Early Career Teachers

Starting your teaching career is one of the most exciting and important steps you will take. At Forward Education Trust, we place enormous value on our Early Career Teachers and recognise the vital contribution they make to the lives of the children and young people we serve.

We are committed to providing a supportive and inclusive environment in which ECTs can learn, grow and flourish through expert mentoring, high-quality professional development and collaboration with skilled practitioners across our Trust and beyond. By investing in our teachers from the very start of their careers, we are helping to shape the exceptional educators and leaders of the future.

To support this, we work in partnership with Arthur Terry Teaching School Hub (ATTSH) to deliver a comprehensive programme of induction, training and professional development that enables Early Career Teachers to build confidence, refine their practice and thrive in the classroom.

We are delighted to be working with Arthur Terry Teaching School Hub (ATTSH) as the local provider of our early career teacher provision and as our Appropriate Body.  Through ATTSH, we work with Education Development Trust (EDT) as the national provider.  Their programme is built upon a deep knowledge of developing teachers and provides a continuous two-year journey for teachers beginning their teaching career.

Early Career Teachers who began their induction before 1st September 2025 are following the legacy Early Career Framework (ECF) programme.  Early Career Teachers who began their induction on or after 1st September 2025 are following the Early Career Teacher Entitlement (ECTE) programme, based on the Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework (ITTECF).

Regardless of the route, all Early Career Teachers have a designated mentor who will meet with them weekly in year 1 and fortnightly in year 2 to provide informal support and coaching, discuss learning from the self-study materials and identify next steps to further develop their practice.  In addition to the self-study materials, they benefit from face-to-face training sessions each term, working alongside ECTs from across the Birmingham special school community, and a reduced school timetable, to support them in accessing further development opportunities.

The EDT programmes

EDT has worked with schools to develop a high-quality, evidence-informed, blended learning experience for Early Career Teachers and their mentors.  Topics include rich and relevant examples from expert practitioners, accessible insights from research and frequent opportunities to put knowledge into practice.

Early Career Teachers and their mentors have access to an online platform that supports the learning journey through the programme, providing a range of self-study materials, webinars, podcasts and videos. 

ECF Content and Training

The Early Career Framework builds on the knowledge and skills developed during initial teacher training, covering areas including:

  • Behaviour Management
  • Pedagogy
  • Curriculum
  • Assessment
  • Professional behaviours
ECTE Content and Training

Revamped and updated for 2025 and beyond, the ECTE includes evidence informed training which revisits and refines learning from the ITT curriculum, covering the broad areas of study below

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