Teach First

The overview

Teach First has a phenomenally high-profile in the world of graduate recruitment as it touches all the buttons that modern governments like and reflects well upon the graduate recruitment profession itself. It combines public service with social enterprise and has the backing of some of the biggest-name corporate recruiters. It’s about high-achieving graduates helping underachieving kids and grooming philanthropic, socially responsible future business leaders and state officials in the process. If you’re Secretary of State for Education what isn’t there to like about the scheme?

Ambassadors for change

It’s about internalising a sense of injustice, and continuing to do something at whatever stage you get to in your life.

The organisation is a registered charity whose stated aim is to provide high-quality teaching in particularly difficult schools. It does not employ graduates directly, but acts like a recruitment agency; finding vacancies at schools for participants. It also places an emphasis on turning graduates into leaders, whether they continue working in education or not. According to Teach First, two-thirds of its ‘ambassadors’ as they are called, remain in teaching to some level; of the other third, some have deferred entry schemes with PwC, Goldman Sachs, Accenture, P&G or the Civil Service.

Passionate

The people who run Teach First are very passionate about their aim, which is nothing less than changing society. In the UK, 96% of students from private school go to university versus 16% of children who have free school meals. ‘We’re here because we’re trying to fix this problem and eradicate that link between parental income and educational success,’ says James Darley, director of graduate recruitment for Teach First.

Ex-McKinsey

The organisation was established in 2002 by business consultants who left their firm, McKinsey & Company, after compiling a report about what businesses could do to improve education. Since it was established, its intake has risen from 186 in 2003 to 772 in the summer of 2011.

If you’re Secretary of State for Education what isn’t there to like about the scheme?

It gives its participants the chance to get into classrooms sooner rather than later, and receive the appropriate training as they go along. While graduates still study towards the PGCE (postgraduate certificate of education), training is more industry-based than the traditional teacher-training route.

And the hope is to achieve some kind of personal change within the individual that will help lift future generations out of underachievement – whether the graduate stays as teacher or becomes a judge, politician or head of business.

Awards and achievements

• Founder Brett Wigdortz was named Ernst and Young’s social entrepreneur of the year in 2007.
• Ranked 3 in Guardian UK300 in 2011
• In both 2010 and 2011, Teach First ranked 7 in the Times Top 100 graduate employers.
• In 2011, Ofsted gave Teach First an ‘outstanding’ in all 44 areas of teacher training.

Salary and benefits

Starting salaries and benefits vary according to the school participants work for and its location.

Salaries can be anything from £17,657 up to 21,731, with higher rates in those areas with higher costs of living. Salaries increase significantly after the first year has been completed and Newly Qualified Teacher (NQT) status has been achieved.

Other benefits include:

• 13 weeks’ holiday per year
• Teacher’s pension
• Additional training options
• Leadership development opportunities
• The option to do a sponsored masters degree – further details in 'careers and training'
• Links to the alumni ‘ambassadors’ (former participants) network
• Possibility of doing summer industrial placements.

Teach, then work for a blue-chip organisation

Guarantee money for your future – after guaranteeing your soul for life.

In addition, Teach First has built links with a number of organisations that have graduate schemes aimed at participants. Graduates can apply for both these separate schemes and Teach First, and defer entry on the former for two years. Companies involved include:

• Accenture – management and technology consulting
• Barclay’s Capital – investment banking
• Public Sector – Civil Service Fast Stream
• PricewaterhouseCooper – professional services
• Procter & Gamble – fast-moving consumer goods.

Culture and values

Teach First is not a direct employer of graduates, and the working culture that graduates experience depends on the school they are deployed in. The one constant, however, is that the organisation selects those schools which really need help. One criterion for partnership is based on the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI) and another is based on schools with the lowest attainment of A*–C GCSEs.

Teach First’s five official ‘values’ for itself and its members are:

• Collaboration – considering different perspectives and including individuals
• Commitment – dedication even in adverse conditions
• Excellence – not accepting mediocrity, encouraging development
• Integrity – behaving with respect, accepting your own failures and acting responsibly
• Leadership – providing a positive role model for pupils and the wider community.

One of the charity’s central aims is to have a greater impact on the communities it works in. This is one of the reasons why it keeps in contact with its ‘ambassadors’ (former participants), even if they do not go on to work in teaching.