Insight Participant Review

The Insight Programme provided 2 weeks of useful and varied activities which enabled me to improve on my own skills as well as develop opinions and thoughts about potential future careers. The most enjoyable part of the experience was meeting like-minded people from all over the country which allowed for interesting discussions.

Due to the Insight Programme increasing in size, they were a lot of participants so as expected, you weren't known individually by staff. However, this was not an issue as general talks given by Teach First and other companies, as well as lots of emails from Teach First, made everyone feel welcomed and valued.

As mentioned previously, there was a lot of contact between yourself and Teach First via email from the moment you were accepted onto the placement which continued throughout the programme. During the programme we were given useful booklets which helped guide and support us through the programme. Teach First were always helpful at answering any queries, not matter how small.

I feel like I learnt a lot about skills and personal development which will be very useful after my degree. By having 8 key competencies, Teach First make it very easy to understand how to further develop your skills by focusing on those competencies that are weaker. There is a lot of focus on self-evaluation which I found difficult at first but is a necessary skill to have. My personal development of Teach First competencies will help me when it comes to applying to other companies who may look for similar skills.

Both weeks were well structured and clearly timetabled. The first week in London was clear and easy to follow, although by the end of the week it became a little hard to listen to talk after talk. The second week was more dependent on the school you were in. Before I went to my school, I was given what looked like a well thought out timetable. However, when I arrived the timetable wasn't as organised as it had seemed due to lots of students being on study leave for GCSEs and lots of teachers not expecting us.

The general atmosphere was positive. Some days dragged more than others but I think that was just down to personal interest in the topic of that day. All the participants were happy and friend, as were staff. Although some tasks weren't that exciting, they were balanced out by ones that were really enjoyed by everyone.

I felt like Teach First invested a lot in their participants. Everyone was paid for two weeks whether they were going to progress to the LDP or not. Staff were encouraging and persuasive. Also, the two weeks were very well organised, it was clear a lot of time had also been invested into the Insight Programme by Teach First.

Teach First made it very clear what the Leadership Development Programme would be like. Most talks were given by past participants of the LDP so there were lots of opportunities to ask questions. Teach First appears to be a friendly, enthusiastic and successful company to work for. In the second week, other teachers made it clearer about other routes into teaching.

All staff were friendly and helpful which gave a positive overall impression of the company. Everyone seemed to be genuinely happy with their job which again gives a good impression. The success of the company is clear by their increase in participants on the LDP and the demand for their teachers by schools and other companies.

Very valuable - I had no idea what I wanted as a future career path. I enjoyed my two weeks but personally it showed me that I was more interested in the other opportunities Teach First provide to work with other companies. I'm not sure I could commit to two very intense years of teaching to then leave and do something else that I'd rather do straight after graduating.

It was an expensive two weeks due to travel and food. Travel varied for everyone with someone people spending substantially more than others. I was quite lucky with mine but it was still more than I had anticipated before joining the programme. Food was also expensive due to difficulty of self-catering in the accommodation provided. However, the £500 payment covered these expenses with a bit left over.

We were always able to talk to any of the companies or firms that came in to talk to us. There were also times set aside specifically for networking. There were networking events between participants and employees of companies. These were not always very clear so it was more about what you made of it individually.

The networking opportunities were good if you had questions or knew what you were interested in. I was not sure of what I could ask that would be useful to me or who to ask so I probably didn't make the most of the networking opportunities. It's down to yourself to make the most of it.

Yes, Teach First were very clear on extra opportunites they provide alongside the LDP. They often were repetitive on all these opportunities and activities as there are so many it is important for them to advertise it. For example the opportunity to gain a masters during the LDP or take part in summer activities for the rest of your life if you wanted.

Yes! I had no idea what I wanted to do after uni and had never really considered teaching. Teach First showed me that I probably could do that LDP if I really wanted to, but more importantly it taught me that I was more interested in the other opportunities. Therefore it is a useful programme for everyone, those that want to teach and even those that don't!