Insight Participant Review

The Insight Programme is engaging and enjoyable. The training sessions get everyone involved and the speakers share personal experiences and motivations.

Everyone is extremely supportive and encourages you to share your experience. Furthermore, you feel your experiences are valued and your skills are appreciated every step of the way.

Most of us were particularly worries about teaching a lesson at the start of the program, but the training sessions targeted every potential issue and questions were always welcome, therefore by the time you walk into the classroom you feel confident and well prepared.

The skills I developed will be of great use regardless of my career choice or future studies. I particularly enjoyed developing my organising skills and planning ability, which will definitely help me in my studies and future career.

The programme was extremely well stuctured. We received a clear timetable braking down each day and it was followed accordingly.

During the first week the atmosphere was very friendly and fairly relaxed. During the second week, the school I was placed in had a very tight schedule and I felt the atmosphere was slightly too serious, however different schools will have very different schedules so this did not discourage me from applying for the Leadership Development programme.

The company gave us all the support we needed, there were at least 5 speakers coming in every day and I felt our development was their priority throughout. The hotels we stayed in were very nice and clean as well, and refreshments were provided on a daily basis. The building booked for this training was in a convenient location and there was plenty of space for all of us.

The Insight Programme was a snapshot of what being on the Leadership Deveopment programme would be like. We were treated like part of the company and I believe it gave me a clear idea of what it would be like to work there after university. A great deal of information was given about the daily activities of a teacher.

The company culture was spoken about almost in every session and we were encouraged to discuss it from different angles throughout the internship. Insight is a great way to expand your knowledge about the company culture and have the unfamiliar concepts explained to you by professionals.

The content was clear and on topic. I think the other options of how you can qualify as a teacher should be spoken about more, as some of the participants might wish to follow the career but might think about different ways to do so. At the same time, much of the process is similar and the work is almost the same so it still gives you a good idea of what the job is like, regardless of the specific route to qualifying.

I was paid at the end of the programme. All expenses were paid by the company in advance.

There were many opportunities for networking, students organised different events after the training sessions but the company also organised a networking event and questions-and-answers sessions for us to meet other people in the company. Everyone was friendly and open, I found it easy to start a conversation and I found that all the conversations I've had with the people from the company were extremely useful.

The opportunities were great to take advantage of as there were many nice people to speak to and particularly employees from the company were happy to speak about any aspect of the job. The atmosphere was very relaxed and I particularly enjoyed the fact that the presenters were happy to stop during the presentation if someone had a question about the topic.

We had a round of three sessions from other companies Teach First works with and they were very helpful in understanding other opportunities we could get involved in.

I would definitely recommend this to my friends, I have in fact already suggested it to some friends who are planning to get involved next year.