STEM Internship Review

The virtual experience was really enjoyable for me. It was a 3 day STEM teaching experience which involved learning about teaching techniques and practicing them with my peers. I also learned a lot about educational equality between advantaged and disadvantaged children and how Covid has reversed a lot of the progress in narrowing the gap. The experience was supposed to be in person and was quickly adapted to being online which I think they did really successfully. Through the use of breakout rooms and socials, I still felt part of an experience and could discuss ideas with my peers.

Despite the course only being 3 days long, I felt like I was really valued by the company. They invested a lot of time and resources into not only teaching us but also making sure all of my questions were answered and they were very transparent with their answers. They did this through an Ambassador Panel where we could ask current teachers about their experiences. The only improvement I would suggest is more Q and A and social time so we were all listened to which I understand was difficult in such a big group online.

The guidance and support I received during the experience was second to none. Teach First focuses on self-reflection and feedback and are always encouraging you to work on your personal development. A few days before the placement started, I was emailed my feedback from my interview and told which areas I needed to work on to do well in my assessment. This allowed me to improve these skills and focus on demonstrating them at the assessment day at the end of the experience. Also, after each step of the assessment, they gave me feedback to allow me to work on this and improve for the next step.

My confidence really developed during this course as I had to present several teaching episodes to my peers and assessors who gave me feedback and then allowed me to present again, taking the improvements into account. I will take this back to my degree course when I have to do presentations to my peers. I also really developed my skills with quick and efficient note-taking and working. Often, they gave us half an hour/an hour to produce something to present so I had to work quickly to meet deadlines which will really help me in my course.

The virtual experience was structured really well. When I applied, the course was supposed to be in person in a school. Due to the current circumstances, the course had to be changed to online. I think they adapted it to an online experience really well. Unfortunately, we couldn't teach children as they weren't at school but they replicated this really well by having assessors who were in the role as students and teaching to peers who were in the role of students. The course was very intense but structured well.

The atmosphere was very positive during the experience. It was really good to be in a group of like-minded individuals who were all passionate about the same thing. The experience was definitely hard work but the socials and debates we did, gave us the opportunity to relax and enjoy as well. The staff were very welcoming and made us feel like we were part of their team ad really valued our opinions. I would highly recommend it.

The company were really invested in my development. Before the experience started, they sent me feedback from the development centre (interview) I attended. They suggested which areas of their competencies that they think I should develop and try to demonstrate during the virtual experience. Also, after each step of the course, they gave me feedback and got me to self-reflect on it and apply the feedback to the next stage. I feel like my personal development was important to them.

The experience helped me understand what a full time role would be like with Teach First. They did this by talking us through the Teacher Training Programme along with giving us time to speak to people on the training programme. I perhaps would have liked even more information on what the full time teacher training programme is like as this virtual experience could give you a fast track too a graduate role with them. The Q and A session could have been longer too and information about a typical day.

At the start of the experience, in the pre-work, I was giving lots of information about Teach First's mission, which is tackling educational inequality. It really opened my eyes to this issue and inspired me to want to train to be a teacher with this charity. There was also a session in the experience about education inequality to reinforce Teach First's mission and a debate section to discuss issues in the sector. They also continually spoke about the importance of hard work and resilience in this sector.

The content was extremely useful in helping me decide what i want to do after I graduate. Before I started the course, I was unsure about my future. I was thinking about teaching but I wasn't completely sure. Now, I really want to pursue a career in secondary teaching. The course was really inspiring but also they let us know that this STEM internship can give us a fasttrack to the graduate programme which inspired me to do well even more.

The course was originally supposed to be paid but as it changed to an online course I can understand why it was no longer a paid internship.

There were a few opportunities for socialising during the course. Firstly, we went into breakout rooms on Zoom to work together. We also did a quiz one evening organised by Teach First which was fun. There was also a Facebook group we were encouraged to join to talk and share opportunities for volunteering. However, I think the course may have benefited from time to just chat in breakout rooms and introduce ourselves over a coffee perhaps

They discussed volunteering events with us both in a final year of study and during the Training Programme if I received an offer for it.

I would highly recommend this experience to a friend. Its a great experience and a good taster of what teaching is like while being a potential step-up into a graduate job.