ECF Testimonials and Case Studies

Sarah Parish works as an Early Career Teacher (ECT) 1 – going into ECT 2 in September 2025 – with Key Stage 2 pupils at Castle School in Cambridge, a purpose-built school with special facilities for ages 4-19. She started working at the school as a teaching assistant initially, found it enjoyable, and progressed to Higher Level Teaching Assistant (HLTA).  

Sarah had initially considered working in a mainstream school, after completing a degree. She felt she wanted to work with children, and has always enjoyed working with them, but had no prior experience of supporting SEND youngsters either professionally or personally.  

However, having taken what she describes as a “stab in the dark” to apply for a role at Castle School, she began working with individuals or small groups as an unqualified teacher and TA. She found this rewarding and felt she was making a difference with these students.  

As Sarah built relationships with students and colleagues she developed greater confidence. Having secured Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) through the Apprenticeship Route for Initial Teacher Training (ITT), Sarah now takes whole classes as an ECT. 

Sarah talked about the positive relationship she has with her mentor established initially before she became a teacher. These colleagues work well together and have shared the growth and development of the school which caters for diverse learning needs across a wide age range. 

“My mentor and I work closely with students who are in different pathways within the school,” she said. “We now do our training together and this is helpful. She covers my PPAs so knows the children in my class, we can discuss their learning in detail.” 

Having worked at the school for several years prior to becoming an ECT, Sarah is determined to stay in SEND provision. “You have a plan for every day, but every day is different, hilarious things can happen and before you know it, it’s time to go home – I love it!” she revealed. “I could talk about it for hours but sometimes youngsters with SEND really need people to stand up for them. A small thing for you can be a really big thing for them.” 

Sarah has built good relationships with different stakeholders and referenced the support of management to help her build relationships with parents in the early days. “Senior leaders are very supportive but ultimately you need to be able to meet and talk to parents yourself,” she commented. “They will provide both challenge and support to enable you to do that.” 

When asked about the personal qualities Sarah brought to this role, she felt that being “calm, determined, bubbly and driven” had all proved helpful. 

On the Early Career Framework (ECF), which Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Teaching School Hub (CPTSH) delivers the DfE Funded Provider-led programme as a partner with Teach First, Sarah observed that working with other SEND specialists was beneficial. 

“There is a big range of ability/learning need within our group,” she said. “Sometimes you might think an educational phase might not be relevant to you, but Leigh (SEND facilitator) unpicks it and then you think, ‘actually, that is useful for me and my phase’. There really is such different needs with SEND contexts particularly with such variation even in one setting, including nonverbal communications or such differing disabilities.” 

When asked about the learning platform, Brightspace, Sarah said there were many parts of it she found impactful for reference. She added: “It is useful as a structure for mentor meetings, we talk through parts of it and apply to our school.” 

Sarah is determined to stay in the profession and in this sector. When asked about progression she confirmed that she would be looking to progress eventually. “The only thing I know is I love being in the classroom and, I’ll be honest, I’m not sure I would want to do something which took me out of the classroom,” she concluded. 

I feel my ITT at The Cambridge Partnership prepared me well for my Early Career Framework. I also feel the ECF helps to build on what I learned during ITT. A lot of ECT1 felt very much the same as ITT and I felt already competent in these areas, so I sometimes found the content repetitive and not always beneficial. However, although it can feel repetitive, it strengthens your understanding of a variety of topics.
I would recommend The Cambridge Partnership highly. They were always supportive and encouraging and gave me space to grow and develop as a teacher.
I have lived in Cambridgeshire all of my life and wanted to stay. Knowing how good my ITT was, I had confidence in the area for my ECT years to be supportive. For any other ECTs in Cambridgeshire, I would advise them to keep up with the programme, as when done in increments it does not overwhelm you.

I applied to be an ECF Facilitator for CPTSHN to gain a more informed and in depth understanding of the programme content to be able to explain the programme to Heads and to support ECTs and their mentors, to support the TSH and to work with other facilitators. 

This role adds to the skills I already have from facilitating training, through new ideas and ways of presenting content that could help me enhance facilitation of other training. I feel that my role as Facilitator has enabled me to be better informed about the content of the ECF. I am more able to answer any questions the ECTs and Mentors may have. I have a good knowledge of each module and understand how the online training works and the expectations for ECTs and mentors. We also provide a venue for our locality (Winhills Primary School) so staff from our trust and the locality have somewhere familiar to come to for the local group sessions. 

All ECTs and mentors within our Trust are taking part in the Full Induction Programme. Mentors now have more professional development than they have had in the past. Additional ECT training sessions designed and facilitated by our Trust complement the ECF ensuring content is not repeated and enables us to focus on the more practical and subject based elements of teaching that are not covered in the ECF programme. We can also refer to what they have learnt in the different modules – making links in learning. 

I initially applied to be a facilitator for CPTSHN to improve my knowledge of the ECF and understand the training my ECTs and mentors would receive from the inside out.  I have a strong desire to support ECTs through these tough early years so thought being part of the facilitation of this CPD would allow me to support ECTs - with a wider reach than just those in my own school.   

Being a facilitator has impacted the support I can offer my school as not only do I have access to the reading and research from EDT, but the local group sessions are a great sharing of knowledge and good practice, and I am lucky enough to draw from the great hive-mind of our amazing ECTs and mentors on a regular basis! 

Our school (like most!) are still developing our model for ECTs, following the ECPDP, learning from the first two years and improving this for the future.  With access to the portal, the reading and the programme laid out in advance, we are able to plan our school CPD to align with the blocks that ECTs will be focusing upon at key points in the year.  We run morning CPD sessions for our Year 1-5 teachers and, moving forward, plan to use the ECPDP as our framework for reflection & discussion as it is all applicable to teachers beyond simply the first couple of years and these key topics are always worth a revisit. 

“At Trumpington Park Primary, we currently have two Early Career Teachers (ECTs) in their first year, based in lower KS2, and we have two ECTs who started with us last year based in KS1. Our ECTs have shown excellent progression in their skills and knowledge and have really enhanced the teams in which they have been working. Their enthusiasm and drive to be the best teachers they can be adds greatly to our staff body.

We have several staff working on NPQs and several more about to start which is building the professional development potential for our future and current leaders to expand their skills and knowledge and have a further impact on others across the school. Currently, we have teachers completing the Leading Teaching programme which is having an impact on the quality of mentoring and coaching we can offer staff at all levels, as well as Leading Behaviour and Culture where the staff member is focusing on disadvantaged children and how we can make the difference to their progress.

I have a number of staff members who have facilitated on the ECT and SCITT programmes, leading on a knowledge and pedagogy-based focus and ensuring key messages are embedded and shared with other teachers and trainees. The richness of CPD opportunities for our staff through the links we share with Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Teaching School Hub help us to continue to develop excellence in teaching and learning and leadership capacity. It also aids the ability to develop staff at all levels in areas of expertise and interest, which means staff feel valued and we retain the high-quality people across our Trust. Our children benefit greatly from this across all subject areas and across the whole school.”

Mel Shute, Headteacher, Trumpington Park Primary School