Evaluation of early roll-out of the Early Career Framework

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The Department for Education’s (DfEs) Early Career Framework (ECF) sets out what newly qualified teachers in their first two years of teaching need to learn. New teachers will receive development support and training over two years instead of one. The government is taking a phased approach to introducing these reforms, starting with early roll-out (ERO) of the ECF from autumn 2020. The findings from the ERO will help to develop the programme ahead of national roll-out from September 2021.

The ERO is being delivered to eligible schools in the North East, Greater Manchester, Bradford and Doncaster. In addition, up to 4,000 new teachers outside of these areas can also sign-up to a one-year funded offer of early career framework-based support. However, schools participating in this expanded offer will not form part of the evaluation.
NFER has been by commissioned by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) to evaluate the impact of the ERO. The primary aim of the evaluation is to explore the impact of the ERO on the retention rate of early career teachers (ECTs) in the teaching profession. Secondary aims include an assessment of the impact on the retention rate of ECTs within their original schools, as well as on teaching quality, self-efficacy and teacher workload.

The evaluation will run from July 2020 to December 2023. The evaluation involves:

  • telephone interviews with a selection of induction leads/senior leaders in participating schools to explore early experiences of the ERO
  • telephone interviews with a selection of induction leads/senior leaders from ERO areas who declined to participate to explore reasons for this decision
  • online surveys of ECTs and induction leads in ERO schools, as well as in a comparison group of schools
  • 16 school case studies, each involving interviews with ECTs, mentors, and induction leads/senior leaders
  • interviews with the providers delivering the pilot
  • observations of ECT, mentor and induction lead training
  • collection of monitoring information
  • analysis of school workforce census data.

In addition to the main evaluation, NFER is also undertaking a randomised controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the impact of an incentive payment on mentors’ engagement, specifically in mentor training. For more information, please visit this page.