Early Career Framework

  • Contents

    • Overview

    You might have heard of the Early Career Framework but might be unsure about what it is and when it is rolling out. 

    Announced as part of the Department for Education’s (DfE’s) recruitment and retention strategy, the Early Career Framework aims to improve the level of support for teachers as they start their careers.

    The Early Career Framework was designed with an expert advisory group to support NQT professional development. It sets out what during the first 2 years of their careers NQTs will be entitled to learn about and learn how to do.

    The framework includes £130 million funding for mentoring, training programmes, free curriculum and training materials and a reduced timetable to allow new teachers to focus on their training.

    When is the Early Career Framework rolling out?

    Participation is voluntary and participating schools will benefit from the 2-year package of development support.

    National rollout will take place from September 2021 and will involve 2 years of early career professional development for all NQTs in England. This will affect NQTs who will start their induction from September 2021. 

    Schools who have opted in to the early rollout will still be able to complete their existing 2-year programme with their early rollout provider for those NQTs who started their induction in September 2020.

    What does the Early Career Framework include?

    The Early Career Framework includes sections on:

    • Behaviour management
    • Pedagogy
    • Curriculum
    • Assessment
    • Professional behaviours

    The DfE explains that the Early Career Framework is not, and should not be used, as an assessment framework. Early career teachers will continue to be assessed against the Teachers’ Standards only.

    We have published another article which provides an overview of the Teachers’ Standards.

    The DfE explains, for national roll-out, it has committed to:

    • Funding and guaranteeing 5% off-timetable in the second year of teaching for all early career teachers; early career teachers will continue to have a 10% timetable reduction in their first year of induction
    • Creating high-quality, freely available curricula and training materials
    • Establishing full, high quality training programmes
    • Funding time for mentors to support early career teachers
    • Full funded mentor training

    Was this article helpful?

    Yes No

    The information contained within this article is not a complete or final statement of the law.
    While Edapt has sought to ensure that the information is accurate and up-to-date, it is not responsible and will not be held liable for any inaccuracies and their consequences, including any loss arising from relying on this information. This article may contain information sourced from public sector bodies and licensed under the Open Government Licence. If you are an Edapt subscriber with an employment-related issue, please contact us and we will be able to refer you to one of our caseworkers.