Top university graduates put Teaching First
Mar 12 2009 by Tony Collins, Birmingham Post
A hand-picked crop of top university graduates is being specially head-hunted to help schools in challenging circumstances to succeed. Education Correspondent Tony Collins went to one secondary school in Birmingham to see what impact recruits to the Teach First education charity are having.
The International School in Tile Cross is a firm believer in the Teach First programme. Why else would it have ten participants in the project currently working to help raise the attainment of its pupils?
Based on a successful Teach For America model on the other side of the Atlantic, Teach First has been operating in the UK since 2002 with the support of the business community, teaching profession, the Government and opposition parties, and the Training and Development Agency for Schools.
Many of the 17,000 recruits in America have gone on to become successful lawyers, senate leaders, engineers, consultants and bankers, as well as teachers, since the scheme began almost 20 years ago.
And it is this approach in offering university students with a career choice they may not have previously considered that sets Teach First apart.
The charity, which currently has its regional base at the Sandwell Academy in West Bromwich, aims to address educational disadvantage in challenging schools by transforming exceptional graduates into effective, inspirational teachers and leaders.
Robert Lundin, Teach First’s Midlands regional director, said they began with 47 participants in the Midlands two years ago, followed by 60 last year, and this year will place 135 teachers, including 85 in the West Midlands at schools in Birmingham, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall, Wolverhampton and Coventry.
“We started nationally six years ago with around 170 placements and have more than trebled in size since then, and now have an organisational goal to reach 850 a year by 2013,” Mr Lundin said.
So what makes for a challenging school? Mr Lundin explains: “The criteria for what is a challenging school is 30 per cent or higher free school meals, or 25 per cent or less five or more GCSE A*-C grades including English and maths.
“We choose schools that have the most challenging circumstances and where we can make the greatest impact.
“We are pulling some of the top graduates in the country but they also have to exhibit a set of core skills. These range from leadership, knowledge and planning to resilience, problem-solving and humility.
“Participants are free to go into industry after two years but about 50 per cent stay on in teaching after they complete the programme. But our alumni continue as our ambassadors.”
Upon being accepted to the Teach First programme, the graduates will complete their final year at university. They then go on a six-week summer programme, three spent in the Midlands working with one of five local universities, and three on a course in Canterbury. The universities of Nottingham, Birmingham City, Wolverhampton, Worcester and Newman College University in Bartley Green help with their first introduction to school, and carry on that support in their placement.
Participants will obtain a teaching qualification by the end of the first year, and can then pursue their own personal development or a leadership position within the school.
“The key for them is to make the maximum contribution to the school and make a difference in the lives of the children in those schools, ” Mr Lundin says.
