ECF Mentors

There are three strands of learning throughout the programme: mentor meetings, mentor self-directed study, and live facilitated sessions. There are parallel delivery options for facilitated sessions; in-person conference events or termly online community sessions.

Download Mentor Programme Schedules

Mentors engage with half-termly self-directed study sessions on UCL Extend.

These two-hour sessions combine development of mentoring skills with becoming familiar with the upcoming module content.

The sessions are also available as an audio recording, shared directly through the fortnightly bulletin. Mentors using the audio recording must also mark the session as complete on their UCL Extend account.

The mentoring framework for Year 1: ONSIDE Mentoring (Hobson, 2016)

The mentoring framework for Year 2: Educative Mentoring (Daly & Milton, 2017)

Funding for mentors to complete the self-study and facilitated sessions is paid directly to schools as part of the Education and Skills Funding Agency grant in August each year.

Mentors are identified through registration on the DfE online service and payment is made at the end of each academic year of engagement. Pro rata payments are made for mentors who defer or join the programme during the year. 

It is up to individual schools and their mentors to determine how this funding is used. Possible approaches include:

• Paying for cover so that mentors can complete the programme during the school day.
• Paying mentors directly to complete the programme in their own time. We recommend that mentors discuss this with their HR/payroll department in advance because employee tax, NI and pension deductions together with employer on-cost deductions will significantly reduce the amount received by the mentor.
• Paying the funding into the department/phase/personal CPD budget of the mentor to pay for resources or further training.
• A combination of the above.

Whichever approach is used, this funding is intended to support mentors successfully completing the ECF programme and mentors should be fairly compensated for their time taken to complete the programme. The DfE may audit schools to confirm that the funding has been used as intended. 

Additional funding is provided by the DfE to pay for the mentor meeting time in Year 2 of statutory induction. 

I do not have any login details.

1. Check that your lead induction tutor has registered you for the programme through the DfE online service: https://manage-training-for-early-career-teachers.education.gov.uk

Your enrolment onto UCL Extend comes directly from the data shared with the DfE which is passed on to UCL.

2. Check your spam / clutter as the login details are often routed here.

I can log in but I can’t see any of the programme content. 

1. Confirm that you have completed the ECF Programme Commencement Agreement, found at the bottom of the ECF Programme Home page:

2. Check that you are using the login details shared with you by UCL, and that you’ve used the correct login box (not ‘First time here?’).

If you have logged in via any other route, please contact jen.fiddaman@otsh.org.uk. 

Please email jen.fiddaman@otsh.org.uk with any further queries or issues to do with accessing your UCL Extend account or platform navigation. Support can be provided via email or through an online meeting using screen-share to troubleshoot any difficulties. 

The OTSA/OTSH fortnightly bulletin is shared on a Friday morning.

The bulletin contains everything you need to keep up to date with the programme including session information and other helpful resources. If you are not receiving the bulletin please first check your spam / clutter folder, then email Kate Baker, ECF Administrator, at ect@otsa.org.uk so we can look into it. 

Alongside the facilitated sessions within the Mentor Development Programme all mentors and induction leaders are invited to our termly online TeachMeet events.

Details are shared in the fortnightly bulletin and all TeachMeets are recorded to be shared with colleagues following the event. 

You can access our full handbook here.

Download Handbook

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