Finding the right fit for early career teachers

I bought a jumpsuit, which looked great on the website model. But I soon realised that she was clearly not as tall as I am.

It was just too short. I knew I would feel uncomfortable wearing it.

So, of course, I had to return the jumpsuit. But it also reminded me that ‘one size fits all’ never actually fits us all.

We support a diverse teacher workforce

We have known for some time that a ‘one size fits all’ approach does not work for the children in our schools either. It is naïve to believe all pupils learn the same way.

On the face of it, things may seem linear and uniform when it comes to learning, but they absolutely are not.

We know that adaptive and personalised approaches to educating are essential, for all children to make progress. So, it's not surprising that this also applies to the development of our teachers and leaders.

The individuals entering the teacher workforce are more varied than ever. Many people train to teach after previously having careers in completely different sectors.

The experience and additional skills these individuals bring to the profession is such a benefit to schools.

But it presents a challenge to programme designers. We must ensure our courses and programmes are fit for purpose, regardless of prior experience and knowledge.

We give a user centred experience

Here at Teach First, we’ve put this diversity front-and-centre of our work. We’ve considered how to ensure our programme design is even more user centred. This is more important than ever with our Early Careers Framework.

We know our Early Career Teachers (ECTs) have different personal and professional experiences. They will work in different school-based contexts and teach in different phases and subjects.

They will also develop their practice at different rates.

So, it is essential we give support and guidance for our ECTs and their mentors, to help them thrive. We have the resources to tailor their individual journey through the programme.

We know we can help them reach their potential. And we believe they can become great teachers, leaders and role models.

Our programmes cater to a variety of needs

We've been looking at how to make our programmes flexible and personalised. We offer bespoke support to cater for differing needs and contexts.

We give optionality, whilst also ensuring our trainees receive the curriculum content and experiences they need to improve. As Socrates once philosophised, 'you don't know what you don't know.'

Ofsted inspected our Early Career Framework last year. They praised our purposeful design around this flexibility and personalisation:

The lead provider uses formative assessment adeptly within the training. ECTs use information from low-stakes quizzes that they take before and after training modules to reflect on their growing professional knowledge base.

This also helps their mentors gauge when ECTs might need greater support. For those ECTs who are confident with the basics, mentors equip them to explore educational research that further enhances ECTs’ teaching practice.

— Ofsted 2023

A flexible approach for ECTs

Last year we decided to release all our content for ECTs and mentors at the start of the programme.

This meant they could navigate their way through it in the necessary order. Whether that was our suggested sequence or their own.

This allowed our ECTs the flexibility to work through the ECF programme in a way that suited them.

We created stretch content, where ECTs can dive deep into specific areas of the ECF research base.

We have given optional modules too. These modules focus on wellbeing, excellent teaching in special schools and leadership.

In the second year of our programme, we support ECTs and mentors to use a Development Cycle. These are carefully considered and reflective sequence of activities available each half-term.

This helps ECTs focus on a specific area of the ECF, through the lens of their subject, phase or context.

Reflection leads to progression

Most of our ECF programme members choose to stick to our suggested sequence and order.

But a ‘significant minority’ (47% in our 2023 ECT survey) said that they worked ahead of timelines or moved away from the suggested sequence.

This indicates they are certainly making use of the flexibility.

78% of Year 1 ECTs found that the programme offered enough flexibility in how, and when, they could access the learning. Two years earlier, this was only 66%.

So, it feels like we are very much on track with this idea of giving autonomy to cater for different needs.

But a common theme we're considering is the concept of regular and accurate self-reflection.

We know we work hard to give optionality, but I can't help returning to the phrase 'you don't know what you don't know'.

Can we be sure our ECTs can confidently pinpoint their strengths, and areas for development?

Of course, the mentor plays an important role here. And this skill of accurate self-reflection is key. With self-reflection, teachers and leaders can continue to make gradual and progressive steps.

Unless teachers develop the practice of critical reflection, they stay trapped in unexamined judgments, interpretations, assumptions, and expectations. Approaching teaching as a reflective practitioner involves fusing personal beliefs and values into a professional identity.

—  Larrivee 2000

Giving our ECTs tools to thrive

This is the direction of travel when it comes to our programme content at Teach First. On our ECF, we know what our ECTs need to know.

We know they are approaching the content from varying backgrounds and with differing needs. And we are enabling individualisation through design and delivery.

But we will be focusing on the power of accurate self-reflection, to enable the best use of this individualisation going forward.

And for me, this is such an exciting area. It is the most powerful tool for an early career teacher to have in their armoury.

Help your early career teachers (ECTs)  thrive with our Early Career Framework training.