The role of the mentor is to work through the ECF training with your ECT. This will involve regular short observations, feedback and instructional coaching. Your school will provide you with the time required to carry out this role. You should not assess the ECT against the Early Career Framework. 

Ambition Institute/Steplab (for schools following the DfE funded ECF programme) 

This is the portal you will access for your Early Career Framework training. Log in to My Ambition here: Login (ambition.org.uk) 

When the school registers the ECT for induction, you will be named as their mentor. You will receive an email from Ambition asking you to ‘onboard’ with them. Once this is complete, you will have access to all the ECT self-study modules and other learning materials. Steplab is where you will record all your observations, feedback and coaching sessions. 

Full training on effective mentoring will be provided through Conferences (face-to-face) and Clinics (online meetings) during the induction period. Your school will release you to attend the mentor Conferences. Clinics will be held after school on a selection of dates you can choose from. 

Effective Instructional Coaching  

This involves: 

• Setting an action step that focusses the teacher on a single bite-sized improvement action that they can manageably embed into their teaching.  

• Showing a model example of how to do the action step. This helps the teachers see clearly what their teaching should look like in practice or how they should be thinking when they are planning.  

• Supporting teachers to analyse and reflect upon the model, how this differs from their current practice, the impact this will have on their practice and pupils, and how it links to the wider principles in the module. 

• Providing the opportunity to practise, before taking this ‘live’ to their classroom. The mentor can use this to provide feedback or repeat the practice again to establish fluency.