Edge Hill university is a DFE accredited provider for ITE. As such we are accountable for all assessment judgements and recommendations.
Our EHU ambitious curriculum exceeds the full entitlement described in the ITT Core Content 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 ITE 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 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 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 placement processes
- equitability between the programmes and across the departments
- consistency in process, procedures and documentation across the partnership
Primary Early Years (3-7) vision
Working creatively with others to enhance life chances for all through a curriculum which enables trainees to develop strong subject knowledge in the Early Years Foundation Stage and the National Curriculum and have the professional skills to lead early years learning and teaching, inextricably linked to the individual needs and interests of young children.
Primary (5-11) vision
Working creatively with others to enhance life chances for all through a curriculum which enables trainees to develop strong subject knowledge in the National Curriculum subjects and have the professional knowledge and skills needed to succeed as teachers, with a commitment to inclusion and making learning interactive and memorable for children.
Secondary (11-16) vision
We seek to work creatively with others to enhance life chances for all through a curriculum which enables trainees to develop as subject experts in the subject in which they are training to teach.
Further Education and Training (PGDE Post-14 education) vision
We seek to work creatively with others to enhance life chances for all through a curriculum which enables trainees to develop as subject experts in the subject in which they are training to teach. Our students benefit from courses that emphasise not just high-quality pedagogy and andragogy, but prepare them for a career in the sector by looking at quality management and leadership.
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 remains 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 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 ITTECF sections
- High Expectations (HE)
- How Pupils Learn (HPL)
- Subject & Curriculum (SC)
- Classroom Practice (CP)
- Adaptive Teaching (AT)
- Assessment (A)
- Managing Behaviour (MB)
- Professional Behaviours (PB)
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 however, this is not an assessment framework and should not be used as such. 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 ITT Core Content 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. QTS will continue to be awarded at the end of Initial Teacher Training against the Teachers’ Standards.
