ECTs

Here at NWLTSH, we understand what it is like to be an ECT. You are in a new school, getting to know your students, developing and embedding routines, giving students feedback – classroom and schools are busy places. This is why our ECF delivery programme, designed by Ambition, supports throughout your two years. It breaks down and retrieves learning to help you to develop your skills.

What does an ECT do?

Your Induction Tutor registers you so you can access our fantastic learning platform, Steplab.

On Steplab, you have access to lots of resources to develop your practice, and you use Steplab to complete your Steplab study – this is a combination of videos and reading to help develop your mental models of excellent teaching and learning.

Once a week (ECT1) or once a fortnight (ECT2), you should set aside a time to complete this learning.

You are mentored by an expert teacher who will observe you weekly (ECT1) or fortnightly (ECT2) and give you feedback. You’ll also do deliberate practice as part of this cycle, where your Mentor coaches you through your next step, practising with you, and giving you feedback on the practice.

As an ECT, you are entitled to attend conferences and clinics where you have opportunities to network with other ECTs and develop your expertise.

What is a conference?

A conference is a live, in-person event where you get to network with ECTs from other schools, and learn more about being in the classroom and becoming a fantastic practitioner.

What is a clinic?

A clinic is usually online, on Zoom – to join, you need a working camera and mic. You’ll learn about a common teacher problem and read scenarios; you’ll be put in breakout rooms and chat with fellow ECTs.

When are conferences and clinics?

ECT1: Year 1

	Facilitated content (face-to-face or online)	Online content
Autumn 1	Conference 1: The science of learning and effective of planning	Behaviour
Autumn 2	Clinic 1: High expectations
Spring 1	Conference 2: Adaptive teaching	Instruction
Spring 2	Clinic 2: Thinking hard
Summer 1	Clinic 3: Effective feedback	Subject
Summer 2

Weekly instructional coaching

ECT2: Year 2

	Facilitated content (face-to-face or online)	Online content
Autumn 1	Conference 3: Professional development and sustained wellbeing	Access to all year 1 self-study modules and a diagnostic tool Access to new stretch content
Autumn 2	Clinic 4: Working with others
Spring 1	Clinic 5: Literacy
Spring 2
Summer 1	Clinic 6: Implementation
Summer 2

Fortnightly instructional coaching

ECT Frequently Asked Questions

Here is a link to some frequently asked questions by ECTs:

early_career_teachers_faq (ambition.org.uk)