May 18th 2026- Home
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- Early Career Teacher Entitlement
Early Career Teacher Entitlement
What is the Early Career Teacher Entitlement (ECTE)?
The ECTE is the statutory two-year induction period of structured support and training, underpinned by the ITTECF, with monitoring and assessment of performance against the Teachers' Standards that must be provided by an ECT's employing school. Part-time ECTs may take longer to complete this induction period and some ECTs who have previous teaching experience prior to gaining QTS may be considered for a reduced induction period.
Induction can take place in almost any state school, academy, free school or independent school (excluding underperforming schools or schools with special measures imposed - unless Ofsted has judged a school to be suitable to host induction in these circumstances).
ECTs can work as a supply teacher, but periods of less than one term cannot be counted towards induction. There is no time limit for starting induction or completing induction, however, after 5 years you can no longer work as a short-term supply teacher without induction.
To commence induction, the employing school must register the ECT with an Appropriate Body.
During induction, ECTs will receive an ITTECF-based training programme. The employing school may provide this training programme themselves or use an external provider to deliver the programme. ECTs will be allocated an in-school mentor who will support with the training programme during regular meetings. To allow ECTs time for this training and mentoring, their teaching timetable will be reduced by 10% in Year 1 and 5% in Year 2 of induction (in addition to PPA).
An induction tutor in the employing school (usually the Headteacher or a member of the senior leadership team), will be responsible for assessing the ECT against the Teachers' Standards in order to make a judgement at the end of the induction period as to whether the ECT has passed induction.
What are an ECT's statutory entitlements?
In summary, statutory entitlements for an ECT are as follows:
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Employed by the school in a suitable post for induction as a classroom teacher
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10% reduced teaching timetable in Year 1 and 5% in Year 2 (in addition to PPA)
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Timetabled weekly 1:1 mentor meeting in Year 1 and fortnightly in Year 2
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ITTECF-based training programme as part of induction
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Opportunities to observe colleagues and access to relevant CPD
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Regular observations and feedback opportunities
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Progress review meetings with an induction tutor
How does an ECT pass induction?
To pass induction, the induction tutor will complete termly progress reviews and two formal assessments (one at the end of Year 1 and the second at the end of Year 2) to assess whether the ECT is satisfactorily meeting the Teachers' Standards. An ECT cannot fail induction until the end of the induction period, during induction an ECT is either 'on track' or 'not on track' to meeting the Teachers' Standards.
If the school recommends that the ECT is satisfactorily meeting all the Teachers’ Standards in the final formal assessment at the end of the induction period, the Appropriate Body will moderate and sign off on the ECT's completion of induction, and update their teacher record with the Department for Education.
Further information from the DfE regarding the ECTE can be found here:
