Insight Programme Review

I thoroughly enjoyed the insight - we were well trained for a week at a conference centre in London, although the hours were often long. After this week we then travelled together to our respective area in the UK. I was placed in Bolton and enjoyed spending the weekend exploring the local area. We stayed as our team of six together in the hotel and enjoyed eating together and getting to know each other over the course of the two weeks.

I felt extremely valued by the firm - Teach First were always so helpful when I had any queries and always made sure that my questions were answered. They ensured that our whole experience ran smoothly and that we had no issues, especially when travelling across the country. They looked after us well and ensured that the session that we attended were engaging and exciting.

Teach First communicated especially well with us from the beginning through to the end of the insight and after. We always knew what we needed to do and what was expected of us. I was always sure what I had to have ready and felt thoroughly prepared for my placement. They kept in touch with us over the course of our week placement and ensured that everything was running smoothly and going well at our placement school.

Learning to teach a class of year three students has definitely strengthened my confidence and my ability to communicate to different audiences. We were thrown in at the deep end, but not once did I think that I couldn't do this. I learnt how to present to an audience and how to control a group of extremely self-minded children!

The insight was well structured, there were things planned each day and we always knew what to expect on the day. Everything was well timed and clearly laid out such that we could plan exactly what was to come up that day. I felt that the placement week was the appropriate amount of time.

The general atmosphere was good - each person seemed as though they wanted to be there, however at times during the training, the hours were often long and some tasks seemed monotonous but when we were on placement, we realised the value of these. I think that each person felt as though they learned a lot and everybody was always pleasant and willing towards one another.

We had a week long training session which covering everything from lesson planning to personal development sessions. As well as the programme training we also had various talks from external companies, about how we could be involved and give back to the community following completion of the insight programme. The company took a lot of time to carefully plan sessions and to ensure that we made the most out of the insight experience.

The role is different to any other it was teaching on the job. We were given the responsibility of looking after the class of students, just as we would if we were a full time teacher on the programme. We had to plan lessons independently and present these to the students, trying to engage them and achieve the lesson objectives that we had set. It was definitely challenging and I believe gives the best insight to a full time role at Teach First.

I gained a great insight into the charity and the change that they are helping to generate in the community. It aligned clearly with the values that they put across so clearly in their website and reaffirmed my believe in the company. I felt that each of the talks were carefully planned and executed such that they aligned clearly with the company and truly wanted you to be a part of this fantastic charity and the change that they are creating.

Both the training and the teaching experience itself helped me to decide on my future career. Although I decided not go down the teaching career route, it did inspire me to volunteer at the local organisations that Teach First run in and are helping to generate change with in the community. The skills that I walked away with from the programme and the experiences that I gained will stay with me forever into my working life, although this is not in teaching.

We were plaid a flat amount of £500 and were expected to pay for travel etc out of this payment. This was strange for some people who had to travel further, so naturally had to pay more for their travel. The £500 was essentially to cover living costs etc. for the week and to ensure that we had enough money to travel. The £500 was extremely generous and was more than enough. They paid for our accommodation so we just had to pay for our own travel and food each day.

They hosted a drinks event to network both with the other students on the course but also with alumni of the programme. We had the chance to meet with other students who weren't necessarily in our group, but especially after the experience we were all able to meet together and to share our thoughts of the past two weeks. There could possibly be more room for networking events on future insight programmes.

There was a good chance to network with one another especially as we were all in the same accommodation. We were able to have breakfast together and often walked with one another to the training each day. From this aspect it was nice, and we were able to mix with one another, however there wasn't too much contact with the Teach First team running the training. I believe that there could have possibly been some networking events organised in the evenings.

We found out about the activities available to employees not only during the graduate programme but also following this. We heard from alumni who were now working at big banks, financial firms, oil and gas companies and who had also gone on to set up their own social enterprises. We also heard about their experiences during the programme and the various clubs for example that they set up during their time at the school.

I would 100% recommend this insight to a friend. Even if you are not interested in a career in teaching, the experience is unparalleled by anything that I have done before and it definitely helped to strengthen my confidence, planning and communication skills. Not only did I develop a lot personally, but I interacted with a great group of like minded individuals for the course of the two weeks.