Today (Thurs 16 Dec), school leaders’ union NAHT releases the
findings of a survey of its members on their experiences of and
views on the rollout of the Early Career Framework (ECF).
The ECF is a new mandatory two-year induction period for newly
qualified teachers (now known as Early Career Teachers or ECTs),
effective from September 2021.
The survey, of more than 1,000 school leaders in England, reveals
that, although there is a fair amount of support for the new
two-year induction period, there are serious concerns about the
new workload it is driving and a worrying risk that this might
increase rather than decrease the number of teachers dropping
out.
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Support: Just over half (55 per cent) of school leaders
agreed or strongly agreed with the decision to move to a
two-year induction period for Early Career Teachers. Almost
half (49 per cent) feel that the ECF will have a positive or
very positive impact on the professional development of ECTs.
40 per cent think the ECF will deliver a positive impact on the
quality of teaching.
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Workload: An overwhelming majority (95 per cent) said
that the ECF had increased workload for a newly qualified
teacher (64 per cent said the ECF had significantly increased
workload). All respondents (99 per cent) said that the ECF has
had an overwhelmingly negative impact on the workload of
mentors. Over eight in ten (81 per cent) said that the workload
of mentors had significantly increased. Almost two-thirds (64
per cent) of respondents told us that the ECF will have a
negative or very negative impact on the work life balance of
ECTs.
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Retention: A third (32 per cent) of school leaders
feared that the ECF will have a negative impact on retention
rates for ECTs. Just under a third (28 per cent) reported that
mentors did not want to continue their mentoring role as a
direct result of the impact of the ECF.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT,
said: “It is enormously concerning that schools are finding the
additional workload from the ECF so debilitating. One of the key
aims of this new system is to improve retention of early career
teachers. That obviously won’t happen if they are so overwhelmed
in their first two years.
“Even more concerning, those who are stepping up to mentor new
teachers are also drowning in the resulting workload and
considering not continuing in this crucial role.
“What’s needed is immediate action to create flexibility in the
programme to allow ECTs and mentors to focus on what matters most
for their individual contexts. Next, DfE should return to the ECF
to its original intention – a programme of support for new
teachers, rather than an early career curriculum.
“The two-year induction period clearly has great potential to
improve professional development for teachers in their early
careers, and there is general support for the new system. But
changes must be made to bring the workload and impact on
work-life balance under control, or it could end up doing
considerable damage to retention rates, even as it tries to
improve them.”
