- Procedures
- Roles & Responsibilities
- Support & Intervention
- Formal Notification of ASF
- Reviewing the Action Plan
Additional Support Framework Procedures
A student teacher, who is not making expected progress towards LJMU’s ITE Curriculum, should be given structured support and intervention via the 'Additional Support Framework' (ASF). This can be instigated at any point/phase in their programme and should be enacted quickly where concerns arise. It is vital that procedures are followed by schools to protect all parties and provide evidence that student teachers have been offered appropriate structured support. There are three stages to the 'Additional Support Framework' each lasting usually no longer than 2 weeks.
A student teacher action plan should be created commencing at one of the following three stages: ‘Additional Support’, 'Cause for Concern' or 'At Risk'. Discussions between the General Mentor/Professional Mentor and the Lead Mentor (Liaison Tutor) will determine which aspect of the 'Additional Support Framework' is the most suitable for the student teacher. Student teachers should begin the Additional Support Framework at the appropriate level to meet their needs and the school's concerns.
The Lead Mentor (Liaison Tutor) for the student teacher should be notified immediately if a student teacher is identified as needing 'Additional Support' as part of a structured support and intervention programme. The Lead Mentor (Liaison Tutor) contacts the General Mentor to discuss the nature of the support needed and arranges an additional meeting between the student teacher, the General Mentor and the Lead Mentor (Liaison Tutor). In this meeting, a decision is made as to whether the student teacher requires one of the following ASF action plans 'Additional Support', 'Cause for Concern' or 'At Risk'. An 'At Risk' action plan indicates that the student teacher is 'At Risk' of failing the school placement.
The ASF process can be instigated within any phase of training, but as each process is usually 2 weeks in length it is advised that there is normally a minimum of 6 weeks of a school placement remaining to ensure a student teacher has the best chance to be successful.
An action plan, with specific targets, appropriate for the timescale, should be written in conjunction with the General Mentor, the Lead Mentor (Liaison Tutor) and the student teacher and formally reviewed at the end of 2 weeks, with an interim review at the end of the first week. The action plan should be forwarded from the Lead Mentor (Liaison Tutor) directly to work-based learning on edn-wbl@ljmu.ac.uk.
The ASF action plan will be based upon the identified support and intervention that is needed to develop, in relation to LJMU’s ITE Curriculum which is underpinned by the CCF.
The agreed and signed action plan for either 'Additional Support', 'Cause for Concern' or 'At Risk' of failing the school placement will be sent to the student teacher from work-based learning, and copies will be sent to the Professional Mentor, General Mentor and Lead Mentor (Liaison Tutor). For School Led student teachers, a copy of the action plan will be forwarded to the School Led Lead for the consortium. The action plan should be reviewed at each weekly meeting by the General Mentor and the Lead Mentor (Liaison Tutor) should be kept informed.
It is important to clearly identify the circumstances and terminology that might arise as part of the Additional Support Framework and to clarify the procedure.
The Additional Support Framework needs to be in place as soon as it becomes evident that:
- The student teacher is not making sufficient progress within the phase of training in relation to LJMU's ITE Curriculum and ‘additional support’ is appropriate. They are not at this stage a clear ‘cause for concern’; however structured support and intervention are required to enable them to evidence the expected progress for their current phase of training via a clearly identified development plan.
- There is a ‘cause for concern’ where the student teacher is failing to demonstrate the expected progress for the phase of training in relation to LJMU's ITE Curriculum and they are consequently having a negative impact on pupil progress. Although at this stage they are not considered to be ‘at risk’ of failing the school placement, they would benefit from a clearly identified development plan that should enable them to make the expected progress in relation to the ITE Curriculum for the phase of training, by the end of the phase. A student teacher may start a placement as a ‘cause for concern’ based on progress issues identified from a previous school placement.
- A student teacher who is identified as being ‘at risk’ of failing the placement as they are not meeting LJMU’s ITE Curriculum for the phase of training, needs a clearly identified development plan to provide the support to enable them to have the best chance of succeeding. The following are examples of a student teacher who may be ‘at risk’:
- There are issues such as poor professional standards, health and safety or very weak subject knowledge that are having a very negative impact on pupils and are more than a ‘cause for concern’.
- The student teacher having been previously identified as a ‘cause for concern’ has not made sufficient/any progress with the identified ITE Curriculum targets.
Roles and Responsibilities
- Responsibilities of the ITT Mentor/Professional Mentor
- Responsibilities of the Lead Mentors (Liaison Tutors)
- Responsibilities of the ITT Partnership Lead
General Mentor/Professional Mentor
The General Mentor/Professional Mentor is responsible for monitoring the Additional Support Framework procedure from start to conclusion, in collaboration with the student teacher's Lead Mentor (Liaison Tutor).
Role: to identify and monitor the progress of student teachers identified as requiring an Additional Support Framework and Intervention Action Plan.
Responsibility to:
- discuss concerns with the student teacher and the Lead Mentor (Liaison Tutor) as soon as possible;
- inform the student teacher of progress being made and identify when to implement the Additional Support Framework;
Follow up action:
- inform the Lead Mentor (Liaison Tutor) and work-based learning as soon as possible that an action plan is required;
- work with the student teacher and Lead Mentor (Liaison Tutor) to specify the experiences that the student teacher will need to have, the actions they will need to take and the evidence that they will need to gather to rescind the additional support, cause for concern or at risk status;
- in partnership with the student teacher and the Lead Mentor (Liaison Tutor) put into place, monitor, and review a developmental intervention action plan to enable the student teacher to achieve the ITE Curriculum within the phase of training.
The Lead Mentor (Liaison Tutor)
The Lead Mentor (Liaison Tutor) is responsible for monitoring the Additional Support Framework procedure from start to conclusion, in collaboration with the General Mentor/Professional Mentor.
Role: to monitor the quality of the training experience including the ‘Additional Support Framework’ procedure.
Responsibility: discuss the issue with the school and decide if the structured intervention needed is 'additional support', 'cause for concern' or 'at risk' and help to formulate the developmental/action plan without delay. Ensure there is a realistic and achievable action plan in place with suitable interventions to support the student teacher's progress.
Follow up action:
- discuss the issue with the Programme Leader in respect of the programme's best course of action (expectations, procedure, timelines);
- finalise and forward the intervention and development plan to the work-based learning team;
- inform work-based learning and the Programme Leader Lead of the course of action and specific details for the official letter to be sent from the Partnership team.
The ITT Partnership Lead
The ITT Partnership lead is responsible for monitoring that the Additional Support Framework is applied equitably and consistently across the partnership as part of the quality assurance role.
Role: to monitor the fair and consistent application of the 'Additional Support Framework' procedure.
Responsibility: review and quality assure sampled action plans and monitor consistency and quality of the procedure across the partnership.
Follow up action:
- Confirm that targets are appropriate and effectively monitored;
- Support Lead Mentor (Liaison Tutors), General Mentors and Programme Leaders in respect of the consistent and fair application of the procedure;
- Work with the work-based learning team to ensure that all parties are kept informed regarding the student teacher progress and outcomes.
Additional Support Framework and Intervention Action Plan
The following documentation outline the student teacher's Structured Support and Intervention procedures which apply to ALL LJMU ITE Programmes:
Formal notification of Additional Support Framework and Action Plans
- The completed action plan should be forwarded from the Lead Mentor (Liaison Tutor) directly to work-based learning once agreed;
- The agreed action plan for either 'Additional Support', 'Cause for Concern' or 'At Risk' of failing the placement will be sent to the student teacher from the Work-related Learning Unit.
- Copies of the action plan will be sent to the Professional Mentor, General Mentor, School Led Lead (if appropriate), Programme Leader and Lead Mentor (Liaison Tutor).
- The action plan should be reviewed each week by the General Mentor and the Lead Mentor (Liaison Tutor) should be kept informed, especially if further timely intervention is needed.
- An action plan should usually last no longer than 2 weeks before it is formally reviewed in a meeting with the student teacher, General Mentor and the Lead Mentor (Liaison Tutor) (the LT may not be physically present as this can be organised remotely)
Reviewing the Action Plan
- At the formal review meeting, the recommendation can be made to either successfully pass the action plan as the student teacher is successfully on track to meet the ITE Curriculum for the phase, to amend the action plan targets and extend the action plan or to escalate the action plan to the next level.
- If a student teacher fails their 'At Risk' action plan then their school placement is terminated at this point and they return to university for a meeting with the Programme Leader, School Led Lead (if appropriate) and/or the Partnership Manager.