It is a statutory requirement that once an ECT has been appointed at a school, the Headteacher or Principal must register the ECT with an Appropriate Body in advance of the ECT starting an induction period. Failure to register the ECT as soon as they start at your school may result in a delay to the start of the induction period.

The Kent ECT Induction team (Appropriate Body) uses the ECT Manager database to track and monitor our ECTs. This can be accessed by visiting  ECT Manager  and entering your account details.

If your school has not registered ECTs with us before, please contact the team by emailing [email protected] as we may need to set your school up with a log in for ECT Manager.

In addition to induction, we can also support you with the delivery of the Early Career Framework which was a new requirement from September 2021.

There are three options available for the delivery of the Early Career Framework:

1. a full induction programme (FIP) led by a provider who designs and delivers a programme of face to face and online training for ECMs (mentors) and ECTs
2. a core induction programme (CIP) where schools deliver their own training using free DfE accredited resources and materials
3. a school-based programme (SBP) where schools design and deliver their own ECF programme.

We have teamed up with one of the six lead providers of the ECF – Best Practice Network, to deliver a full induction programme (option 1).  Being one of the largest providers, we have the added benefit of offering the face to face training in a number of districts across Kent to ensure the sessions are easily accessible. There is no additional cost for your ECTs to follow our Full Induction programme.

If the ‘full induction programme’ is your preferred option and you would like us to deliver the ECF programme in partnership with Best Practice Network, please follow the instructions below:

ECT/ECM registration process for the ECF:

The DfE step-by-step guidance can be accessed here.

• The School Induction Tutor responsible for the ECF in school must register their ECTs and Mentors on the DfE Online Service (whichever Lead Provider you choose will then collect additional details directly from the ECTs and ECMs to enable allocation to their local training group).

 If you choose Best Practice Network registering with them consists of three parts:

1.   if your school has not yet had an ECT, or is changing Lead Provider to Best Practice Network, you will be prompted with instructions for next steps within the DfE Online Service

2.   if your school has not yet had an ECT or is changing Lead Provider, the school will also need to register with Best Practice Network via the BPN website School’s registration form.

**When you get to the question “If you were directed here by a local Teaching School Hub, Multi-School Organisation or training partner, please select from the dropdown below” select The Education People**

Once the above has been completed, 

3.   BPN will share a ‘BPN registration link’ for ECTs and ECMs (mentors) to set up their accounts (note, BPN will only share these links once the application has been completed on the ‘DFE Online Service’ portal).  This link will arrive via email so please keep an eye on your inbox and also junk emails in case it lands there.

Fidelity Checks

For schools following a Core or School-based ECF programme, as the Appropriate Body, we are obliged to fidelity check these programmes and from September 2022, there will be a charge for this process.  The fidelity check for the Core Induction Programme is currently £300 and the fidelity check for the School Based Programme is £750.  These charges are per school for each academic year the school appoints new ECTs.