Induction tutor

Welcome to the Early Career Training Programme.

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Your role as an Induction Tutor

How to register your ECTs and mentors and gain Steplab access

Your role as an Induction Tutor

The induction tutor is the member of staff within each school with overall responsibility for putting the Early Career Training programme into action. This will often be a member of the senior leadership team. The induction tutor drives engagement with our ECT programme in their school, for both ECTs and their mentors.

Key to this role is supporting and protecting the entitlements of ECTs and their mentors, in line with the Early Career Teacher Entitlement (ECTE) reforms and statutory guidance. The induction tutor will be responsible for registering the ECTs and mentors, monitoring engagement with the programme via the Steplab platform, and liaising with the school’s delivery partner.

If you would like more information on what your role involves, you can take a look at this guidance from the DfE.

How to register your ECTs and mentors and gain Steplab access:

ECT steps to register 1-5 to finish the process

Step 1: Establish/confirm a partnership with a delivery partner

For schools who worked with us last year for ECT, and will be using the same delivery partner:

For schools who have used our ECT programme before, but will be using a different delivery partner:

For schools who have not used our ECT programme before:

  • Find your local delivery partner using this directory, and contact them to establish a partnership.
  • If you do not have a local delivery partner, unfortunately you will need to work with an alternative lead provider. A list of all the lead providers can be found here.

Step 2: Register your ECTs and mentors on the DfE’s manage training for early career teachers service.

Please note, this step is for schools that are eligible for DfE funding. If unsure of your school’s funding eligibility, please see our FAQ - ‘How to know if my school is eligible for funding?’. If you are from a school that is not eligible funding, you can skip to step 4. It is your delivery partner’s responsibility to register your ECTs and mentors.

For each ECT and mentor, you will need the following information:

  • First and last names
  • Date of birth
  • TRN – find your TRN here
  • Preferred email address (Please note: if their work email address is not yet live, we recommend using their personal email address, so they do not miss our onboarding communications)

The DfE’s manage training for early career teachers service will walk you through the registration process. If you encounter any issues, please email: [email protected]

Step 3: Match your ECTs to their mentors on the DfE’s manage training for early career teachers service.

Step 4: Log in to MyECT and complete your Steplab access form.

Once you have registered your ECTs and mentors on the DfE service and the DfE has validated their participant data, your ECTs and mentors will receive a welcome email from [email protected]. If you are new to the role, you will also receive a welcome email from us, which guides you to complete the following onboarding steps:

1 - Create a MyECT account, ensuring your name and email address exactly match those in the welcome email from us.

  • Please search for your school using its URN, to ensure you select the correct one.
ECT schooltrust choice application form

  • If you already have a My Ambition or My Teacher Training account, please log in to MyECT with your existing username and password.
  • If you experience any issues logging in or can’t see your Steplab access form, please get in touch with us at [email protected].

2 - Complete your Steplab access form, under the ‘Onboarding & EDI’ tab.

  • You only need to complete one induction tutor Steplab access form, even if there is more than one on your account.
  • Please note, your ECTs and mentors will have their own Steplab access form to complete. You will only be able to view them on Steplab once they have submitted their form and gained access to Steplab.

Showcasing the steplab access form tab

3 - Once you have completed your Steplab access form, you will gain access to Steplab within 24 hours. Please take some time to explore Steplab!

Steplab is the online learning platform where you will be able to view your ECTs and Mentors and track their progress. You can only access Steplab via your MyECT account, by clicking on the profile icon in the top-right hand corner of the homepage and selecting ‘Steplab’ in the drop-down menu.

If you are unable to access Steplab after completing the steps above, and after waiting 24 hours following submission of the Steplab access form, please get in touch with us:

Step 5: Check that your ECTs and mentors are matched on Steplab.

Log in to Steplab via MyECT and navigate to the 'Manage' tab. You should be able to see your ECTs paired with their mentors under ‘Manage coaching relationships’.

Please note, your ECTs will be visible in the cohort year for the year they started training. You can switch between cohort year views using the orange toggle button at the top-right of the page.

ECT coaching relationship tab

If your ECT and mentor matches are not visible, please check that:

  • You have added and paired them on the DfE’s manage training for early career teachers service from step 3.
  • Your mentors and ECTs have completed their Steplab access form from step 4.