2012; Sweller, van Merrienboer & Paas, 1998).
Practice makes permanent
If we are to change the outcomes and life chances of our pupils, we must change how teachers teach. Sustained changes in teaching generally occur only if we keep practising those changes (Deans for Impact, 2016). This programme puts practice at the heart of teacher learning.
Familiar routines
The life of a newly qualified teacher is full on. To ensure this programme doesn’t add unnecessary complexity, we have designed it around a set of simple, repeating professional development patterns. This means everyone can spend less time thinking about the process and more time thinking about great teaching.
Key People, Responsibilities and Actions
The Teacher
The Mentor
The Supervising Coach
The SLT Lead / Induction Tutor
Role
The main audience for the Early Career Framework. A practising, newly qualified teacher.
Role
Each teacher has a mentor to support their development. An experienced, practising clasroom teacher keen and able to support the teacher to develop.
Role
Each teacher also has a supervising coach to support their development. An experienced coach to oversee and support the teacher-mentor relationship.
Role
Responsible for ensuring that the programme is implemented effectively across the school. Is the main point of contact for the programme. A member of the school's senior leadership team.
Responsibilities on the programme
Learning and practising aspects of the framework throughout the programme.
Responsibilities on the programme
Ensuring that the teacher understands and successfully embeds their learning into their classroom practice through effective coaching.
Responsibilities on the programme
Ensuring that teachers and mentors are supported through keeping track of the progress of the teacher and guiding the mentor in their support.
Responsibilities on the programme
Ensuring that teachers and mentors are supported and held to account for their responsibilities, as well as taking action to continually track and improve the programme over time in their school
Core Inputs and Timings
Component: Study
The self-directed study materials are designed to help ECTs understand the ECF in depth. Materials are designed to be worked through on a weekly basis. They are comprised of:
Watch: 10-minute videos
Read: 15-minute evidence summaries
Reflect: 15-minute quiz/reflections
Year 1
40 minutes, weekly
Year 2
15 minutes, fortnightly
Component: Coaching
Coaching with the mentor also happens on a weekly basis and is designed to help ECTs apply insights from the study materials to their practice. It includes:
Observation: Mentor watching part of ECT's lesson (15 minutes)
Feedback: A coaching meeting between ECT and mentor (30 - 45 minutes)
Year 1
60 minutes, weekly
Year 2
60 minutes, fortnightly
Here is an example of how the study and coaching work together during a typical week on the programme:
Component: Clinics
Clinics are designed to help ECTs make sense of study material and address common misconceptions. These will be held on the penultimate Tuesday of every half-term.
Year 1 & 2
60 minutes, once per half-term
Component: Progress Reviews / Interim Assessments
Progress reviews are an opportunity for the Induction Tutor / Mentor to discuss the progress each ECT has made at the end of each half-term. It is an chance to talk through each of the Teachers' Standards, reflect on the progress that has been made towards them, and set SMART goals for the term ahead.
Year 1 & 2
30 minutes, once per half-term
Component: Formal Assessments
Formal Assessments are run by the SLT Lead / Induction Tutor. These will involve a formal lesson observation and a 60 minute discussion about strengths in each area of the Teachers' Standards and to set SMART targets.
Year 1
60 minutes, twice in year 1
Year 2
60 minutes, once in year 2
Assessment Dates
All ECT Assessment Forms are submitted to Kent Teach.
Assessments 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 (of an ECTs 2 year induction) are interim assessments which only require tutors to select a grade which best reflects the ECT’s progress towards meeting the Teachers Standards. Please refer to the ‘Interim Assessment Proforma’ document which can be found in the appendix of this handbook.
Assessment 6 is a full assessment which requires a grade as well as written comments against each of the 8 standards. This pattern is repeated in year 2 of the ECTs induction period.
Year 1
Year 2
The Sequence & Self-Study
Introduction to the Sequence
The programme is composed of three strands.
A strand is the sequenced content that a newly qualified teacher will work through over the period of roughly a term.
Each strand has a core focus:
Behaviour,
Instruction,
or Subject.
Each strand includes relevant aspects of other strands as well as important ideas and practice about teacher self-regulation. Each strand is composed of 12 modules: one overview module and eleven core modules. These are designed to be worked through on a weekly rhythm. Each module has three associated development areas. Teacher improvement works best when it is focused on changing one aspect of practice at a time -- participants work on a maximum of one development area per week as part of the coaching process. To ensure lasting changes in practice, teachers remain on a strand for the duration of the term. This ensures that teachers have the necessary time to practice and habitualise changes to their classroom practice.
Link to Self-Study
How is Year 2 Different?
Year 2 has been designed to enable teachers to take increasingly responsibility for their professional development and so provides a less frequent and more flexible curriculum.
A few things to note:
It is suggested that total teacher study time during the year takes approximately five hours. This can be distributed according to teacher need and should be negotiated and agreed with mentors.
Mentoring should follow a fortnightly rhythm.
It is recommended that both study and coaching follow the strand pattern of year 1. This will enable teachers to make the most of clinics as part of programme training:
Behaviour in the Autumn term,
Instruction in the Spring term, and
Subject in the Summer term.
Study for each strand entails either
picking up unfinished modules from the strand from year 1, and/or
revisiting specific modules from year 1 based on teacher need. Further reading that was not explored during year 1 can also be an effective learning experience and will enable teachers to take greater responsibility for their own professional learning.
Appendix
1. Teachers' Standards Overview
Teachers_standard_information.pdf2. Teachers' Standards Guidance
Teachers__Standards_Dec_2021.pdf3. The Early Career Framework
Early-Career_Framework_April_2021.pdf4. Interim Assessment Proforma
ECT Termly Assessment.pdf5. Fina Year Assessment Proforma
ECT Final Year 1 Assessment Pro Forma.doc