Department For Education
Overview
Early career teachers are entitled to 2 years of training based on the early career framework.
This training is part of statutory induction and is known as ECF-based training.
Setting up your ECF-based training
For ECTs to serve induction at your school, you must have:
- appointed an appropriate body
- nominated an induction tutor
- reported which ECF-based training option you have chosen for those ECTs
Read our step-by-step guide to setting up your ECF-based training.
Appoint an appropriate body
You must appoint an appropriate body for each of your ECTs.
Appropriate bodies quality assure induction. They:
- confirm each ECTs role is suitable to count towards their statutory induction
- register each ECTs induction with the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA)
- check your ECTs receive their statutory entitlements
- make sure formal assessments are fair and appropriate
If your school delivers training using accredited materials or designs and delivers your own training, your appropriate body will check that the training is based on the ECF. This process is known as fidelity checking. Schools using a DfE-funded training provider will not need to have these checks.
Most schools appoint one appropriate body for all their ECTs, but you can appoint a different appropriate body:
- as a choice for a new ECT, or group of ECTs, due to start induction
- when an ECT did their initial teacher training (ITT) through an accredited provider who cannot then be the appropriate body assuring their induction
- where an ECT is serving their induction in a teaching school hub or appropriate body, who cannot also be the appropriate body assuring their induction
Find information on local and national appropriate bodies.
Read more about the role and responsibilities of appropriate bodies.
Nominate an induction tutor
Your school must nominate an induction tutor to be our point of contact. This person is given access to our manage training for early career teachers service. Currently you can only nominate one induction tutor at a time.
If your school has not registered an induction tutor with us before, request a link so you can nominate a new induction tutor.
If you want to change to a new induction tutor, your current induction tutor can sign in to our service to nominate someone else to be the induction tutor. This will transfer access to your schools account to the new induction tutor.
If youre not sure if you have registered an induction tutor or an induction tutor has left your school without nominating a new induction tutor, email our support team at continuing-professional-development@digital.education.gov.uk.
The role of an induction tutor
Your school induction tutor is responsible for the monitoring and support of your ECTs. They also manage progress reviews and coordinate formal assessments.
Ideally your school induction tutor will not mentor an ECT at the same time. This is because the 2 roles have separate and different responsibilities.
Your induction tutor should:
- hold qualified teacher status (QTS)
- have the skills and knowledge needed to assess your ECTs progress against the teachers standards
- carry out regular progress reviews
- undertake 2 formal assessment meetings with each ECT during the 2-year induction period, one midway through induction and one at the end
- be able to recognise when early action is needed if an ECT is experiencing difficulties
You can read more about the roles and responsibilities of an induction tutor in section 5 of the statutory guidance on ECT induction.
Report how you run your ECF-based training
You must tell us about changes to your ECF-based training as soon as possible. This is in addition to any information you give to your appropriate body, lead provider or delivery partner.
Sign into our manage training for early career teachers service to:
- tell us if and when you expect ECTs to start their inductions at your school
- choose or change how your school will run your ECF-based training
- change who will be the induction tutor for your school
If your school is using a training provider or accredited materials, sign into our service to:
- tell us the details of each new ECT
- tell us the details of each new mentor assigned to an ECT, or assign an existing mentor
You can add ECTs at any time, but theyll only become eligible for funded training once they have qualified teacher status (QTS).
For help using the service, email our support team at continuing-professional-development@digital.education.gov.uk.
Delivery options for ECF-based training
Your school has 3 delivery options for ECF-based training.
You can choose to:
- use a DfE-funded training provider
- use DfE-accredited materials to deliver your own training
- design and deliver your own ECF-based training
Its up to your school leaders to decide which option will be best for your ECTs and mentors.
Find out more about funding and eligibility for ECF-based training.
Option 1: use a DfE-funded training provider
This is where a training provider and a delivery partner provide ECF-based training directly to your ECTs. They also train your mentors on how to support ECTs.
This option is fully funded by DfE, so there are no costs for eligible schools.
Lead providers
Schools ca