Ambition September 2026

Enabling condition for the ECT programme & managing workload and wellbeing.

Arrival time from 8:15 am 

Start time: 9.00 am

This session explores the principles of high-quality professional development, and how the ECT programme has been designed to support participants to develop their knowledge and practice. Also explores the importance of wellbeing, and how workload can be meaningfully managed so teachers can sustainably protect time for rest and recovery. Finally models the structure of a clinic, focused on high expectations in the classroom.

Please bring a digital or printed copy of the workbook to the session.

This session explores the importance of setting up and maintaining high expectations as a way to prevent and respond to low-level disruption, and exemplifies key principles of high-quality practice through a range of scenarios.

Please bring a digital or printed copy of the workbook to the session.

This session will build on participants’ understanding of adaptive teaching and how it is supported by formative assessment strategies. ECTs will also reflect on which aspects of their current practice support adaptive teaching, and through engaging with examples of teaching practice as well as discussion, further develop their understanding of how to be an adaptive teacher. It is advised that participants bring a lesson plan / resource that they have already planned to support with implementation.

Please bring a digital or printed copy of the workbook to the session.

This session explores the importance of working with others for pupil wellbeing, progress and motivation, and exemplifies key principles of high-quality conversations with a range of stakeholders in the scenarios. 

Please bring a digital or printed copy of the workbook to the session.

This clinic explores the importance of timely and effective feedback that both supports pupil progress and is considerate of workload, and exemplifies key principles of high-quality feedback through a range of scenarios.

Please bring a digital or printed copy of the workbook to the session.

Please book the date most suitable for you.

Arrival time from 9:00am 

Conference Overview:

This session explores the fundamentals that will underpin mentors' success as an effective mentor and the success of ECTs on the programme. It includes sections on:

•  What the ITTECF is, and how Ambition Institute’s programme is structured around this to provide ECTs with a high-quality training programme.

• The research and international best practice that the ECT programme is informed by, including an overview on the science of learning and why instructional coaching is a ‘best bet’ for teacher improvement.

• The instructional coaching model, how this is an essential tool for mentoring, and how it can be used for both performance and task based modelling. This section breaks down the model into stages; mentors practise each of these stages and receive feedback. 
  
  

Please Bring:

• A device to access Steplab during the session

• A digital or printed copy of your workbook

Conference Overview:

Building from mentor conference 1, this session explores how mentors can further develop their instructional coaching practice, through adapting the coaching model in response to ECTs’ growing expertise. It includes sections on:

- The research around flexible knowledge and adaptive expertise

- The ways the instructional coaching model can be adapted in order to support ECTs to build flexible knowledge and adaptive expertise. This section highlights a range of strategies mentors could use, depending on ECT need; mentors practise a selection of these strategies and receive feedback. 

Please Bring:

• A digital or printed copy of your workbook

This session builds from mentor conference 2, which introduced a range of strategies mentors could use to adapt the coaching model in response to ECTs’ growing expertise. In this session, mentors make sense of their knowledge around adaptive expertise and are introduced to a further strategy they may choose to use. Mentors have the opportunity to practise and receive feedback on this strategy

Please Bring:

• A digital or printed copy of your workbook

Coaching for mentors is a training offer exclusively aimed at mentors on the ECTP (Early Career Teacher Programme)

Structure & Content 

The basic structure of CFM is a 1:1, 45 minutes to 1 hour long (or less) meeting between a mentor and a coach arranged at a time that is convenient to the mentor.

The session aims to support and develop the mentor's ability to coach their ECT in their weekly/fortnightly feedback meetings or to support the mentor in any way with anything at all. The focus might be related to the following areas of instructional coaching (but can be about anything else): 

• Selecting appropriate steps

 • Sharing the model 

• Sharing the step 

• Deliberate practice 

• Analysing the gap

Coaching for mentors is an ‘optional’ strand of the ECT programme.