Teach First
Encyclopedia
Teach First is an independent educational charity United Kingdom
, Reg. No. 1098294, founded in 2002. Its mission is to address educational disadvantage by transforming exceptional graduates into effective, inspirational teachers and leaders in all fields. Teach First targets graduates who would not normally consider a career in teaching and places them in what it considers challenging schools across England - where:
And/or
Since launching in 2002, Teach First has placed increasing numbers of participants in schools each year with 163 joining in 2003, up to 560 in 2010 - and has an ambassador community (alumni) of over 1,200.
Teach First is now rated seventh in the Times Top 100 Graduate Recruiters, with the number of applicants rising from 3,000 in 2009 (with 22% of applicants accepted to the programme) to around 5,000 in 2010 (with 11% accepted).
In 2010, Teach First climbed to 7th place on the league of Times Top 100 Graduate Employers.
considered how businesses could work together to improve secondary education in London. It came up with the idea of adapting the US Teach For America
scheme as a means of attracting more teachers to teach in the most challenging schools - which typically have a greater difficulty recruiting and retaining teaching staff. By setting up a scheme which provided graduates with access to some of the world's top businesses, and focused on developing leadership skills alongside teaching, the study proposed that the scheme would attract graduates to commit to teaching for two years and gain marketable skills for leading in whatever field they chose afterwards. As one of the lead consultants on the study, Brett Wigdortz took a 6 month sabbatical from McKinsey to write the proposed organisation's business plan and try to get it started. During this time, he was supported by Rona Kiley, head of business and education at London First, and George Iacobescu
, chief executive of Canary Wharf
, who provided the first £25,000 in funding. In June 2002, Schools Minister Stephen Twigg
MP threw in his support and Wigdortz left his job at McKinsey to become Chief Executive Officer of Teach First, with Kiley and Iacobescu joining as the charity's trustees. The programme was officially launched on 15 July 2002 at Cabot Hall, Canary Wharf.
The first group of participants was taken on in 2002-03, and started their training in the summer of 2003. They numbered 184 graduates mainly from the Russell Group
of Universities and went to 46 schools in London. In 2006 the scheme expanded to Greater Manchester
; in 2007 to the Midlands
; in 2008 to Merseyside
to create a North West
office; in 2009 a Yorkshire and a Humber office were opened, and the Midlands office was split into East and West regions.
If they are successful in the first application phase, candidates will be invited to the Assessment Centre. Here their potential to develop into effective teachers and inspirational leaders will be assessed against 8 core competencies: humility, respect and empathy, interaction, knowledge, leadership, planning and organising, problem solving, resilience and self-evaluation.
, Barclays Capital
, the Civil Service Fast Stream, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Procter and Gamble. Anyone successful in their application via this route is promised a job with one of these organisations after successfully completing the Teach First programme. In order to apply via this route, one must apply directly to Teach First and one of the participating organisations. If they are offered positions by both then they have the unique opportunity to defer entry to the latter for two years, after participating in Teach First.
A Teach First participant is expected to work at his or her placement school for two years. On completion of the Leadership Development Programme, participants graduate to become Teach First Ambassadors, and are encouraged to continue to address educational disadvantage through teaching or leadership positions in other fields. Successful completion and the award of Ambassador status requires the participant to gain Qualified Teacher Status as part of a postgraduate / professional graduate certificate in education (PGCE award) and complete their Newly Qualified Teacher year, as well as completing a Master's accreditted module of three units: Leading Learning, Leading People and Leading Organisations. Ambassadors also have the option to complete a further 90 credits delivered by Teach First's partner universities (the Institute of Education (London), University of Manchester and University of Warwick), focused on Urban Learning, Change Management and practice based projects and divided into 2 or 3 modules, to gain a Master's qualification in educational leadership.
In the first year, participants undertake a 70% teaching commitment in school, during which they are supported by Teach First, their partner universities and school mentors in training to achieve Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) at the end of the year, as part of a postgraduate / professional graduate certificate in education (PGCE award).
Professional and subject tutors from regional universities work alongside mentors in schools to ensure participants meet the qualification standards. Teach First Leadership Development Officers, all of whom are qualified teachers, provide an additional layer of support.
While teaching, participants also undertake Master’s accredited supplemental leadership training, which is delivered by Teach First and university assessed. This equips participants with qualifications in ‘Leading Learning’, ‘Leading People’ and ‘Leading Organisations’.
, participants receive payment through the main pay scale, it is not uncommon for participants to begin above the base point (M1) or to receive management points for taking on additional responsibility in their school. Throughout the programme, participants aim to develop their leadership skills within their school context. This is supported by Teach First leadership training delivered in partnership with Imperial College Business School, Manchester Business School
and many other corporate partners.
Teach First aims to empower, equip and mobilize all Ambassadors (alumni) to support the Teach First Mission by driving forward sustainable change in education from both inside and outside of the classroom. This is done through the following constituent parts of the Ambassador offer:
Teach On - A network of leadership development, training and support for our Ambassadors that remain in urban education.
Higher Education Access Programme for Schools - Opportunities for Ambassadors to support Gifted pupils from Teach First schools to progress to competitive universities.
Governance for change – Providing Ambassadors with leadership skill training whilst enabling them to maximize their long-term impact by serving on a school governing body.
Social Entrepreneurship Programme - Training, networking opportunities and mentoring for Ambassadors launching their own social ventures.
Policy First – Opportunities for Ambassadors to share insights on current education issues and help shape policy for the future.
Supporting Participants – Chances for Ambassadors to share their expertise and guidance with participants, helping to ensure that Teach First is built on a sustainable model.
Career Development – A series of tailored events and online resources to help support Ambassadors as they progress through their career.
On average since 2003, over 50% of Teach First Ambassadors stay in teaching beyond the two years and 67% of those placed since 2003 remain actively engaged with addressing educational disadvantage.
In 2008, Max Haimendorf, an '03 Ambassador of Teach First, was appointed Head teacher of the new King Solomon Academy in Westminster, sponsored by Ark. At 29 he was one of the UK's youngest head teachers.
schools.
Following the award of an expansion grant from the DCSF in Summer 2008, and a massive increase in its fundraising targets from other sources, Teach First is now in schools in six regions - Greater London, East Midlands, West Midlands, the North West, the North East and Yorkshire and the Humber. This includes schools in London, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Derby, Leicester, Birmingham, Solihull, Coventry, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Newcastle, Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford, Doncaster and Wakefield.
In 2010, Teach First placed close to 600 graduates in teaching positions in 242 schools in challenging circumstances across England, making it the 4th largest recruiter of graduates in the UK. It hopes to place over 1,000 graduates by 2013 to reach over 300,000 pupils.
In response to requests from social entrepreneurs in several countries across the world who are inspired by the Teach For America and Teach First model and want to replicate it in their respective countries, Teach For America and Teach First collaborated on a project with the pro-bono assistance of a team from McKinsey & Company. Together they sought to understand the experiences of other international organizations, the needs of the entrepreneurs who were seeking assistance, and the enablers of impact in our model. The results of the study was the creation of Teach For All. Teach For All is a global network of independent social enterprises that are working to expand educational opportunity in their nation by enlisting the most promising future leaders in the effort. Teach For All is currently supporting initiatives in Argentina, Brazil (from 2011), Bulgaria (from 2011), China, Israel, Peru, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Australia, Chile, Lebanon, Germany, and India.
Education in the United Kingdom
Education in the United Kingdom is a devolved matter with each of the countries of the United Kingdom having separate systems under separate governments: the UK Government is responsible for England, and the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive are...
, Reg. No. 1098294, founded in 2002. Its mission is to address educational disadvantage by transforming exceptional graduates into effective, inspirational teachers and leaders in all fields. Teach First targets graduates who would not normally consider a career in teaching and places them in what it considers challenging schools across England - where:
- More than 50% of their pupils are from deprived backgrounds according to the respected IDACI index of childhood deprivation, thereby more accurately prioritising those schools with higher levels of deprivation
And/or
- Schools with the lowest levels of attainment in regards to the 5+ A*-C measure - i.e. schools whose results fall in the lowest third of the national distribution.
Since launching in 2002, Teach First has placed increasing numbers of participants in schools each year with 163 joining in 2003, up to 560 in 2010 - and has an ambassador community (alumni) of over 1,200.
Teach First is now rated seventh in the Times Top 100 Graduate Recruiters, with the number of applicants rising from 3,000 in 2009 (with 22% of applicants accepted to the programme) to around 5,000 in 2010 (with 11% accepted).
In 2010, Teach First climbed to 7th place on the league of Times Top 100 Graduate Employers.
History
In spring 2002, a pro bono study for London First and Business in the CommunityBusiness in the Community
Business in the Community is a British business-community outreach charity promoting responsible business, CSR, corporate responsibility, and is one of the Prince's Charities of Charles, Prince of Wales....
considered how businesses could work together to improve secondary education in London. It came up with the idea of adapting the US Teach For America
Teach For America
Teach For America is an American non-profit organization that aims to eliminate educational inequity by enlisting the nation's most promising future leaders to teach for two or more years in low-income communities throughout the United States...
scheme as a means of attracting more teachers to teach in the most challenging schools - which typically have a greater difficulty recruiting and retaining teaching staff. By setting up a scheme which provided graduates with access to some of the world's top businesses, and focused on developing leadership skills alongside teaching, the study proposed that the scheme would attract graduates to commit to teaching for two years and gain marketable skills for leading in whatever field they chose afterwards. As one of the lead consultants on the study, Brett Wigdortz took a 6 month sabbatical from McKinsey to write the proposed organisation's business plan and try to get it started. During this time, he was supported by Rona Kiley, head of business and education at London First, and George Iacobescu
George Iacobescu
George Iacobescu CBE is the chief executive of Canary Wharf Group, a London-based property development company.Born in Romania, Iacobescu trained as an engineer, graduated from the University of Bucharest and then emigrated to Canada and settled in Toronto, where he initially worked for the...
, chief executive of Canary Wharf
Canary Wharf
Canary Wharf is a major business district located in London, United Kingdom. It is one of London's two main financial centres, alongside the traditional City of London, and contains many of the UK's tallest buildings, including the second-tallest , One Canada Square...
, who provided the first £25,000 in funding. In June 2002, Schools Minister Stephen Twigg
Stephen Twigg
Stephen Twigg is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Labour Co-operative Member of Parliament for Liverpool West Derby since 2010. He previously served as the Member of Parliament for Enfield Southgate from 1997 to 2005, when he lost his seat. He came to national prominence in 1997...
MP threw in his support and Wigdortz left his job at McKinsey to become Chief Executive Officer of Teach First, with Kiley and Iacobescu joining as the charity's trustees. The programme was officially launched on 15 July 2002 at Cabot Hall, Canary Wharf.
The first group of participants was taken on in 2002-03, and started their training in the summer of 2003. They numbered 184 graduates mainly from the Russell Group
Russell Group
The Russell Group is a collaboration of twenty UK universities that together receive two-thirds of research grant and contract funding in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1994 to represent their interests to the government, parliament and other similar bodies...
of Universities and went to 46 schools in London. In 2006 the scheme expanded to Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
; in 2007 to the Midlands
English Midlands
The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...
; in 2008 to Merseyside
Merseyside
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...
to create a North West
North West England
North West England, informally known as The North West, is one of the nine official regions of England.North West England had a 2006 estimated population of 6,853,201 the third most populated region after London and the South East...
office; in 2009 a Yorkshire and a Humber office were opened, and the Midlands office was split into East and West regions.
Recruitment Process
Applications for Teach First can be made online. Candidates are expected to meet the requirements of the equivalent of a 2:1 degree and 300 UCAS points.If they are successful in the first application phase, candidates will be invited to the Assessment Centre. Here their potential to develop into effective teachers and inspirational leaders will be assessed against 8 core competencies: humility, respect and empathy, interaction, knowledge, leadership, planning and organising, problem solving, resilience and self-evaluation.
| Year | # of Applicants |
# of Incoming Teachers |
Position in Times Top 100 Graduate Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 183 | 19th | |
| 2006 | 265 | 16th | |
| 2007 | 272 | 14th | |
| 2008 | 373 | 9th | |
| 2009 | ~3000 | 485 | 8th |
| 2010 | 4,994 | 560 | 7th |
| 2011 | 770 |
Deferred Entry Schemes
The Teach First Deferred Entry Scheme works through partnerships between Teach First and AccentureAccenture
Accenture plc is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company headquartered in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. It is the largest consulting firm in the world and is a Fortune Global 500 company. As of September 2011, the company had more than 236,000 employees across...
, Barclays Capital
Barclays Capital
Barclays Capital is a global British investment bank. It is the investment banking division of Barclays plc which has a balance sheet of over £1.2 trillion . Barclays Capital provides financing and risk management services to large companies, institutions and government clients. It is a primary...
, the Civil Service Fast Stream, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Procter and Gamble. Anyone successful in their application via this route is promised a job with one of these organisations after successfully completing the Teach First programme. In order to apply via this route, one must apply directly to Teach First and one of the participating organisations. If they are offered positions by both then they have the unique opportunity to defer entry to the latter for two years, after participating in Teach First.
Leadership Development Programme
Teach First’s Leadership Development Programme is aimed at ensuring participants maximise their impact on pupil achievement in the short term and develop a set of transferable skills that will broaden their impact on educational disadvantage in the future.A Teach First participant is expected to work at his or her placement school for two years. On completion of the Leadership Development Programme, participants graduate to become Teach First Ambassadors, and are encouraged to continue to address educational disadvantage through teaching or leadership positions in other fields. Successful completion and the award of Ambassador status requires the participant to gain Qualified Teacher Status as part of a postgraduate / professional graduate certificate in education (PGCE award) and complete their Newly Qualified Teacher year, as well as completing a Master's accreditted module of three units: Leading Learning, Leading People and Leading Organisations. Ambassadors also have the option to complete a further 90 credits delivered by Teach First's partner universities (the Institute of Education (London), University of Manchester and University of Warwick), focused on Urban Learning, Change Management and practice based projects and divided into 2 or 3 modules, to gain a Master's qualification in educational leadership.
First year
Before entering the classroom, participants attend the Summer Institute, the residential component of the initial teacher training. This lasts six weeks, with participants spending half the time studying and gaining teaching practice in the region they will be teaching in, and half the time studying alongside the whole national cohort on campus at University of Warwick.In the first year, participants undertake a 70% teaching commitment in school, during which they are supported by Teach First, their partner universities and school mentors in training to achieve Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) at the end of the year, as part of a postgraduate / professional graduate certificate in education (PGCE award).
Professional and subject tutors from regional universities work alongside mentors in schools to ensure participants meet the qualification standards. Teach First Leadership Development Officers, all of whom are qualified teachers, provide an additional layer of support.
While teaching, participants also undertake Master’s accredited supplemental leadership training, which is delivered by Teach First and university assessed. This equips participants with qualifications in ‘Leading Learning’, ‘Leading People’ and ‘Leading Organisations’.
Second year
Over the school summer holidays, between the first and second years, the participants are assisted in gaining internships with a variety of organisations in the public, private and non-profit sectors. With the participants having qualified as teachers, participants move to a full teaching timetable but continue to be supported by Teach First and its partner organisations to set ambitious goals for the achievement of the pupils in their classes and enhance their leadership skills. As a Newly Qualified TeacherNewly Qualified Teacher
Newly Qualified Teacher is a label attached to teachers in the United Kingdom who have been qualified for less than 12 months.-Origins:The term began to be used in the mid-1990s following the removal of the requirement for teachers to serve a probationary period in 1991 under the Education ...
, participants receive payment through the main pay scale, it is not uncommon for participants to begin above the base point (M1) or to receive management points for taking on additional responsibility in their school. Throughout the programme, participants aim to develop their leadership skills within their school context. This is supported by Teach First leadership training delivered in partnership with Imperial College Business School, Manchester Business School
Manchester Business School
Manchester Business School is the largest department of the University of Manchester in Manchester, England. According to Bloomberg Business Week's ranking of the world's best business schools the MBS MBA is ranked third in the world...
and many other corporate partners.
Ambassador programme
All participants who successfully complete the two-year programme – including leadership as well as teacher training elements - become Teach First Ambassadors.Teach First aims to empower, equip and mobilize all Ambassadors (alumni) to support the Teach First Mission by driving forward sustainable change in education from both inside and outside of the classroom. This is done through the following constituent parts of the Ambassador offer:
Teach On - A network of leadership development, training and support for our Ambassadors that remain in urban education.
Higher Education Access Programme for Schools - Opportunities for Ambassadors to support Gifted pupils from Teach First schools to progress to competitive universities.
Governance for change – Providing Ambassadors with leadership skill training whilst enabling them to maximize their long-term impact by serving on a school governing body.
Social Entrepreneurship Programme - Training, networking opportunities and mentoring for Ambassadors launching their own social ventures.
Policy First – Opportunities for Ambassadors to share insights on current education issues and help shape policy for the future.
Supporting Participants – Chances for Ambassadors to share their expertise and guidance with participants, helping to ensure that Teach First is built on a sustainable model.
Career Development – A series of tailored events and online resources to help support Ambassadors as they progress through their career.
On average since 2003, over 50% of Teach First Ambassadors stay in teaching beyond the two years and 67% of those placed since 2003 remain actively engaged with addressing educational disadvantage.
In 2008, Max Haimendorf, an '03 Ambassador of Teach First, was appointed Head teacher of the new King Solomon Academy in Westminster, sponsored by Ark. At 29 he was one of the UK's youngest head teachers.
Current situation
The Teach First scheme was based solely in London until September 2006 when it expanded its reach across England by placing students into Greater ManchesterGreater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
schools.
Following the award of an expansion grant from the DCSF in Summer 2008, and a massive increase in its fundraising targets from other sources, Teach First is now in schools in six regions - Greater London, East Midlands, West Midlands, the North West, the North East and Yorkshire and the Humber. This includes schools in London, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Derby, Leicester, Birmingham, Solihull, Coventry, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Newcastle, Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford, Doncaster and Wakefield.
In 2010, Teach First placed close to 600 graduates in teaching positions in 242 schools in challenging circumstances across England, making it the 4th largest recruiter of graduates in the UK. It hopes to place over 1,000 graduates by 2013 to reach over 300,000 pupils.
In response to requests from social entrepreneurs in several countries across the world who are inspired by the Teach For America and Teach First model and want to replicate it in their respective countries, Teach For America and Teach First collaborated on a project with the pro-bono assistance of a team from McKinsey & Company. Together they sought to understand the experiences of other international organizations, the needs of the entrepreneurs who were seeking assistance, and the enablers of impact in our model. The results of the study was the creation of Teach For All. Teach For All is a global network of independent social enterprises that are working to expand educational opportunity in their nation by enlisting the most promising future leaders in the effort. Teach For All is currently supporting initiatives in Argentina, Brazil (from 2011), Bulgaria (from 2011), China, Israel, Peru, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Australia, Chile, Lebanon, Germany, and India.
See also
- Noored KooliNoored KooliNoored Kooli is a solution to address the critical teacher shortage in Estonia, drawing inspiration from a similar scheme, Teach First, in the United Kingdom...
- Teach First DeutschlandTeach First DeutschlandTeach First Deutschland is a German non-profit organization started in 2008 and adapted from Teach For America and Teach First. It recruits exceptional graduates from across all subject areas and places them for two years in challenging German schools....
- Teach for AmericaTeach For AmericaTeach For America is an American non-profit organization that aims to eliminate educational inequity by enlisting the nation's most promising future leaders to teach for two or more years in low-income communities throughout the United States...
- Enseña Chile