Early Career Teachers

Starting your teaching career can be daunting, but at Harris, we aim to make it both manageable and rewarding. Our Early Career Teacher (ECT) programme is designed to help you thrive in the classroom with comprehensive support and professional development, setting you up for success in your teaching career.

Our ECT programme is led by the National Institute of Teaching (NIoT), offering you robust and thorough training to support you to develop the skills you need to become an established and confident classroom practitioner. This two-year programme is underpinned by the Early Career Framework, developing your self-evaluation, professional, subject and curricula knowledge, enabling you to realise your potential in the classroom.

We will assign you an experienced mentor to guide you through your ECT years, meeting with you each week to provide regular support. Our focus is on making small, incremental, and manageable improvements to your teaching practice that will allow you to develop in a way that suits you.

Register your interest as an Early Career Teacher

There is so much support here, so many experts within their knowledge, so many consultants for different subjects. That gives me the confidence to walk into the lesson and answer the questions and support the students in the best way that I can.  

Atarah, Humanities ECT

Why choose Harris?

Being part of our network of academies will provide you with a strong support system of colleagues to share ideas, experiences, and best practice. All our schools are based across London and Essex, so regular in-person collaboration with colleagues across the Federation is possible and encouraged.

As well as strong mentorship and support from your academy colleagues and ECT peers, you will also receive subject and age phase specialist training from our central team of consultants. These bespoke sessions are an opportunity to develop specific skills in areas you may want to progress into, and to develop networks with colleagues across the Federation.

We encourage our ECTs to take up opportunities to take their career to the next level. We will give you the tools to progress your career in the direction that suits you – whether it’s into specialist roles like SEND, or senior leadership.

Discover more about progression opportunities

I enjoy liaising with teaching professionals to further inform my professional practice. It's been great to work in a dynamic environment, imparting new concepts of knowledge that pupils link to their own prior knowledge.

Rebecca, English ECT

Register your interest

For any questions, or to have a confidential discussion about being an ECT at Harris, please contact our Talent Acquisition Team: careers@harrisfederation.org.uk

Get into teaching - teaching assistant route

Working as a Teaching Assistant at a Harris academy is an excellent way to gain first-hand experience of school life and learn from seasoned professionals. From day one, you’ll make a meaningful impact – whether by providing one-to-one support, working with small groups or assisting with classroom organisation.

There is more than one pathway into becoming a teaching assistant:

Graduate Teaching Assistants

You will need to have recently achieved or be studying towards an undergraduate degree, ideally with a grade or predicted grade of 2:1 or higher. For secondary education roles, we are particularly interested in hearing from you if you have a degree in Maths, Science, English, History, Geography or Languages.

Apprentice Teaching Assistants

You do not require any specific qualifications, just the commitment and drive to play an integral role in the classroom and the education of the students we serve.

As a Teaching Assistant at Harris, you will gain invaluable classroom experience to help develop your knowledge and skills ahead of teacher training. Many of our teaching assistants go on to complete teacher training with Harris Initial Teacher Education (ITE).

Learn more about ITE training

Return to teaching

Ready to return to teaching? We offer a flexible, supported pathway to help you re-enter the profession with confidence. Whether you’re returning after a career break or time spent in another field, we will tailor your journey based on your skills and experience.

Our formal training and mentoring programme can be a flexible way to rediscover your subject or specialism and develop into a full or part-time teaching role. You will benefit from a phased approach to help you reintegrate back into the classroom under the guidance and supervision of outstanding experienced teachers, while our students will benefit from your new-found, real-world experience gained outside the profession.

No matter what stage you left off at in your teaching career, we will make sure your first step back into the classroom is a confident one.

Find out more about teaching at Harris Federation