Government praises progress under Early Careers Framework and National Professional Qualifications

In regard to the ECF, Mr Walker thanked schools and partners for their efforts in delivering a ‘seismic shift in the support and development we give to early career teachers.’ He explained, ‘This year over 25,000 new teachers (the vast majority of new teachers) and nearly 23,000 mentors are undertaking a new high-quality and structured professional development programme for the first time.’ Following our successful participation of the early roll out, we are now a lead provider for the national rollout of the Early Career Framework. Partnering with a number of schools across England to ensure the programme is tailored to local needs, we ensure specialist, blended support is provided to teachers to improve practice, build confidence and resilience, and enhance job satisfaction and retention.

The letter also applauded the ‘at pace’ implementation of the NPQ training programme reforms. The new suite offers training for those wanting to develop expertise in high quality teaching practice, from behaviour management to those leading multiple schools across trusts, and two new qualifications will be launched in the autumn – Leading Literacy and Early Years Leadership. EdDevTrust offers a number of specialist and leadership NPQs, all of which are built around the real needs of schools and leaders, with close attention paid to workload and wellbeing.

Finally, Mr Walker set out a number of improvements to be made to the programmes as a result of feedback, including simplifying the digital service, streamlining registration, and encouraging appropriate flexibility in the delivery. The government will also be working with lead providers, including EdDevTrust, to provide further guidance for mentors under the ECF on how to best support their early career teachers.

To find out more about Education Development Trust’s work in this area, check out our Early Career Professional Development page or read more about our NPQs approach and offering.