Welcome to Term 3
Happy New Year! We hope you had a restful festive period. This newsletter includes the activities/ information that we consider to be most useful in term 3.
If you haven't already done so, please complete and digitally sign any outstanding assessments. This is now a matter of urgency. Check your email for reminders of any assessments still awaiting completion. What is in this Newsletter: -
Reminders for Term 3
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ECT Policy
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ECT Absence Reporting
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Assessment date deadlines
Do you have ECTs starting in January 2024?
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How to submit the E1 Grading document
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Access to Accredited Training
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ECT Conference 2024
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Have you heard of Education Support?
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Is your ECT struggling?
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What to do if your ECT resigns
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Accelerated Induction Programme
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Are you following the ECF Full Induction Programme with Best Practice Network?
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Professional Development Opportunities - ITT, ECF, NPQs
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How to contact us
Reminders for Term 3 You should have completed your ECT's assessment and so if you haven't already, please make this a priority. As a reminder the assessment grades are as follows: A: This ECT is currently making excellent progress towards meeting the induction standards. B: This ECT is currently making good progress towards meeting the induction standards. C: This ECT is making satisfactory progress towards meeting the induction standards. D: This ECT is making limited progress towards the induction standards. E: This ECT is not making any progress towards the induction standards. The term 3 assessment is due by 6th February. For the majority of ECT’s who started at the beginning of an academic year, this will be an interim assessment (the same as the assessment in Term 2).
Interim Assessments We do expect to see the E1 Grading document against the Teachers’ Standards for all ECTs. This should be submitted on ECT manager and can be done by the ECT or the mentor. We ask for this as it forms the evidence for the grade awarded that term. If there isn’t any evidence and the ECT begins to struggle during their induction period, it will be harder to argue that they are making sufficient progress. It is therefore important for ECTs to be proactive and ensure this document is uploaded at each interim assessment point.
Assessment date ECT Absence Reporting Please keep a note of how many days absence your ECT has throughout the year because you will be asked to submit the number of days absence in the full assessments at the end of Year 1 and Year 2. Those that have more than 30 days absence per year, may require an extension to their induction period. We will be in touch directly with mentors if this is likely to affect your ECTs.
deadlines Term 3:
06/02/2024
Term 4:
26/03/2024
Term 5:
21/05/2024
Term 6:
16/07/2024
How to submit the ‘E1—Grading Using the Teachers’ Standards’ document on ECT Manager Under each of the Teachers’ Standards within the E1 document, there are comments relating to the different grades. We would like you to highlight the comments that best fit the progress your ECT is making at this point in time. This will help you determine the overall grade your ECT is working to. Once you have highlighted the relevant comments, save a copy of the revised document so that it is ready to be uploaded to ECT Manager.
After you have submitted the Interim Assessment on ECT Manager, when on your ECT’s overview page, select:
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ECT documents (on the left-hand side of the page)
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Add a new document (in green)
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Complete the document name and description
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Select ‘Choose file’ to upload the E1 document
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Select ‘Save ECT Document’ (in green)
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If the document is saved successfully the following will appear at the top of your screen:
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The document will then be ready for the ECT Induction Team to review.
Please note: we will be expecting it to be submitted with the next Interim assessment. Any problems meeting this deadline, please get in touch.
Ensuring Success in the Best Career in the World Delegates will access 4 interactive workshops and hear from 2 inspirational key note speakers. Kelly Hannaghan will open the conference and focus on ‘How to live well to teach well’. Kelly is a Mental Health and Wellbeing Consultant and the Director and founder of Mind Work Matters Ltd. She puts wellbeing and people at the heart of education. She is an awardwinning motivational speaker, school improvement advisor, published author and founder of the ‘Family Matters’ empowerment and engagement programme. ICT with Mr P—Tech to raise standards, will be closing the conference. Mr P has been a classroom teacher for over 13 years and still works part-time in school. He also works internationally with schools looking to embed technology to transform learning. He puts pedagogy at the heart of everything he does and is the most followed teacher on social media in the UK. Mr P will close the conference with his addictive enthusiasm, leaving delegates feeling inspired as well as offering tips on how to succeed in the best career in the world! He loves sharing ideas and is sure to include the humorous side of life as a teacher! The conference is open to Primary and Secondary ECTs in Year 1 of their induction period.
Have you heard of Education Support? They are a UK charity dedicated to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of teachers and education staff in schools, colleges and universities. Have a look at their website here.
Is your ECT struggling? If you have any doubts about your ECT’s progress, it is important to raise them with your ECT asap as they may be a cause for concern. Please contact ect@kent.gov.uk if your ECT is struggling, or if you would like some help and guidance on the cause for concern procedure. I graded my ECT as D or E in the last assessment. What happens next?
The Induction Team will contact you by email in the first instance to find out whether you require additional support.
What to do if your ECT resigns The Induction Team should be informed by phone or email as soon as you know that the ECT is resigning. This is because it is necessary for the team to ensure that paperwork is correct and the TRA informed promptly. Mentors whose ECTs leave part way through induction may be required to complete a ‘half term assessment’. The team needs to know in good time to ensure that the correct assessment is available for completion. Please contact the team if you think this will apply to one of your ECTs and we can confirm what will need to be completed before the ECT leaves your school.
In terms of the Early Career Framework you will need to access the DfE online service portal (the same portal used to add the ECT and Mentor) and select the ECT and Mentor and remove. You must also inform your lead provider (Ambition Institute; Best Practice Network; Capita; Education Development Trust; Teach First or UCL Institute of Education).
Accelerated Induction Programme We offer an accelerated induction programme for ECTs with ‘significant’ teaching experience. As part of this experience, your ECT must have: •
taught classes independently;
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involved similar planning, teaching and assessment processes to those in which other teachers working in similar substantive posts in the institution are engaged;
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evidence from at least 6 lesson observations (one per term, based on a 6 term school year).
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evidence to show that they are meeting all of the Teachers’ Standards.
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Performance documentation from previous teaching employment
The programme is a way of fast tracking an ECT through their induction and enabling them to complete it within a minimum of 2 terms (based on a 6 term school year). When following this route, there is no expectation that an ECT serving a reduced (accelerated) induction period should cover the full depth of the Early Career Framework. If your ECT has taught as a classroom teacher for a minimum of 1 year at the same school or they have completed the Assessment Only Route or similar qualification, they may be eligible to apply. If the application is accepted, the ECT will be expected to develop a portfolio of evidence and take part in an assessment day where an Assessor will visit your school to observe the ECT teach. The process currently costs £595 plus the usual pro rata’d core package induction fee. This fee will only be charged if an application is accepted. If you feel your ECT meets the criteria and you would like to put them forward for the process, please email ect@kent.gov.uk with: •
An overview of the ECT’s teaching experience, including dates of employment and main responsibilities.
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Contact details for previous employers (if applicable).
ECT Policy Many of you may already know that schools are now expected to have an ECT policy which should be reviewed on a yearly basis and approved by the Governing Body.
To save you creating a document
from scratch, we wanted to let you know that the ECT Induction Team have created an example ECT policy which our schools can adopt and make their own. To download the ECT Policy visit the ‘Resources’ section on ECT Manager.
Do you have ECTs starting in January 2024? Are your ECTs registered for Induction as well as the Early Career Development Programme? – they are 2 separate registrations! If you are appointing ECTs, don’t forget to: 1.
Register them with an Appropriate Body (unfortunately, government changes no longer allow us to take on new ECTs). We can however, continue to support you with the delivery of the ECF—just follow point 2 below:
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Register your ECT on our Best Practice Network Early Career Development Programme (FIP) – by following the steps below:
The School Induction Tutor responsible for the ECF in school must register their ECTs and Mentors on the DfE Online Service (whichever Lead Provider you choose will then collect additional details directly from the ECTs and ECMs to enable allocation to their local training group). If you choose Best Practice Network registering with them consists of three parts: 1.
if your school has not yet had an ECT, or is changing Lead Provider to Best Practice Network, you will be prompted with instructions for next steps within the DfE Online Service
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if your school has not yet had an ECT or is changing Lead Provider, the school will also need to register with Best Practice Network via the BPN website School’s registration form.
**When you get to the question “If you were directed here by a local Teaching School Hub, Multi-School Organisation or training partner, please select from the dropdown below” select The Education People** Once the above has been completed,
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BPN will share a ‘BPN registration link’ for ECTs and ECMs (mentors) to set up their accounts (note, BPN will only share these links once the application has been completed on the ‘DFE Online Service’ portal). This link will arrive via email so please keep an eye on your inbox and also junk emails in case it lands there.
***If you have chosen an alternative provider for the delivery of the ECF, please liaise with your chosen provider on how to ensure you are appropriately registered for the delivery of the ECF.***
Are you following the ECF Full Induction Programme with Best Practice Network and The Education People? Did you know? Attendance at the ECF face to face and online events is essential for the required engagement with the ECF programme. Failure to attend events and engage sufficiently with the online modules on Canvas could impact on the funding your school receives from the Department for Education, for you to be registered on the ECF programme with Best Practice Network (partnered with The Education People — ECT Induction Team).
What is classed as engagement? Engagement is defined as attending face to face and online events, watching a recording of an event (if attendance is impossible) and interacting with the modules on Canvas, the virtual learning environment. How do the DFE know who is engaging with the ECF Programme? BPN are expected to provide evidence of engagement to the DfE in order to secure each schools funding. Canvas records which participants have engaged and ECF facilitators also mark registers of attendance at each event and this forms the evidence to show which ECTs and ECMs are participating appropriately with the programme and are therefore eligible for the funding. How do I access Canvas? It is best to access Canvas via the participant dashboard. The participant dashboard is your go-to portal for everything to do with your ECM Journey. This can be used to: •
View your schedule of events for the year (‘Events’ tab)
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Access the links to your online events (‘Events’ tab)
On the right hand side, of your dashboard you will see a link to Canvas which is the Virtual Learning Environment – where you will undertake the online modules.
Did you know? The Education People now offer a ‘Golden Thread’ Menu of Professional Development Opportunities Initial Teacher Training (ITT) Early Career Framework (ECF) National Professional Qualifications (NPQs). More details can be found here.
Thank you for taking the time to read our update. Please contact us if you have any questions.
ect@kent.gov.uk 03301 651300
ECT Induction Team Tim Spoerry, ECT Induction Manager Elizabeth Dean, ECT Induction Advisor (part-time) Helen Grzeszczak, ECT Induction Coordinator (part-time)
Amanda Risbridger, ECT Induction Administrator (part-time) Rhea Clarke, ECT Induction Administrator (currently on maternity leave)