STEM Online Teaching Course Review

I really enjoyed the virtual experience and felt like it was a great opportunity to get an insight into teaching, learn essential skills and techniques and get experience using them. The teaching course had two parts, online learning and live learning over Zoom. Both parts were really interesting and well conducted. The staff delivering the live sessions were friendly and knowledgeable. In addition, there was opportunity to mingle with other students on the course and be assessed for the Teach First training programme.

Perhaps this question is somewhat less applicable since this was an online training course rather than an in-person internship. However, Teach First did try their best to support our development even in this online format. They gave us feedback from our Development Centre, for example, to guide what competencies we should try to work on during the online course and to further our development towards becoming teachers. They also thought to include some kind of social element to the online course which was a nice addition.

Teach First arranged a welcome webinar/ onboarding call to get us ready for the virtual experience and provide an opportunity to ask questions. During the live sessions we were given some feedback on practice lessons we were delivering. But otherwise, most of the learning was self-directed. There were some chances to ask questions during the teaching but most of the sessions were running to a tight schedule. I think more support in learning could have been given.

I don't think the things I learnt on this course will help me much with my university degree but they will definitely be of use to me should I decide I want to go into teaching. I truly believe this teacher training course will have given me a good head start, having learnt some important skills and techniques, if I decide to get a teaching qualification after graduating or if I decide to take part in the Teach First training programme.

The virtual experience was definitely well structured. The online pre-work module was very informative and laid a groundwork for the material covered and reinforced during the live Zoom sessions. The sessions followed on from each other in a way that made sense and they mainly ran on schedule. The final day assessment was a little chaotic but I cannot fault the schedule, just the inevitable technical issues that are to come with any live online event.

The atmosphere was great. The live sessions began with a lively icebreaker and this set the tone for the rest of the event. The Teach First employees and ambassadors delivering the sessions were friendly and professional, and all of them presented engaging sessions. Attempts were made to allow networking and socialising as well as learning, which was really nice. There was a quiz on the first night, for example, and a STEM debate on the last night.

The STEM online teaching course was very focused on our personal development. The written part of the course contained an entire unit based on our development: identifying what we wanted to gain from the online course and what we needed to work on from our Development Centre. The live online sessions featured opportunities for deliberate practice, to try out some of the techniques we had learned about. There was some feedback given by the Teach First trainers on our performance but overall not much individual instruction or guidance.

I left the course with some idea what it would be like to be employed as a trainee with Teach First, definitely more of an idea than I had going in. On the first day, there was a panel with Teach First ambassadors who told their story and their experience of the Teach First training programme. This was a good chance to ask questions and hear first hand of what it would be like. We were told that the things we were learning in the online course were reflective of what would be covered in the Summer Institute.

There was a unit in the online learning module about Teach First's mission and what they do. This gave a good insight into why Teach First exist and what they are all about: creating a fairer education for all. The online training course included many chances for self-reflection and self-evaluation and we were told that these are important qualities and things we would engage in a lot if we were to do the Teach First training programme.

I learnt many useful skills and techniques, was given plenty of advice and was provided with opportunities to practise teaching during the course. This gave me some insight into whether I could be teacher and what it would be like to train to be a teacher under Teach First. However, the course did not fully help me decide whether I want to go into teaching because it is hard to know exactly what teaching would be like without actually going into a school and interacting with children.

During the course of the three days, I came across a number of Teach First employees, from various levels across the organisation. There was not enough time to talk to all of them but certainly we were fairly well acquainted with the insights team by the end of the three days. Teach First also organised a panel of ambassadors who had/ were taking part in the training programme. This was a nice chance to get to hear their stories and ask questions, and a couple of them provided their contact details.

The networking and social event opportunities were adequate. At the start of the course, there was a short icebreaker session to get talking to other participants. We were allowed the chance to talk to other participants over lunch break too. There was not much chance to network with Teach First employees but we did get to meet and hear from quite a few. There was a quiz and a debate which both acted as social events. They were reasonably enjoyable.

There was not much mention of the activities that Teach First employees can get involved in outside work. There was some mention of volunteering opportunities but I didn't really get a clear understanding of what these were. We were also told about other career opportunities that can be attained through participation in Teach First due to their many partner companies nad becoming a part of their network of ambassadors but not huge detail was given here.

I would definitely recommend the Teach First STEM online teaching course to anyone who is studying a STEM subject at university and is even slightly interested in becoming a teacher. The course gives you a fantastic overview of what makes a good teacher and teaches you how to plan an effective lesson as well as opening up your mind to other things such as educational inequality, child safeguarding and the lack of people in STEM careers.