ECF Update – March ’25

We are excited to share in full the changes and updates to the provision for Early Career Teachers in England, and their implications for schools who work with Arthur Terry Teaching School Hub as their ECF provider. Please take a few minutes to read this update carefully.

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Language Changes

Legacy Terms (for ECF programmes commenced AY 24-5 and earlier)	New Terms (for ECTE programmes commenced AY 25-6 and beyond)
ECF – Early Career Framework, used to describe the programme	ECTE – Early Career Training Entitlement, replaces ‘ECF’ as the programme title
ECF – Statutory framework	ITTECF – updated statutory framework encompassing both the ITT and ECTE years
ECPDP – Early Career Professional Development Programme – Education Development Trust’s branded name for the ECF programme	ECTP – Early Career Training Programme – Education Development Trust’s branded name for the ECTE programme, from September ‘25

Lead Provider Procurement:

You may be aware that there has recently been a round of contract procurement for the ECTE by the DfE. ATTSH has undertaken substantial due diligence, consulting and thoroughly interrogating the newly accredited providers and their proposed offers.

We are delighted to share our decision to continue our partnership with Education Development Trust (EDT). Based on the available offers and programme outlines, and our increasingly strong strategic partnership, we have determined that this is the best option for the hub and the 200+ schools who work with us on this programme.

We are confident that the quality, content and structural updates EDT are making will improve the programme experience for schools and teachers. Furthermore, retaining familiar systems, relationships and terminology will minimise disruption as we transition between programme models.

Changes to the ECT Experience

1. Facilitated training for ECTs will be increasing to from 12 to 18 hours in Year 1 of the programme, which must be delivered in-person. Thanks to a consultative process and survey, we can share that these will be delivered as termly full day events.
2. Training is also being increased in Year 2 of the programme from 9 to 12 hours. This will be delivered as three termly 4-hour events. We may opt to deliver some of this online and will update schools on the plan for year 2 in Spring/Summer 26.
3. ECTs will benefit from diagnostic assessment and tailored self-study each half term. This will mean that the relevance of their online self-study increases.
4. DfE have directed lead providers to increase amount and quality of the subject, phase and SEND exemplification in their materials. We will continue to offer bespoke provision, including specialist settings and SEND enhancements.

Changes to the Mentor Experience

1. In a bid to manage workload, the mentor training programme is being reduced from the current 2-year model to a single year. As a result, we are encouraging schools not to register mentors for the April 25 intake and instead to wait for the new, shortened programme in September.
2. Mentors will have access to planned session materials and diagnostic tools to support their work.
3. Mentors will move away from solely revisiting content in their meetings and will instead focus on lesson drop-ins and coaching alongside some retrieval of self-study content.
4. Mentor training will now start with a full-day conference, followed by shorter sessions in terms 2 and 3.

Changes for Schools

1. DfE are introducing a single point of registration, which should improve the experience for headteachers and induction tutors. DfE’s timeline is for this service to go live in 2026.
2. EDT’s programme has removed the ‘non-standard intakes’ from the ECT programme. For clarity, this means that schools won’t need to worry if their ECTs join in January or April, they will just attend the same events with all ECTs. N.B. Mentors will still have non-standard intakes in January and April because of the nature of that programme.
3. ECTE review – the government has committed to review the ITTECF and ECTE in 2027. This is not likely to affect schools directly until much later.

Funding

We want to remind all schools that the Full Induction Programme through the Arthur Terry TSH continues to be funded by DfE, including backfill payments for mentor and ECT release time. This funding is paid directly to schools by DFE. ECTE training remains free for all schools. Further information about how funding to schools works is available here.

We appreciate that there are several changes to digest here, so we will continue to offer support to schools and induction tutors throughout. Watch out for our newsletters, induction tutor updates and direct emails for information, training sessions or webinars in the coming weeks and months.