Vision & Curriculum Intent

Edge Hill university is a DfE accredited provider for Initial Teacher Training. As such we have full and final accountability for all aspects of training design, delivery and quality across the partnership.  

Our EHU ambitious curriculum exceeds the full entitlement described in the Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework as a baseline and is designed around the three faculty pillars of: 

1. Personal and professional attitudes, values, and beliefs

2. Subject and curriculum knowledge 

3. The craft of teaching and pedagogy 

These faculty pillars are informed by our philosophy of education, created, and enhanced further when our partnership and our students are engaged in an ethos of debate, research and educational curiosity based on reflection and professional enquiry. 

This ambitious ITT curriculum includes our values of social justice, inclusion, learning outside the classroom and sustainability as key features to support our local and national communities. For those training to teach in the FES sector, the curriculum is aligned to the ETF Professional Standards (2022) and the Minimum Core (2022). 

Partnership Agreement

This Initial Teacher Education Partnership Agreement and Handbook has been written in consultation and collaboration with our partnership, the Faculty leaders and tutors, professional practice leaders, mentors and trainees. The aim of this policy is to clearly set out the roles and responsibilities of all ITT stakeholders in providing:

• High-quality trainee support and guidance
• High-quality mentoring
• Rigorous and robust quality assurance (QA) of assessment and the mentoring process
• Rigorous and robust QA of the professional practice processes
• Equitability between the programmes and across the departments
• Consistency in process, procedures and documentation across the partnership

The Edge Hill ITE Curriculum and the Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework

The Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework (ITTECF) (DfE 2024) sets out the entitlement of every trainee and early career teacher (ECT) to the core body of knowledge, skills and behaviours that define great teaching and to the mentoring and support from expert colleagues they should receive throughout the three or more years at the start of their career.

ECTs will purposefully revisit the elements of teaching introduced in ITT to deepen their knowledge and understanding. The ITTECF is designed to equip all trainees and ECTs with a shared body of knowledge and skills, irrespective of subject or phase. 

The ITTECF sets out two types of content: ‘Learn that…’ and ‘Learn how to…’ statements. ‘Learn that…’ statements are informed by the best available educational research. This evidence includes practice guides, rigorous individual studies, high quality reviews and syntheses, including meta-analyses. ‘Learn how to…’ statements are drawn from the wider evidence base, including both academic research and guidance from expert practitioners.

The ITTECF is not – and must not be used as – a means of assessing trainees and ECTs. Instead, it is an entitlement to training and professional development. Trainees and ECTs will continue to be assessed against the Teachers’ Standards at the end of ITT and induction respectively. 

How the ITTECF is Embedded in the EHU Curriculum

The ITTECF Framework does not set out the full ITT curriculum for trainee teachers. The complexity of the process for becoming a teacher cannot be overestimated and it remains for individual providers to design curricula appropriate for the subject, phase and age range that the trainees will be teaching.

In designing the curricula, Edge Hill University carefully craft the experiences and activities detailed in the ITTECF   Framework into a coherent sequence that supports trainees to succeed in the classroom. EHU encompass the full entitlement described in the ITTECF Framework, as well as integrating additional analysis and critique of theory, research and expert practice.

The DfE ITTECF

Each section of the ITTECF contains a series of ‘learn that’ and ‘learn how to’ statements or principles which guide our curriculum design. Trainees should be fully aware of these principles and be familiar with the language adopted, rather than being encouraged to refer to competencies such as the Teachers’ Standards.

Assessment

While the ITTECF Framework is presented around the Teachers’ Standards for clarity, the framework is not, and should not be used, as an assessment framework.

Trainee teachers will not be expected to collect evidence against the ITTECF Framework, and they will continue to be assessed against the Teachers’ Standards only at the end of their training. QTS will continue to be awarded at the end of Initial Teacher Training against the Teachers’ Standards.