Methodology

ECF and NPQ starts

Published

Summary

The ‘ECF and NPQs starts’ publication is an ad hoc transparency release that reports on:

  •  the numbers of Early Career Teachers (ECTs) and mentors participating in the Early Career Framework (ECF) induction;
  • the number of DfE funded National Professional Qualification (NPQ) courses from the reformed suite of NPQs that were started
  •  the number of DfE funded NPQ courses from the 2017 suite of NPQs that were started between autumn 2017 and August 2022.

Data sources

Teacher CPD Service dataset

The department holds management information on ECF-based training based on Early Career Teachers (ECTs) and mentors registering their details on the manage training for early career teachers service (opens in a new tab). The service is for ECTs working, or due to start work, in England as well as mentors assigned to work with ECTs during their induction training. The service does not include details of all ECTs who are based at a school that designs and delivers its own training based on the ECF. Lead providers submit information to the department to confirm that ECTs and mentors are actively engaged with the ECF induction training. 

The department holds management information on NPQs registrations based on teachers and leaders signing up for an NPQ on the register for an NPQ service (opens in a new tab). For the 2017 suite of NPQs, registrations took place via the lead provider. Lead providers submit information to the department to confirm that teachers and leaders have started their NPQ course. 

The data for ECF-based training and NPQs is accurate as of 24 February 2023. Any changes to the data after that date are not taken into account. 

Get Information about Schools

Get Information about Schools (opens in a new tab) (GIAS) is the Department for Education’s register for several organisation types and where information on other organisations is recorded and maintained. GIAS is linked to the Teacher CPD Service dataset using the establishment's Unique Reference Number (URN). GIAS data is used for allocating schools into overarching establishment types to produce breakdowns of the key metrics by school type and geography. 

Data collection and processing

Once registered by their school induction tutor on the DfE’s Manage training for early career teachers (opens in a new tab) service, early career teachers and mentors were asked to provide their Teacher Reference Number (TRN), date of birth, and National Insurance number (optional). These details, along with their name were used to validate them against their DQT record and confirm their eligibility for the training.

NPQ applicants registered their own details with the DfE Register for an NPQ (opens in a new tab) service, providing their Teacher Reference Number (TRN), date of birth, and (optionally) National Insurance number. These details, along with their name were used to validate them against their DQT record and confirm their eligibility for the training.

The registration details were passed to training providers along with a unique training ID. If a training provider could provide sufficient evidence that a participant had engaged with the training programme, the provider made a declaration against the participant record in the DfE service.

These provider declarations were sampled to ensure that providers held evidence for all declarations made.

ECF-based induction

The total number of ECTs starting the provider-led induction was calculated by including all ECTs who are confirmed in the Teacher CPD Service dataset as having started the school-led ECF-based training. This number includes all ECTs who started the provider-led ECF-based induction in the full academic year 2022 to 2023.

These figures are broken down by region and phase of education using data from Get Information about Schools (opens in a new tab).

The number of mentors trained for the provider-led ECF-based induction was calculated by including all mentors who are recorded in the Teacher CPD Service dataset as having been trained to work with ECTs during their induction programme in the academic year 2022 to 2023. The number includes mentors replacing other mentors who withdrew from the provider-led ECF-based induction programme. 

NPQs

Reformed NPQs

The Teacher CPD Service dataset collects information on the number of teachers and leaders who are taking a DfE funded or a non-DfE funded NPQ from the reformed suite of NPQs. The number of funded NPQ starts was calculated by including all DfE funded NPQ courses that are recoded in the Teacher CPD Service dataset as having been started. 

This figure is broken down by course type, region and phase of education, using data from Get Information About Schools data. 

NPQs (2017 suite)

The department holds management information on the number of teachers and leaders who participated in a DfE funded or a non-DfE funded NPQ from the 2017 suite of NPQs. The number of funded NPQs (2017 suite) starts was calculated by including all DfE funded NPQ courses that are recorded in the dataset as having been started. The number of funded NPQs (2017 suite) completions was calculated by including all DfE funded NPQ courses that are recorded in the dataset as having been successfully completed.

How the department uses the information

The Department for Education uses the data published in this release to monitor the delivery of the ECF and NPQs reforms.

Help and support

Contact us

If you have a specific enquiry about ECF and NPQ starts statistics and data:

CPD Analysis and Research Team

Email: CPD.STATISTICS@education.gov.uk
Contact name: Gary Smith

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Telephone: 020 7783 8300

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