Early Career Teachers - Glossary
A glossary of key terms related to the Early Career Teachers programme.
Who is Ambition Institute?
What is the Early Career Teachers programme?
What is a lead provider?
What is a delivery partner and what do they do?
What is an appropriate body and what do they do?
What is ECT Manager?
What is Steplab?
Who is Ambition Institute?
Ambition Institute is a national education charity. We help schools tackling educational disadvantages to keep getting better and help their teachers and school leaders to become more expert over time. In the context of the ECT programme, we are a lead provider.
What is the Early Career Teachers programme?
The Early Career Teachers (ECT) programme is a professional development induction designed to support ECTs to learn and master the content from the early career framework (ECF). Using the evidence-based content in the ECF, the programme aims to help teachers develop their practice, knowledge, and working habits.
What is a lead provider?
Ambition Institute is a lead provider, which means that we are a DfE-funded provider that helps to deliver the ECT programme. As a lead provider, we work with a network of delivery partners such as trusts and teaching school hubs who deliver training directly to ECTs and mentors.
We are responsible for the design and production of all training materials for our ECT programme, drawing on the best available evidence about effective practice, and ensuring it is fully aligned with the ECF.
What is a delivery partner and what do they do?
Your delivery partner will work with us (the lead provider) to deliver the ECT programme. Delivery partners will lead the delivery of events and will be your point of contact for programme content and events queries. Here is a map with the network of delivery partners we work with around England.
What is an appropriate body and what do they do?
Appropriate bodies are the organisations who quality assure the early career teachers induction. Ambition Institute does not appoint or provide appropriate bodies.
They have two key roles:
- To check that your early career teachers receive their statutory entitlements, such as mentoring throughout their 2-year induction period
- To ensure formal assessments conducted by your induction tutor are fair and appropriate
Your appropriate body can also give advice if your early career teachers are serving a reduced or part time induction. They’ll need to agree to any reduction to the induction period.
Find out more about appropriate bodies via the DfE directory of appropriate bodies.
What is ECT Manager?
ECT Manager is an online system used by appropriate bodies to manage the ECT programme. Your appropriate body may ask you to use ECT Manager. If you have any ECT Manager-related issues, please contact your appropriate body as we will be unable to advise you.
What is Steplab?
Steplab is an online learning platform, designed specifically to help teachers develop by drawing on the best available evidence about how teachers learn. Steplab houses all the online content for ECTs and mentors. It also scaffolds their instructional coaching sessions. You will always need to log in to Steplab via your My Ambition account.