Why the ECF isn’t keeping teachers in the job

Last week’s annual report on the dire state of the teacher labour market from the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) came as no surprise to anyone working in state schools in England.

And a key finding in the report - which looked at retention - would have come as no surprise either: the Early Career Framework (ECF) simply hasn’t had the impact promised on keeping new teachers in the profession.

The ECF was rolled out with a huge investment and much fanfare. The idea was that a universal, high-quality and structured allocation of support for all new teachers would help them to navigate the critical early phase of their careers and reduce the shocking attrition rate for teachers in their first five years in the job.

Issues with the Early Career Framework

But the NFER concludes that the ECF appears to have had little impact on the retention of our newest recruits.

Of course, there are other variables impacting teacher retention and it would be unwise to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

But it was naive at best to assume that the ECF - and the suite of teacher development courses like National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) that accompany it on the “golden thread” - would be the panacea to the recruitment and retention crisis.

• Early Career Framework: One in five new teachers not ready for workload
• Policy: Government will review ECF and NPQs
• ECF: Why reducing ECF providers is bad news

While the core concept has brought much-needed parity and funding, there are a number of issues.

Firstly, fidelity is favoured over contextual relevance in the ECF. Training sessions are often heavily scripted, and quality assured on adherence. This means that schools and trusts have little to no flexibility to adapt curriculum content or to link it to in-house CPD or school priorities.

Secondly, we have not matched the cognitive demands of the ECF with the time or resources teachers and mentors need to engage fully with the programme elements.

For teachers without space for deep self-study and high-quality mentoring we are paying lip service to the framework. As with the NPQs, success relies on effective implementation, and this is increasingly more difficult in a context of scarcity of resources and expertise. Teachers simply don’t have time to make the ECF as useful as it could be.

And for mentors, the system is draining these experienced teachers who support early career teachers, which they do largely on goodwill. As teacher attrition heaps more pressure and workload on to those who remain, it drives an increasingly unattractive narrative about the lived experience of teachers and further fuels the recruitment crisis.

Teacher workload

Thirdly, we need to address toxic leadership cultures in too many schools if the ECF is to do what it is designed to do. Teachers need - and deserve - to work in positive, supportive school cultures where they can flourish. Even the best training cannot survive unhealthy environments.

Leaders in the most progressive schools and trusts are prioritising workload reduction, and the NFER recommends that schools also explore artificial intelligence tools to support planning. We need all schools to be doing this.

And high-stakes accountability drives workload, poor wellbeing and attrition, so fundamental reform of Ofsted is critical to improving the health of the profession.

With ongoing government-led reviews and the promise to meet an ambitious target to attract 6,500 new teachers to the profession, we are at a critical juncture with teacher recruitment and retention. Keeping teachers in our classrooms will be key to Labour’s opportunity mission and ensuring high standards for every child.

The ECF must be more ingrained in - and reactive to - school need, and it must offer greater flexibility to adapt content to context. Crucially, the views and experiences of those delivering the framework on the ground must be listened to. Only then will the ECF be able to deliver the gains it promised and make a real difference to the lived experience of our teachers.

Sam Gibbs is director of education at Greater Manchester Education Trust

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