Commenting on the passing of Motion 19 at NEU Annual Conference in Brighton, Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said:
“Early Career Teachers are the future of teaching, and we need them to stay in the profession. A range of measures are needed for this, but timely, individualised CPD and meaningful time spent with a trained mentor are crucial. Although well-intentioned, the latest framework, the ITTECF, is still not personalised or flexible enough, and feels to many like a process to get through rather than genuinely developmental. Many ECTs tell us that the Framework training can mean excess workload and generic content that is not relevant to their needs.
“Any organisation paid to provide training to teachers should be thoroughly reviewed to ensure it is delivering and adding value to schools and educators.
“But no programme on its own is enough to solve the recruitment and retention crisis. Investment in resources to support Early Career Teachers should be a major priority for government. Schools that are overstretched and having to make staffing cuts cannot hope to support and keep ECTs, and risk losing the experienced teachers needed to mentor them.”