First impressions of the national institute’s early career teacher programme

'It was so easy to change early career teacher programme (ECTP) providers, much easier than I was expecting it to be. That’s because of the team at the national institute; their communication was 10/10, and we built up a great relationship very quickly. We’re living in a time where you appreciate emailing real people and getting fast responses. It’s so much better than filling in an online form.

There are a lot of rules with changing providers, and it can get complex, but the team synthesised it all for me into something that was easy to digest and communicate to key stakeholders across the trust

What appealed to me about the national institute’s ECT programme was that it wasn’t one size fits all. Our ECTs can find their own path through it based on the results of an assessment they do at the start of each module. There is also flexibility in ordering the modules; we haven’t needed to change the order of the modules yet, but having the ability to is a bonus. If in future we have a common barrier – say assessment – I could move that to the beginning because the programme has the flexibility to do that.

The national institute’s learning platform means that I can see live engagement data, rather than waiting for a half-termly spreadsheet. The platform is also clear and simple, really accessible, and all the research is digestible. They strip it back to what’s actually needed, rather than anything fluffy. Everything is concise and manageable. I only have positive things to say about it!

I can see the benefit of working across more programmes. We’ve only done a handful of the national institute’s NPQs, but I would like to be putting more people on them in future. I’m confident in the rigour of their programmes, the quality of the materials, and the clarity of communications.

Through working with the national institute on the ECTP, I’ve joined a community interested in collaboration. We’ve always been an outward-looking trust, and we’re keen on learning from the expertise in other schools, as well as sharing our own. I’ve joined a CPD leads network, have become a programme facilitator and begun working with a local teaching school hub.

I’ve been involved with giving feedback on the research portal, too; it’s a phenomenal resource that’s open to all with no fee attached and no expectation to buy programmes. I can see the portal making a big difference to the sector.

There’s so much more to the national institute than programmes.'

Find out more about our early career teacher programme and register your interest in working together.