Teach First
[6] Trainees are placed at participating primary and secondary schools where they commit to stay for the duration of the 2-year training programme.
Eligible schools are those where more than half of the pupils come from the poorest 30% of families according to the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index.
[12] In June 2020 Teach First failed to provide places on its programme to 120 trainees due to lack of training opportunities because of COVID-19, sending out a generic email.
It confirmed the link between poverty and educational outcomes and noted that the proportion of pupils on Free school meals in inner London was three times the national average.
The number of excellent teachers was, they reported, one of the strongest predictors of improved pupil performance, especially in challenging schools.
[15] Building on the experience of Teach for America (which had been formed in 1990) McKinsey & Co. proposed creating a programme to recruit and train the best and brightest graduates and place them in London's disadvantaged and underperforming schools.
One of the consultants involved in compiling the report, Brett Wigdortz, set about developing a business plan for a Teach for America style enterprise in London.
[17] To be eligible to apply to the Teach First Leadership Development Programme candidates need to have: The recruitment process begins by registering interest and then submitting an online application (within 12 weeks).
If the online application is successful, candidates are invited to attend a one-day assessment centre consisting of a competency-based interview, a group case study exercise and the delivery of a sample teaching lesson.
[6] Eligible schools are those where more than half of the pupils come from the poorest 30% of families according to the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index.
Participants spend time training in the region in which they will teach, usually with an observation period in the school they will join after the summer.
For example, participants have access to qualified teacher-led training sessions to provide them with tools and strategies they can apply in their classrooms.
Participants also have the opportunity to apply to undertake a one-three week mini-internship during the school holidays – known as a Summer Project.
These provide an opportunity to join one of Teach First's supporting or partner organisations to complete or contribute to a short-term goal or objective.
[32][33] The Teach First model has also been applied in other areas of public sector recruitment with Frontline for children's social work, Think Ahead for mental-health social work, Police Now a two-year graduate leadership programme of the Metropolitan Police, and Unlocked Graduates for prison officers.
[36] Seventeen of these are recognised as official 'Innovation Partners' including The Access Project, Boromi, The Brilliant Club, CPDBee, The Difference, Enabling Enterprise, First Story, Franklin Scholars, Frontline, Future Frontiers, The Grub Club, Hackney Pirates, Jamie's Farm, Maths with Parents, MeeTwo, Right to Succeed and Thinking Reading.
[48] The Teach First model whereby teachers enter the classroom after only a six-week summer camp can leave recruits feeling their in-class levels of support as variable.
[53] In 2017 the Journalist and director of the New Schools Network, Toby Young, attended a social mobility summit hosted by Teach First, who asked him to write a blog for them.
[54] Teach First then decided that they were in error to publish the blog, even with a rebuttal, and removed it as being against their values and vision,[54] stating that they did not want to act as a platform for the views contained therein.
[54] Toby Young claimed that he only found out about this decision via Twitter, and questioned why Teach First published it in the first place, stating that he felt as though he had been censored by the charity.
