New SWIFT Early Career Teacher Programme (ECTP) | from September 2025

Marking a significant evolution in the support provided to Early Career Teachers (ECTs) in the first two years of their career, from this September 2025, the Department of Education (DfE) will transition from the Early Career Framework (ECF) to the new Early Career Teacher Entitlement (ECTE). 

The Early Career Teacher Programme (ECTP) is designed to build on the foundations laid by the ECF and offers a carefully sequenced curriculum of training and professional development for ECTs supported by their Mentors in school. 

You can click on the picture below to watch a short introduction to the new ECTP:

In our role as Teaching School Hubs delivering the Golden Thread of teacher professional development, SWIFT has undertaken extensive research and a successful pilot ECF programme for the past two years, and has chosen the National Institute of Teaching (NIoT) to be our lead ECTP provider. 
 
The NIoT is a sector-leading organisation with a reputation for excellence in teacher education and professional development and their ECTE programme is powered by ongoing, school-led research conducted by their in-house research team and will continue to provide SWIFT with the flexibility to shape the delivery best suited to our region.
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The Early Career Teacher Programme (ECTP) is designed to build on the foundations laid by the ECF and offers a carefully sequenced curriculum of training and professional development for ECTs supported by their Mentors in school.

The key highlights of the SWIFT NIoT Early Career Teacher Programme include:

• ECTE more tailored to build on ITT.
• Reduced Mentor workload.
• Great focus on supporting SEND pupils.
• Greater contextualisation and subject specificity.
• Updated evidence base.

 
We believe the following six reasons will help to provide the strongest possible footing for the induction of our Early Career Teachers:
 
Reason 1 | Highly Contextualised Materials
The NIoT provides context-specific materials (videos, written resources and audios) for:

• Early Years Foundation Stage.
• Primary.
• Secondary (all subjects).
• Post-16.
• SEND schools.
• Alternative Provision.

 
This exemplification from schools of all types, subjects and phases ensures that ECTs and mentors are able to access a programme that is specific to their needs.
 
Reason 2 | Greater Flexibility

• Align ECTs’ study and personal development to School and/or Trust priorities.
• Smart diagnostic tool suggests best fit elective self-studies.
• Removes repetition.
• Provides appropriate level of challenge.

 
During self-study, the ECT will complete a core element of self-study and then a diagnostic, which provides five options of elective self-study in each Term, three of which can be chosen based on diagnostics as the best fit for current knowledge as discussed with the ECT’s Mentor. We are pleased that this will remove any repetition, which has been a previous issue with the ECF, and will provide the appropriate level of challenge for ECTs and allow them to focus on the highest leverage areas for their development. 

Understanding that there is no one-size-fits-all approach, this will ensure that teachers are valued and their time well spent.
 
Reason 3 | Workload and Wellbeing
A reduction in seminar content in Year 1.

• No Year 2 programme for Mentors.
• Unique online wellbeing tools.

 
We understand that time is an issue especially for ECTs and we commend the reduced workload through the streamlined programme delivery and wellbeing monitoring. 
 
The unique NIoT online wellbeing tool is built into the NIoT learning platform and provides the opportunity for ECTs to feedback in regular short pulse surveys on how they are experiencing the programme and will give the NIoT opportunity to offer a helping hand when ECTs need it most.
 
The NIoT has expertly reduced the mentor training programme to one year to manage mentor workload whilst still ensuring impact.
 
Reason 4 | National Expert Webinars
Leading international experts run termly live webinars for ECTs and their mentors so they have opportunities to listen to and interact with leading experts in their fields. These are a very popular element in the existing programme.

• Bradley Busch | Leading expert in understanding and illuminating Cognitive Science in education, and Director of InnerDrive
• Kate Jones | Teacher, leader, bestselling author, blogger and award-winning international speaker, and Senior Associate for Teaching and Learning at Evidence Based Education.
• Alex Quigley | Head of Content and Engagement at the Education Endowment Foundation, experienced school leader, Director of Huntington Research School, in York and EEF in 2018, after working as a. He is the author of multiple books for educators as well as writing a regular column for TES magazine.
• Sonia Thompson | Headteacher at St Matthew's CE Teaching School and also the Director of the Research School.
• Tom Bennett OBE | Founder and Director of researchED, a non-profit organisation that runs teacher conferences about research and education and author.

 
Reason 5 | School-led Research

• The NIoT is unique in having its own, in-house research function.
• Enables NIoT to rapidly respond to research finding to strengthen programme.
• Great example, NIoT worked with SWIFT on research into ECF experience in rural and coastal areas.
• Lessons from this have shaped the new ECTE.

 
Powered not only by research from the Framework, additional research is also provided by the NIoT in-house research team to improve the programme continually and allows the NIoT to be highly responsive to feedback or learning from research, and to adapt the programme quickly to provide the most relevant offer. For example the recent work completed by NIoT and SWIFT on best supporting ECTs in small rural and coastal schools.
 
Reason 6 | Mentor Enhancements

• NIoT programme builds in specialist development to support Mentors.
• Great focus on supporting struggling ECTs.

 
We know that Mentors play an essential role in the induction of ECTs and the NIoT programme builds in specialist development to support them. 

SWIFT also has experience of working with the NIoT in other aspects of the Golden Thread, including as Lead Provider for the National Professional Qualifications (NPQs), and Programme Members’ have been very positive about their experience.

In addition, this year, we are piloting the NIoT’s innovative new Post Graduate Teaching Apprenticeship (PGTA) route into teaching.

Looking to the future, we believe there are significant opportunities with the NIoT as part of their innovative school-led research centre and in their status as the first university for the teaching profession.

With over five years of experience in delivering the ECF programme, supporting over 2000 ECTs and Mentors, our dedicated SWIFT Team bring a wealth of expertise and a commitment to excellence with satisfaction ratings consistently above the national average.

The SWIFT Team are committed to ensuring a seamless transition and to providing high-quality support throughout the ECTP and to support all aspects of programme management, leaving school leaders the time to focus on core business.

​Coupled with Appropriate Body expertise for 500 schools, SWIFT is pleased to offer schools a coherent package for teacher induction.

Watch out for further updates this Summer Term, including an Induction Tutor briefing on Monday 12 May 2025 and a Year 1 ECTP Welcome Webinar on Wednesday 2 July 2025.

You can register ECTs due to join your School/Trust in Year 1 and Year 2 from September 2025 on the link below and we will keep you informed of the next steps. 

Year 2 (September 2024) ECTs and Mentors will continue to access the ECF programme through their current Lead Provider. 

Any Mentors who have previously completed the ECF training programme do not need to undertake the ECTP training for Mentors.

By Jen Knowles, Director of SWIFT Teaching School Hubs

Register here | SWIFT Early Career Teacher Programme and Appropriate Body 2025 - 2026

For more details contact SWIFT ECTP Programme Manager, Fiona McNeile