Statutory guidance

Induction for early career teachers (England)

Guidance for appropriate bodies, headteachers, school staff and governing bodies.

• From: Department for Education
• Published: 25 March 2021
• Last updated: 9 June 2026
  Show all updates

  1. 9 June 2026

     Updated 'Induction for early career teachers, England' to include corrections to reflect the Ofsted inspection framework from 10 November 2025 and to add clarifications on existing guidance. The changes are listed in the 'What's new from June 2026' section on page 8.

  2. 22 April 2025

     Updated 'Induction for early career teachers, England' to reflect changes brought about by the introduction of the Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework (ITTECF) from September 2025, the addition of neonatal care leave to the list of statutory leave exempt from automatic extensions and the introduction of the 'Record Inductions as an Appropriate Body' service.

  3. 16 April 2024

     Updated 'Induction for early career teachers, England' to include legal corrections and add minor clarifications on existing guidance. The changes are listed in the 'What's new from April 2024' section on page 10.

  4. 14 September 2023

     Removed ‘secure children’s home’ from the list of institutions where induction cannot be served (page 15), to correct error.

  5. 21 April 2023

     'Induction for early career teachers, England (from 1 September 2023)' was added.

  6. 25 March 2021

     First published.

Applies to England

Documents

Induction for early career teachers, England

PDF, 609 KB, 60 pages

Details

This statutory guidance is for:

• headteachers
• school staff
• appropriate bodies
• governing bodies

It applies to:

• local-authority-maintained schools
• academies and free schools
• pupil referral units
• independent schools
• sixth-form colleges
• further education colleges

The guidance covers settings that:

• are required to offer induction to their early career teachers
• choose to offer induction to their early career teachers

This guidance replaces the previous version, which can be found in The National Archives.