The new early career framework, rolled out nationally across England in 2021 at an estimated cost of £130 million, aims to improve teacher retention by supporting early career teachers (ECTs) to become more effective classroom practitioners. This article discusses developments in the mentoring frameworks used to support ECTs as a result of the early career framework. I argue that the claimed abandonment of the previous system of 'judgementoring' is welcome. However, the current dominance of instructional coaching within the early career framework has the potential to limit the development of meaningful, dialogic interaction between new teachers and experienced colleagues, and therefore retains most of the problems associated with judgementoring. I conclude with an argument that the early career framework provides an opportunity to support ECTs in a meaningful way, but only if mentoring and coaching frameworks take a dialogic approach.