Teach First (Maths probably)

[SandyIrving]

Interested in you or your DCs experiences - good, bad or indifferent. My youngest considering for post graduation.

Hi, @SandyIrving

A former student of DH did Teach First specialising in Maths. I remember because I was looking at Teach First STEM teachers for something at the time.

He said she popped by once a few years later to say hello. Things were fine at that point. However she felt that Teach First recruited brilliantly, then left a lot to be desired in terms of training and initial support. The camaraderie was good, though.

Not great for me. I dropped out and did a proper PGCE instead.
A few weeks summer school does not prepare you for teaching on your own.
I’m no longer in teaching at all.

Thank you. Retention rates looked terrible 40% compared to 60-70%. Definitely seeing the big effort on recruitment.

Anyone else?

DD had three friends who did this. It was highly successful for one who continues to have a successful teaching career that they love. The other two hated it and found it very stressful; one became a teacher and enjoys it but regretted not doing the traditional PGCE and the other stuck out the year but did not continue in education. We know several youngsters who have become teachers by working in schools and being supported by their school ; this seems to have worked well.

Teach First is brilliant for other jobs. Big 4 specifically recruit from it. It’s great to get into finance and consulting.

I started with teach first. Pulled out as they tried to move me 90 mins away from home. Prior to that, they asked if I would relocate to the other side of the country.

May work for some, didn’t for me.

If he's going to train in maths, do the PGCE and claim the tax-free bursary instead.

Teach First drops you in at the deep end and sees if you can swim.

If they have no previous experience of working with young people they will find it very hard.

Has a little experience as does sports coaching (2 hours per week for last 3 years with 8-16 year olds - manages entire group of 15 or so). Did a bit of maths tutoring in 6th year too. Who knows whether she'll cope. I had 2 good friends who went into teaching and would never have predicted the one that stayed.

To be honest she's not going to have a load of options on graduation in any case (not STEM degree but enough maths to teach up to GCSE).

My humanities grad DD was apparently under qualified to teach any of the 3 subjects within her degree or anything closely aligned. They were quite happy to push her down the maths stream with a grade A A level. She decided not to take it any further

@Dearover similar situation for my social sciences grad. Good A level equivalent in maths plus a few maths/stats modules in her degree so Teach First pushing her towards maths. Would only be eligible to teach one subject (not maths) in our area and places very competitive for that subject so unlikely to get a place locally (other degrees a better fit).

I am really not an expert but the alternative used to be an educaiton authority organised programme of teacher training within schools, known as School-Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT).

Wandsworth was the first to introduce it three or more decades back, as they faced a shortage of teachers yet knew they had a number of graduate mums seeking jobs that fitted around school hours and did not want to drop everything to go back to college. Wandsworth now only seem to offer it for primary schools, but the approach has since been adopted elsewhere. And it looks as if as from September 2024 Teach First is looking for partner schools to deliver SCITTs using experience from their own training programme.

One example here, though there will be more.

https://www.lincolnshirescitt.co.uk/#:~:text=Lincolnshire%20SCITT%20offers%20school%20centred,life%20chances%20of%20young%20people.

My (very second hand) understanding is that it can suit both graduates wanting to start work/earning and other people not wanting to spend another year as a student. Training blocks helped provide support from peers in neighbouring schools going through the same experience, whilst presumably dependent on school, could be very supportive.

Further Googling found this https://nmapscitt.org.uk/why-train-with-us/
Note bursaries and scholarships are available.

This!! Big £££ available for trainee maths teachers

Get her to look into a SCITT instead

Most will combine with a PGCE, it's based in a school like Teach First, however the school/ academy runs the scheme themselves. So she'll be in the classroom from day 1 but will have time to study. Maths is a shortage subject so there will be bursaries, and once she starts her ECT there might be additional payments to encourage her to stay - my DH got a rebate for some of his loan year 1 and year 2 there was something else he applied for. This was only a couple of years ago.

The two peers of DC who went into teaching have done exceptionally well. Both STEM, both COWI, then one did SCITT whilst the other did a traditional PGSE. Interestingly both started volunteering/tutoring in schools (one was at a school that had a mentorship programme with local primary schools, the other earned money as a tutor) quite early on in secondary school and retained a volunteer engagement with schools through University, so knew they wanted to teach. Both were then interviewed for Head of Department roles whilst still in their mid 20s. Too early probably, but there is a STEM teacher shortage. One got the job, the other was runner up but was given some useful career progression (running a sixth form maths G&T programme across the consortium.)

Both will be earning good money, and outside London this can go a long way.

NOOOOOOO! PGCE with tax free bursary if you want to be supported on the first steps of your teaching career.

https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/landing/how-to-fund-your-teacher-training?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw2dG1BhB4EiwA998cqCE1xVWH2IoXiXAOWEu320gy1CZtAKMZ-7UKQwHCwqjViBqOVtzDchoCy2IQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Update. I showed her the thread but it didn't put her off TeachFirst. She applied, had her assessment centre last week and got an offer today. Felt recruitment process was straightforward and quick. Plus offer rate huge (compared to other jobs she's been looking at)

It might work for her, @SandyIrving . Worst case, Teach First seems to be a great credential for some other good career pathways

Best wishes to DD

@poetryandwine my DH said the same.

Of my 3 she was the one who stuck with her McDs job longest, so will give TeachFirst a good go. Plus she has strong social consciousness.