Information for schools and teachers
ConNECT is a research project led by the University of Surrey that explores how Early Career Teachers (ECTs) understand neurodiversity - and how these understandings relate to confidence, agency and inclusive classroom practice in Key Stage 2. We are currently inviting ECTs to complete short online surveys and teacher educators to take part in interviews.
If your school or ITE provider would like to support the project, you’ll find the key details below.
Key details
Why take part?
- Improve inclusion: Help build evidence on what supports ECTs to teach inclusively in neurodiverse classrooms.
- Practical impact: Findings will inform an open, practitioner-friendly online resource that can feed into ECF programmes and school CPD.
- Sector insights: Participating schools and providers will receive accessible summaries of findings and recommendations you can share with staff.
Who can take part?
- Early Career Teachers (survey study): Primary-phase ECTs in England. Participation is individual and voluntary; schools may choose to circulate the invitation to eligible staff.
- Teacher educators (interviews): Primary-phase teacher educators in England (HEIs and SCITTs), including QTS-only routes.
What’s involved?
For Primary Phase ECTs (survey study)
- What you’ll do: Complete four brief online surveys (≈15–20 minutes each) at key points from early-training through the end of the Early Career Framework. Surveys cover thoughts about neurodiversity, reflective thinking, confidence and inclusive practices.
- Time & place: Online, at a time that suits you.
- Data & privacy: Responses are confidential and anonymised in all reports; no individual schools, teachers or pupils will be identifiable.
- To start the first survey, please use this link: ECT Survey
For teacher educators
- What you’ll do: A semi-structured interview (about 60 minutes) exploring how neurodiversity and critical thinking are embedded in your programmes, plus sharing of programme documents for analysis.
- Focus: Your perspectives on preparing student teachers for neurodiverse classrooms, and how programme design supports reflective, inclusive practice.
- Data & privacy: Interviews are recorded with consent and anonymised in analysis and reporting.
What will you receive?
- Project updates and a plain-English summary of findings relevant to schools and ITE providers.
- Practical takeaways (reflection prompts and examples of inclusive practice) for mentors, ECTs and teacher educators once the online resource is released.
Register your interest / make an inquiry
Contact: Anna Cook
Email: anna.cook@surrey.ac.uk
Please mention whether you are:
- An ECT interested in the survey study, or
- A teacher educator interested in being interviewed.
