Being Professional: What ECTs Really Need to Know

George Vlachonikolis

Most Early Career Teachers (ECTs) begin the ITTECF worrying about the same things: lesson planning, pedagogical practice and behaviour management. These are all important. But there is another part of the Teachers’ Standards that causes more difficulty than most trainees realise: Part 2 – Personal and Professional Conduct.

It sits quietly in the bottom right-hand corner of the standards document; it is often forgotten and often treated as an afterthought. The assumption seems to be that if a teacher can meet Standards 1-8 – planning lessons, managing behaviour, assessing students – then professional conduct will naturally follow. In reality, it doesn’t always work like that.

Part 2 states that: “A teacher is expected to demonstrate consistently high standards of personal and professional conduct.”[1]

It goes on to say that teachers must uphold public trust in the profession, act within statutory frameworks, and show proper regard for the ethos and policies of the school in which they work. In my experience, the hardest part of “getting into teaching” is rarely lesson delivery. It is sustaining the professional discipline around it. Day after day, week after week. And this is where many early career teachers struggle. Part 2, and professional competence, is indeed the most common cause of ECT failure.

Professionalism

So what does professionalism actually look like in practice?

There are many strands to this question and professionalism in teaching rarely shows itself through grand gestures. More often, it appears through small habits repeated consistently over time. In my view, a few broad areas stand out:

Professional reliability

• Respond to emails and don’t ignore requests from your line manager.
• Meet deadlines.
• Be punctual. Turn up on time and follow your school’s dress code.

Professional authority in the classroom

• Challenge lateness.
• Address low-level disruption early.
• Avoid sarcasm or personal remarks when dealing with students.

Professional collaboration

• Delegate work effectively to TAs. Don’t ignore them and don’t waste their time.
• Support colleagues when needed.
• Engage with the wider life of the school.

The truth is that none of these are particularly heroic actions. But taken together, they signal something important: trust. Schools run on trust. When colleagues and managers know that you will turn up on time, follow through on commitments and manage your classroom consistently, it builds confidence in your professionalism.

Schools have always operated – and they will continue to operate – on the basis of collegiality, teamwork and collaboration. Much of what makes a school successful depends on staff contributing to the wider life of the organisation. There is an unwritten Faustian pact in teaching: we all go above and beyond during term time and the balance comes in the form of longer holidays and, hopefully, the deep satisfaction that comes when you finally handover your well-moulded, bright and articulate class over to the next teacher.

Teaching is not simply another job to pay the bills. It’s a job we do because we believe in the value of education. That is why, when you’re occasionally asked to stay late, attend a sports fixture or come in on a Saturday to support a school event, the instinctive answer should usually be a simple one: yes.

Professionalism and wellbeing

I would also add that professionalism also means accepting the rules of the institution in which you work. Constantly trying to fight the system is more likely to hinder your work than empower it. Some decisions will be made above you, whether you agree with them or not. As classroom teachers, shaping the strategic direction of the school is not our role – that sits with SLT. This doesn’t mean you cannot be thoughtful or critical, but turning every issue into a battle is unlikely to help your effectiveness or your wellbeing.

At the same time, it is fair to acknowledge that the nature of work has evolved. The Department for Education recently updated its guidance on flexible working in schools (April 2026). It encourages schools to consider flexible working arrangements at a whole-school level and recognizes the connection between flexibility and staff wellbeing. This is a positive development. But professionalism and wellbeing do not need to be at odds with each other. My slightly controversial view is that wellbeing partly stems from professional competence. When your systems are disorganised and your classroom routines are inconsistent, the job quickly becomes overwhelming. By contrast, when your systems are secure, things become more manageable. Planning becomes quicker, classroom behaviour improves and workload stabilises.

This does not mean the job becomes easy. But it makes it more sustainable. Therefore, make sure you get your professional house in order first. For example:

• Organise your workflow so that colleagues and students can rely on you.
• Establish clear classroom routines and consistently follow behaviour policies to assert classroom authority.
• Prioritise communication and deadlines to support colleagues and the wider school.

The role of AI

At this point, I suspect many ECTs are thinking: “Can’t AI just do this for me?” My honest view is that whilst AI can be a useful tool, you should be very careful not to outsource all of your thinking to it.

As an ECT, you need to develop your own professional habits that will last your career. For example: you still need to understand the purpose of your lesson plan, and be able to justify the decisions that you’ve made. You still need to understand your students by listening to their answers or reading their work. You need to respond to their mistakes and decide what the next step should be. That process of doing, noticing, adapting and iterating is the ‘grunt work’ of refining your teaching craft. To outsource that work will impoverish your own personal professionalism.

AI cannot know your students, not diagnose misconceptions in real time or decide how best to adapt a lesson in response to what is happening in the room. Teaching ultimately relies on the judgement and voice of the teacher standing in front of the class.

As your career develops, this becomes even more important. Teachers are constantly communicating with others: leading groups of students, speaking to parents, working with colleagues, and sometimes participating in sensitive meetings about pastoral care or safeguarding. In those moments, it has to be your voice, not something generated elsewhere.

Part of the ITTECF journey is therefore about developing a professional identity. Over time, teachers begin to develop their own classroom persona – the tone, authority and style that students and colleagues recognise and respond to. For example, I hope others might describe my classroom style as “fun but intense.” I want humour in the classroom, but I also want a sense of calm authority and real academic rigour when it matters. Developing that professional voice has taken the best part of 15 years to cultivate, and it could not have been automated.

Final thought

It is this professional voice which will become oh-so-important. Your career will likely take you beyond one school, but the way you conduct yourself in each setting shapes the opportunities that follow. In my view, teaching is a relatively small profession and reputations travel quickly. So be professional. The worst teacher is not the one who occasionally delivers a mediocre lesson. Instead, it is the one who stops showing up properly for the profession, who neglects their responsibilities, undermines trust, or fails to comply with school policies. Show up. Do your job well. Build trust. That’s what Part 2 is really about.

[1] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a750668ed915d3c7d529cad/Teachers_standard_information.pdf