Insight Classroom Teacher Review

I signed up with the understanding that the placement was about getting teaching experience, whereas the majority of our time was spent learning about the company and some fairly dubious theories of learning. The techniques they taught us for use in the classroom were useful though.

After the first day at the lovely Teach First HQ on the riverbank, we were shipped out to a cold, plain room where we were lectured about the company and teaching generally. For 4 or 5 days. In some cases the talks were extremely patronising, in others they were very informative although the presentation often left something to be desired. That said, the hostel provided for us was nice, and the people in charge of the program were very welcoming. Valued would be the wrong word, but we weren't working for the company so there's no particular reason we would be. At the school we taught at for four days, the teachers were mostly very welcoming, although I did feel that we were seen as more of a minor nuisance than valuable assets, not unreasonably.

We were given a lot of support when the head of the program was around, much less so when he was not, which was not infrequent as he often went to visit the other group in Manchester. For example, we were asked to submit our applications for the program at a specific time from the room we were being lectured in, but there was no Wi-Fi and the dongle that one of the organisers had brought along was obviously and foreseeably unable to cope with 25 people trying to access the network at once. After it crashed, those of us who had been unable to submit their applications were given no help or advice, eventually having to walk down the road to a coffee shop with free internet access. We were also not given any useful information or guidance on what the children we were due to teach should be learning about, or what sort of level we should pitch our lessons at, but this was certainly the fault of the school we went to, not the Teach First organisers, and this was not the case for the other groups. By contrast, the man in charge of the program spent half an hour in the pouring rain trying to help us navigate to our hostel and longer making sure that everything there was in order, so he was very helpful and supportive.

I learnt little that I didn't already know, and what I was told that I hadn't heard before, I frequently disagreed with (for instance the social theories of learning - apparently supported by unspecified 'studies'). Learning about the organisation was the primary goal of the program it seems, and clearly this will be of absolutely no use to me whatsoever, in my degree studies or otherwise.

It was organised well and there was little time spent idle, but being lectured for five or six hours at a time does not make for an enjoyable experience and I thought that the initial, learning part of the program was far too long, while the part spent teaching or in the school was far too short. In 10 days I spent four and a half hours teaching - under 5% of the total time I spent on the program was spent teaching, which is frankly embarrassing. This was the same for the other groups. Reading the website, you might be left with the impression that teaching constitutes the largest part of the program. Not so.

The atmosphere was excellent among the participants. If you are going to go on this program, I would absolutely recommend staying at the hostel as opposed to finding your own accommodation since we had a great time there and the other people on the program were fantastic. Getting to know them was the best thing about the program. Some of the organisers were extremely patronising, but others were brilliant so when we weren't being lectured the atmosphere was superb.

Lectures on how to subscribe to the Teach First vision of a good teacher. Feedback after the assessment centre.

Being in the classroom was useful, but spending so little time there was frustrating. Without being given a syllabus to teach, it was also difficult to gauge what it would be like being a full time teacher. Teaching in groups of five (!) also made it impossible to understand what it would be like handling and teaching a class on your own.

Very helpful.

Not very.

Reimbursed expenses of up to £10 a day for food. Classroom expenses could be claimed back separately. Given a two week travel card that would cover the length of the program.

We met two teachers at the school in passing, and met several members of the company during the learning sessions, with plenty of opportunities to ask questions.

These did not exist, but it was only a 10 day program and entry to Teach First is determined by the assessment centre, not on networking so this was not unexpected.

Hopefully whatever they want.

No, I would not. It was a waste of time since I didn't feel like I learnt almost anything of value from the first six days that I could not have got off the teach first website and what I did learn I was unable to put into practice since we were only able to teach three lessons and those were shared between five of us.