Why choose NETSP?

NETSP has a long history of working with schools and individual teachers across the North East region, and we were involved in the design and writing of the programme and took part in the early roll out from 2021. We understand the materials and the needs of schools in the region, and working with us will give you the flexibility to follow the ECF in alignment with your own school’s processes and PD. The UCL programme is: 

  • Knowledge-based: Informed by the latest research into early career teachers’ needs   
  • Drawn from expert theory and practice:  Co-designed by teacher educators, academics, and teachers   
  • Learning embedded in practice, not an additional burden: Early career teachers apply new learning in work contexts to improve your own and your pupils' learning   
  • Flexible: Schools can follow our proposed sequence or make approved adaptations to the programme to meet the needs of their early career teachers and mentors   
  • Located near you: we will ensure that the in person sessions take place close to where you work. We can also work with schools to host their own sessions. 

See our ECF Module Outline for more details. 

Ben Connor is both a mentor for early career teachers in Carmel College in Darlington, and one of the authors of the Early Career Framework. He offers his perspective on how the UCL consortium's programme was written to add value to mentors and newly qualified teachers. 

Joanne Maw is the Head Teacher at Sandhill View academy in Sunderland and has trialled the UCL Consortium's Early Career Framework at her school. She talks about why her school will be adopting the programme, and the benefits of materials written by practitioners and underpinned by research from some of the country's top universities.  

Stephanie Bingham, Programme Director for ECF

Stephanie Bingham is a lecturer and programme director with NETSP. She has thirty years of experience within education in the classroom, working in a local authority and now at Newcastle University where she has been working as Programme Director for NETSP since 2017. She has a proven track-record in leading professional learning for teachers and school leaders and was a key partner in the consortium for the early roll out of the Early Career Framework.

Stephanie’s work within NETSP has been recognised by two national bodies that focus on excellence in teaching at all levels; she is a Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching (FCCT) and has recently achieved Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Authority (SFHEA).

Gill Cunningham, ECF Programme Lead

Gill Cunningham is an Associate Lecturer within Newcastle University. She has thirty years of experience as a teacher and head teacher in South Tyneside. She leads on the Early Career Framework within NETSP as well as facilitating for NPQs. This gives her an overview of the professional journey from Initial Teacher Training, through the two-year induction period covered by the Early Career Framework (ECF) and onwards to leadership development (NPQs).

How is the programme delivered?

Professional learning for Early Career Teachers:  

  • A half-day annual conference in your region  
  • 8 modules based on the Teachers’ Standards  
  • Online professional learning hub  
  • In person facilitated sessions  
  • Guided self-directed study  
  • In-school mentor support and challenge

 …and for mentors  

  • A half-day annual conference in your region  
  • Facilitated online professional development
  • Guided self-directed study, enabling mentors to deepen their range of strategies
  • Our mentor programme will be based on Educative mentoring and ONSIDE Mentoring mentoring models

What the participants say: 

Yr1 ECTs: 

  • I have thoroughly enjoyed my experience of the programme so far. I feel like I have learnt a great deal from not only the mentors and facilitators but also the other ECTs. It is great to share and hear all of their experiences 
  • Useful materials and an opportunity to discuss practically relevant pedagogy with my mentor without it being paperwork heavy.  I like the balance of carving out time for fruitful discussion, centred on specific topics, without additional heavy workload on top of teaching duties.  
  • Very easy to follow whilst being informative 
  • The online learning sessions have been extremely helpful in supporting the reflection of my teaching. This module has helped give me ideas on how to support and develop professional relationships with colleagues and what aspects of this to focus on. The learning intentions of the training session have been particularly useful and have provided me with a lot of knowledge and understanding. 

Yr2 ECTs: 

  • Very useful part of the programme being able to take on research regarding behaviour management. Finding the mentor sessions informative and allowing me to track progress and reflect on effective strategies 
  • The inquiry that I did has led to changes in the department regarding how we improve numeracy skill 
  • The inquiry was useful to adapt my classroom practice for my SEN children 
  • I really enjoyed the school visit. It was the highlight of the module for me, since learning from other teachers, their methods and experiences are rich professional development 
  • This has been invaluable in supporting me through the early stages of my teaching career 

Mentors 

  • I appreciate the structure the course gives and the online sessions are very helpful. 
  • I like that it supports collaboration between mentor and mentee and that you are on a journey together which I found positive 
  • The course is clearly set out, I like the guidance and structure provided for ECT's and the mentor. We used it as a basis for our meetings and then then if we needed to take a different direction we did. The sessions led us into some interesting discussions and ideas. 
  • The examples were useful and there was a range of them so you could always find a relevant example in your age group or work place or situation in school. 
  • The modules are good at helping the ECT look outside their own situation 
  • The module content has been appropriate and useful for the ECT's development as a teacher 
  • The programme has provided the ECTs with opportunities for developing their knowledge of different topics as well as allowing time for reflection of their practice.