A Primary Practice / NEU support article
Your ECT Induction plunges you, as an Early Career teacher, into a world within which you may feel totally unprepared. Now this can, of course vary from individual to individual and does depend to some extent on the nature of your training – but the bottom line is that training to teach and the actual fact of being “the class teacher” are worlds apart!
So what can you expect as a baseline when you finally land your 1st teaching post?
Here’s my list of things that you should expect to be in place to enable your smooth transition into the world of teaching.
- You should be registered with the Local Education Authority as an ECT
- In line with this you should be given time by your school to attend training and information courses run by the an Authorised provider or via your school under supervision
- Your LEA will have their own version of the induction Standards and these should be operational in your school
- As an ECT you need to be given the support of an experienced mentor in school
- You are entitled to NQT release time (10%) in addition to your PPA time
- The above should also include professional development and support to build upon your initial teacher training.
- Lastly but by no means least…you should expect your school leadership team to have “realistic expectations” from you with regards to your progress and development….sadly this is not always the case!
The NEU, Primary Practice and ECT support
Primary Practice are always here to help and it’s as simple as either posting on the group for colleague support or by messaging Primary Practice through the group for matters which you may not wish to share. In many cases problems or queries can be easily sorted, however there may be times when advice is recommended from the NEU and that is just where our collaboration begins.
By becoming a member of the National Education Union you have the support and advice of the largest teaching union in the UK. Whatever problems you may be encountering or questions you may have regarding your training or induction year then help is at hand and advisers are always happy to advise.
Your local branch/district can also provide help and advice. If you do not know the name/ telephone number of your rep or local branch/district secretary, or do not have a rep in your workplace see neu.org.uk/ contact-us
You can also call the Adviceline on 0345 811 8111 or email adviceline@neu.org.uk for advice and support.
To join the NEU simply use the Primary Practice/ NEU link http://pp.distractweb.co.uk/neu/