Teach17

If you are starting your teaching career in an independent school, there is a good chance you will come across ISTIP. It plays an important role in making sure Early Career Teachers are properly supported and that statutory induction is carried out fairly.

1. ISTIP stands for the Independent Schools Teacher Induction Panel.
It acts as an appropriate body for teacher induction, mainly for teachers working in the independent sector.

2. It has a formal role in statutory induction.
ISTIP is not simply a training provider. It checks that schools are meeting their responsibilities and that ECTs are receiving the support they should.

3. It works with independent schools across England and overseas.
Many schools linked to major independent school associations use ISTIP for their ECT induction.

4. More than 1,000 ECTs begin induction through ISTIP schools each year.
So although it may not be widely known outside independent education, it works with a large number of new teachers.

5. Independent schools do not have to offer statutory induction.
A school can employ an ECT without offering statutory induction, so new teachers should always check what arrangements are in place before accepting a post.

6. If a school does offer statutory induction, it has to follow the proper rules.
This includes providing appropriate support, protected time and formal assessment.

7. ECTs normally complete induction over two years.
The idea is to give new teachers time to develop gradually rather than expecting them to be the finished article after a few months.

8. ECTs should receive a reduced teaching timetable.
This is normally 10% additional non-contact time in the first year and 5% in the second year.

9. That extra time is meant to be useful.
It should be used for things such as observing colleagues, meeting a mentor, planning, reflecting on lessons and working on areas for development.

10. Regular mentor meetings are an important part of the process.
These meetings should give ECTs a chance to talk honestly about lessons, behaviour, workload, subject knowledge and anything else they are finding difficult.

11. Induction is meant to support development, not create endless paperwork.
ECTs should not be spending hours creating evidence simply to prove that they are doing their job.

12. The Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework is now part of the picture.
The ITTECF is intended to create a smoother link between teacher training and the first two years in the classroom.

13. ECTs are still judged against the Teachers’ Standards.
The framework helps with professional development, but successful induction ultimately depends on meeting the Teachers’ Standards.

14. Progress reviews and formal assessments are not the same thing.
Progress reviews are there to check how things are going and identify support. Formal assessments make a more detailed judgement about progress against the standards.

15. ISTIP also provides training for ECTs.
This can include regional meetings, professional development sessions and opportunities to meet other teachers at a similar stage of their career.

16. Mentors and induction tutors receive support too.
ISTIP provides guidance and training for the staff responsible for supporting ECTs, which is important because the quality of induction often depends heavily on the people running it in school.

17. ISTIP provides an extra layer of quality assurance.
The school makes recommendations about an ECT’s progress, but ISTIP also reviews the process and helps make sure that induction has been completed properly.

For an ECT applying to an independent school, one of the most useful questions to ask is simply:

How will my statutory induction work, and who will be responsible for supporting me?

That answer can tell you a great deal about how seriously a school takes the development of its new teachers.