Governance Today Summer 2021

Summer 2021 EARLY CAREER TEACHERS Appropriate Bodies have two key roles Monitoring of support - Appropriate Bodies will check that early career teachers are receiving their statutory entitlements, and that regard is made to the statutory guidance in terms of accessing development through the Early Career Framework. Monitoring of assessment - Appropriate Bodies will make the final decision as to whether the ECT has satisfactorily met the Teachers’ Standards, based on the headteacher’s recommendation, following the ECT tutor’s assessments. This role is separate from the provision of the full ECT training programme; all maintained schools will be provided with access to the Appropriate Body statutory functions through Babcock LDP. Maintained schools can opt out of this offer if they would prefer to register with an alternative Appropriate Body but there may be a charge for this service. Fidelity checking This is a new requirement on the Appropriate Body. The Appropriate Body will be required to carry out fidelity checks on any school which opts out of the ECT full programme. This will be defined when a school registers with the Appropriate Body and indicates that they will be opting out of the full programme and supplying information in relation to whether the school is providing the core online programme or their own ECT programme. The role of the mentor There are revised expectations for the role of the mentor within the new early career teacher (ECT) induction statutory guidance. As part of the approach to the new Early Career Framework (ECF) there is much more emphasis placed on the role of mentor. This role has been strengthened and the expectation is that all ECT’s will be supported by a mentor who is separate from and different to the ECT tutor. This means schools will need to allocate each ECT a mentor who will support them through the ECF training materials, provide regular mentoring conversations and be the main point of contact for each ECT in relation to developing their practice in the classrooms. The focus of the mentor role is to support the ECT in working through the ECF content. Induction and support for new teachers is changing from September 2021, as part of the wider government teacher recruitment and retention strategy. The strategy aims to improve the training and development opportunities available for all teachers, including those who are new to the profession. Formerly referred to as ‘newly qualified teachers’ (NQTs) early career teachers will be entitled to a two year funded programme of support (currently one year), with clear parameters for what individuals should learn about and have an opportunity to put into practice during their first two years in the classroom. If your school employs an early career teacher (ECT) from September the statutory induction process will need to change. New teachers are entitled to 10% timetable reduction in their first year, this will continue to be the case but there is a new, funded, entitlement to a 5% reduction in teaching time during the second year. There is a strong focus in the Early Career Framework that new teachers will ‘learn that’ and ‘learn how to’, so that concepts introduced and learnt are then applied in a practical way within the classroom. The framework includes sections which focus on: • Behaviour management • Pedagogy • Curriculum • Assessment • Professional behaviours. The role of the Appropriate Body Babcock LDP will continue to provide the role of the Appropriate Body, the service will be fully funded for maintained schools and will be subsidised for academies linked to the Department for Education funding to deliver the early career teacher full offer through Ambition Institute. The role of the Appropriate Body continues to focus on the statutory elements of early career teacher (ECT) induction and manages the formal assessment points for ECT inductions. Appropriate Bodies support the schools and teachers they work with in a variety of ways and their core functions are central to ensuring that schools provide adequate support to teachers at the start of their teaching career. The ECT tutor role will be provided by a member of staff who will assess the ECT using the teacher standards. This will be completed through regular observations and feedback identifying any key areas of strength and areas for development. The formal assessment will take place at the end of each three terms of teaching. Both the tutor and the mentor must hold qualified teacher status (QTS) and have the skills and expertise to carry out their assigned roles. As an Appropriate Body Babcock LDP has a duty to ensure that schools are appointing a mentor to each of their ECTs. However they also recognise that this is a significant shift from the previous often blended approach to the role of the tutor and mentor and this is likely to have an impact on schools capacity to provide these roles. LDP are therefore consulting with schools and considering how they can best support schools to ensure that the mentor role is delivered effectively. The role of the governing board The ‘induction for early career teachers’ statutory guidance sets out that the board: • Should ensure compliance with the requirement to have regard to this guidance • Should be satisfied that the institution has the capacity to support the ECT • Should ensure the headteacher/principal is fulfilling their responsibility to meet the requirements of a suitable post for induction • Must investigate concerns raised by an individual ECT as part of the institution’s agreed grievance procedures • Can seek guidance from the Appropriate Body on the quality of the institution’s induction arrangements and the roles and responsibilities of staff involved in the process • Can request general reports on the progress of an ECT. 17