This two-year programme was fully funded by the DfE for schools in the early roll-out areas: Opportunity North East (ONE) Area, Greater Manchester, and South and West Yorkshire.
UCL Early Career Teacher Consortium
Early Roll-Out is delivered by our consortium in the North of England. See more about the Consortium.
Overview of Early Roll-Out Programme content and structure
The UCL Early Roll-Out Programme is organised around nine modules, mapped to the Teachers' Standards.
Year one
Five modules set the foundation of the Early Career Framework:
- Enabling pupil learning: Standard 1 (High expectations which inspire, motivate and challenge pupils) and Standard 7 (Managing behaviour effectively to ensure a good and safe learning environment)
- Engaging pupils in learning: Standard 2 (Promote good progress and outcomes for pupils) and Standard 3 (Demonstrate good subject and curriculum knowledge)
- Developing quality pedagogy: Standard 4 (Plan and teach well structured lessons) and Standard 5 (Adapt teaching to respond to the strengths and needs of all pupils)
- Making productive use of assessment: Standard 6 (Make accurate and productive use of assessment)
- Fulfilling professional responsibilities: Standard 8 (Fulfil wider professional responsibilities).
Learning in each half term is supported through an integrated programme of self-study, structured mentor meetings and a professional development training programme.
Learning activities address early career teachers’ knowledge of the Early Career Framework content and their ability to put this into practice to bring about high quality pupil learning.
Year two
Mentoring and supported practitioner enquiry deepens early career teachers' understanding in a further four modules:
- Enquiry into enabling pupil learning
- Enquiry into engaging pupils in learning
- Enquiry into developing quality pedagogy and making productive use of assessment
- Fulfilling professional responsibilities II.
The second year deepens both early career teachers’ understanding of the content of the Early Career Framework and their ability to enact this content through their teaching.
It includes opportunities to conduct supported practitioner enquiry which build on early career teachers' growing expertise as skilled professionals.
Increased challenge in carefully tailored learning activities prompts early career teachers to 'look up' from an initial focus on their own practice to evaluate their impact on pupils’ learning.
See programme structure and module overview
A Mentor’s Perspective
Ben Connor is both a mentor for early career teachers in Carmel College in Darlington, and one of the authors of the Early Career Framework. He offers his perspective on how the UCL Consortium's programme was written to add value to mentors and newly qualified teachers.
A Headteacher's Perspective
Joanne Maw is the Head Teacher at Sandhill View Academy in Sunderland and has trialled the UCL Consortium's Early Career Framework at her school. She talks about why her school will be adopting the programme, and the benefits of materials written by practitioners and underpinned by research from some of the country's top universities.
What schools have been telling us
We have been testing our materials with schools, and this is what they are telling us:
Laura Talbot, Assistant Headteacher, Balby Central Primary Academy:
"The training materials are relevant to all teachers, regardless of subject, phase or school context. Each week has a clear focus which is transferable across all settings as they focus on the key principles of high quality teaching. The research articles for reading and reflection mean that it is suitable for both teachers who have some background knowledge or none at all.”
Cathy Young, Deputy Head, St Peter's Catholic Primary School:
"I have taken a look at these materials, and think they are fantastic! I feel quite envious of Early Career Teachers and wish I'd had something like that when I started teaching. I love the structure of the training materials. The Summary Module Guide provides a clear overview of the structure of the module, and the preparation necessary. The audit allows a clear self-assessment, which will allow the mentor to tailor aspects of the module to meet the individual needs of the ECT. Each individual session plan is a good balance of educational theory/research with the opportunity to apply this in practice.”