Successful Ofsted outcome for NIoT’s ECF programme
We are delighted to share that the National Institute of Teaching has received a successful outcome from our first Ofsted Lead Provider Monitoring Visit (LPMV) for ECF.
The aim of the LPMV was to assess the quality of our ECF programme via a series of interviews, observations and surveys conducted with our leaders, facilitators and participants. The inspectors scrutinised documents and met with lead provider representatives and other senior leaders, associate college senior leaders, associate college staff, ECTs, facilitators and mentors. Inspectors also watched recorded training sessions.
“Laser-focus” on a high-quality curriculum
The visit found that we had a “laser focus” on providing a high-quality curriculum for ECFs, underpinned by our vision to be “school-led” and to nurture the talents of teachers and leaders at all stages of their careers.
The letter described us as “unashamedly committed to enabling ECTs to flourish as new entrants into the profession” and said we had “designed a highly ambitious curriculum that is meticulously planned to ensure ECTs develop their knowledge and skills progressively”.
Respecting teacher time and expertise
Teachers’ time is precious - our ECF programme is respectful of the time of staff in schools. Lean research summaries and innovations in wellbeing and mentor diagnostics ensure high leverage activity. The Ofsted letter states: “Leaders are particularly mindful of the need to consider the wellbeing of ECTs. Leaders take deliberate steps to help make ECT workload manageable. They know ECTs exceptionally well because each ECT’s development is overseen carefully. Nothing is left to chance.”
Skilful facilitators who know schools and contexts
The NIoT currently supports more than 1,600 ECTs from our regional campuses and through a network of associate colleges, spread across all regions of England. The programme is delivered through facilitators, most of whom are serving school leaders. The Ofsted visit found that: “[MR1] NIoT leaders select facilitators carefully, train them thoroughly, support them diligently and expect excellence from them. As a result, facilitators know what is expected of them and are skilful at drawing upon their own professional experiences to craft discussions with ECTs. What facilitators teach maintains fidelity to the ECF and ensures that content is taught comprehensively and exclusively.”
Support for mentors
A strong mentor/ECT relationship is pivotal for ECTs to develop as confident teachers. It is the ultimate opportunity to for ECTs to take evidence and implement it in their context. The NIoT invest time in mentor training focusing on how they can respond best to the needs of their ECT whilst developing their own skills as a coach and research-led practitioner. The Ofsted visit found that: “high-quality training and precisely scaffolded guidance keep mentors abreast of current educational thinking and course design. They have a sharp focus on building on ECTs’ theoretical knowledge to ‘learn how to’ in practice.”
Lean, clean systems that help the programme run smoothly
We value the relationships with our associate colleges and work hard to respond to feedback quickly and efficiently.
The visit found that: “Leaders ensure that relationships across the associate colleges and with their delivery partners are deeply rooted in mutual trust, integrity and effective two-way communication. NIoT leaders utilise these strong relationships very well to ensure the systems for managing the day-to-day delivery of this large-scale training programme are highly efficient and successful.
“These multi-faceted systems are used to gather meaningful information about the quality and consistency of programme delivery. Feedback systems are ‘nimble’ and responsive, and enable leaders, where necessary, to address any issues swiftly.”
Katy Micklewright, head of ECF at the National Institute of Teaching, said:
“It is fantastic to hear inspectors reflect on how our intent for ECF is a reality being experienced, understood and applied by ECTs, mentors, schools and facilitators.
“This is what gets us up in the morning – empowering new teachers and their mentors, to get the best start in this wonderful career; supporting them to become confident, effective practitioners who are learning how to give our children the best education using the most up to date evidence. The most effective teacher recruitment strategy is a strong retention strategy, and we want to do everything we can to support teachers to stay in our schools.
“We are restless and will continue to iterate and improve our ECF programme alongside our partners to ensure that it remains school-led and responsive to the needs of teachers and leaders in their local contexts.”
You can read the published outcome letter here.
Find out more about our programme here