Teaching is, at its heart, a profoundly rewarding and admirable profession. However, the pressures of modern-day teaching mean many starting in their careers face a steep learning curve as they put theory into practice and navigate skills beyond teaching the curriculum, including parent communications, marking and policy. With this year seeing the first two full cohorts of Early Career Teachers (ECTs) working against a backdrop of turmoil in the education sector, it is now more important than ever to support our new teachers. We must empower them with the confidence, ability and support system to succeed from the very outset of their careers to truly address the recruitment and retention crisis.
Having taught primary and secondary pupils around the world for the last seventeen years, I know first-hand how daunting stepping into the classroom can be, for first-time teachers as well as pupils. That is why I am passionate about fostering a supportive and expert ECT community to ensure we not only get the best out of our teachers, but they get the best out of the role, guaranteeing the sector has a stable, happy and skilled workforce for years to come.
There is no doubt that the education sector in this country is facing a recruitment and retention crisis. While the reasons for this are of topical debate, there are several ways in which we can look to overcome them, at least in part. The experiences of a teacher in their first few years have a great influence on how they see the profession and can guide their decision on whether to stay in the world of education. Supporting our ECTs effectively means we can attract more teachers to the role by improving the profession’s reputation for work-life balance and ensure they remain happy in their careers, enhancing both recruitment and retention.
From our experience working with ECTs, the initial challenges that new teachers are facing include time management, safeguarding and wellbeing. At Eteach, we have found several successful solutions that have helped our ECTs to find joy in teaching and overcome these hurdles. These could be replicated in schools and multi-academy trusts to help them to support their ECTs, get the most out of their mentors and foster a deep sense of community. Our top tips include:
Build a community
The education community is inherently collaborative. Sharing best practice and knowledge is an effective way to bring ECTs together – both fostering community in which new teachers feel supported and heard and helping them to overcome challenges themselves, relieving pressure on mentors.
At Eteach, we have created a Facebook community of nearly 3,000 members and it is inspiring to see how supportive our ECTs are of each other. They share and discuss interview questions, lesson planning techniques and display board ideas to name a few. This network can be easily replicated across trusts and schools to reduce isolation and encourage collaboration.
Address key challenges together
As teacher training evolves and the world around us changes, it is helpful to stay tuned in to our ECTs' biggest challenges. We found that addressing these through informative sessions has built knowledge amongst our ECTs and helped them feel prepared for the realities of teaching and working within schools. For example, we held sessions on the ECT framework and what is expected of them, behaviour management and how to work and communicate with parents effectively.
Form effective partnerships
Resources in schools, especially during the current climate, are tight; so making sure your partnerships work for your school is essential. We work closely with school-centred initial teacher training providers including Teach South East, and trusts such as Xavier Catholic Education Trust, to ensure they recruit high-quality graduates and then work with them directly to provide the ECTs with additional support. This ensures that the time and effort invested in supporting ECTs will be utilised to have the best outcomes for the school, leaving them hopefully with a talented, highly effective and happy workforce.
Support mentors
Mentors are crucial to the success of the ECT programme. They are there to guide, advise and support ECTs. However, it is important to ensure our mentors are also looked after. They too are taking on a new challenge and increasing their workload and therefore require support from their superiors. While there is a lot that schools can do to support their ECTs, additional measures at a national level could also help recognise the role of mentors and celebrate and facilitate their work. From a framework perspective, this could include providing additional support for our mentors through formal networks, matching ECTs’ off-timetable allocation to increase their capacity to support ECTs or salary incentives in recognition of their increased workloads and responsibilities.
While a challenge, if we can all work together to foster a strong and positive ECT community we might just be able to safeguard teachers for the future.
About the author
Chantal Dos Santos
Chantal was a teacher for the past 17 years. Starting off in Primary education in the beginning of her career, then moving on to teaching maths and science. She has taught in South Africa, America and the UK. She was then Head of Science for a few years before becoming the Head of the Upper School at an independent boy’s prep school. Chantal heads up the ECT side of Eteach; looking at how we can attract graduates and then how we can work on supporting them throughout their 2-year induction period and ultimately supporting and guiding ECTs to retain them in the education sector.