Roadmap

This document explains what we’re working on to improve and rebuild the digital services that facilitate the early career framework (ECF) policy reforms. These digital services are named Register early career teachers.

It sets out what we’re working on now, what will come next, and what we might pursue later.

By sending this out publicly, we hope to:

give direction to our team
be transparent about what we’re working on and why
gather more feedback about the work we’re aiming to do

All of these items of work are related to our objectives as a team.

The services that make up Register early career teachers (ECTs)

Register ECTs, where schools register their ECTs and mentors to receive training and funding
an API for lead providers, where they can receive and send information about the training of ECTs and mentors to the DfE
Record inductions, where appropriate bodies can tell us an ECT is serving induction with them, and whether they’ve passed or failed
a joint admin and finance console to view information and aid in support queries for all our users

We decided to combine Record inductions and the rest of the services for training because:

induction data is used by these training services, so being closer together made sense
historically, there was a separate service for appropriate bodies to check ECT data submitted by schools, whilst now there can be one for them to do this and record inductions
in the future, we hope to try to deduplicate registration for schools, so appropriate bodies can just approve of information schools submit relevant to induction

What we’ve done

So far, we have:

built a way for schools to register ECTs and mentors to save school’s time and improve data accuracy
set up DfE Sign in for appropriate bodies and schools, so we can improve how all users access the service
improved how mentors are assigned to ECTs, so we can reduce having to chase schools to tell us mentor information
built a service for appropriate bodies to record data about inductions individually, so we can start to consolidate services and reduce workload for all users
released a way for appropriate bodies to record and submit outcomes and claims for inductions in bulk
set up how we want to migrate data from ECF1 to the new Register early career teachers service
designed and built how ECTs and mentors are registered when they are moving schools
built how ECT and mentor records are viewed by schools so school users can understand their status
designed how schools tell us ECTs and mentors are no longer at a school, so we get more accurate information on if they are still training to share with appropriate bodies and lead providers
built multiple endpoints on the API, including improvements so we speed up the onboarding of ECTs and mentors to training
released the draft API specification and started acting on feedback so we can iterate the rest of our API build to meet lead provider needs
released our API guidance, so we can give information to lead providers as we build the API and they can test it and feedback as it’s being developed
built a lot of the admin tooling we’ll require, including admin tooling, in one centralised admin tool for all of our DfE users
built our ‘parity check’ for the API, to ensure we migrate data correctly and can inform lead providers of data changes
improved how schools can make changes to ECT and mentor records, so we can get more accurate information for them
designed how to gather a singular school induction tutor for schools so we make sure lead providers have the information they need

The roadmap

Now 🏃

We are:

building how schools tell us ECTs or mentors have left a school, so we get more up to date information that can help improve training and policy decisions
working out the logic for how to default an ECT or mentor to a particular schedule, so we reduce workload and increase accuracy for lead providers
building ways for lead providers to defer, withdraw, resume or change schedules for participants
planning how we test the service end to end, from what schools register to what lead providers see over the API
planning communications, guidance and support for schools for the transition between the services
responding to lead provider feedback on the API specification draft, so we can improve how the rest of the API is built to better meet their needs
adding more API guidance, so we can try to improve understanding of how the APi functions
continuing to migrate data and working out how we can inform lead providers of data changes
designing how to expose the data that schools record to appropriate bodies (replacing the Check Data for Appropriate Bodies service) and vice versa, so that it’s easier to see induction and training data in the same place
exploring how the service will notify appropriate bodies when schools make changes on the service, to reduce the need for schools to communicate in offline, duplicative ways

Next ➡️

We will:

finish work on the API for lead providers, so we can send them information from schools and pay them for providing training
finish all improvements to our admin and finance console, so all our users can get the information and support they need
work out all the data changes necessary as part of migrating from the existing service to Register ECTs
plan deadlines and testing windows the API, so lead providers can have time to test changes thoroughly and accurately
test with schools end to end that the service works for them, so we derisk our initial launch
improve performance of the API
enable appropriate bodies to check training data for early career teachers, in the same service where they submit induction data, so we can save them time and improve data accuracy
consider how to enable appropriate bodies to record induction updates ahead of time, so that they can more effectively manage their workload

Later 🔮