Teach First Insight Participant Review

Thoroughly enjoyed my time on the Insight programme, both the time with Teach First and in the school were valuable as well as enjoyable. The only downside was the commuting, but that was expected.

We were treated equally with the staff in both the school and Teach First and I felt like my contributions as an Insight participant were valued. Both groups provided a very warm welcome.

Great support throughout. Teach First did their best to provide support both as a group and individually - any help needed was provided, and anything that couldn't be answered right away was followed up. The teacher we were linked with at the school put a lot of time into us, providing feedback on lessons and lesson plans as well as chatting with us about Teach First, education in general and anything else we wanted to know. The department as a whole were very helpful, and we were given email addresses for further support after finishing at the school.

The skills developed were valuable for progression to the Leadership Development Programme and teaching in general. Having the chance to plan and deliver lessons before beginning teaching is a great opportunity to see if it is right for you as well as being able to evaluate your skill set and receive feedback at a very early stage. The time spent with Teach First really helped to establish what they are looking for in applicants, why they are looking for the competencies and what kinds of things show these. This is a helpful insight for job applications and careers in general. The skills that progressed the most for me were leadership, communication and problem-solving - valuable skills in all areas of life.

Personally, I think the programme was well structured on the Teach First side, having being provided with timetables that show what the sessions will be on as well as what competencies they will help - it's useful to have the sessions directly linked to competencies to refer to for application and interview preparation. The school I was linked to were great, with a structured timetable of activities planned in advanced that went as planned. The only downside to the structure was the variability with the school time for participants - some schools seemed great whereas others seemed not so organised.

The people were lovely. Lively, enthusiastic atmosphere.

A lot of time and effort was put into us as Insight participants. The staff from both Teach First and the school were genuinely enthusiastic and helpful.

We heard a lot about the backgrounds and personal experiences of the Teach First staff, both positive and negative. The staff at the school were also honest and realistic when talking about life as a full-time teacher.

I was able to get a good feel for Teach First as an organisation in terms of its values and people. There were a variety of Teach First staff present throughout the week in differing roles which gave us the opportunity to gather different perspectives and ask questions to the different roles i.e. graduate recruiters, regional managers and staff that worked for Teach First on a national level.

I was already set on teaching, but it gave me a good insight into the Teach First training route. The information and support provided throughout will be very useful for assessment centre.

Any travel expenses and accommodation costs were covered. They were generous when it came to covering food costs, with voucher booklets being given out to cover breakfast, lunch and dinner for those that needed accommodation whilst lunch was covered for those living locally.

There were a variety of staff present throughout the time and we got to meet people working for the company in different roles, including teachers currently completing the programme. There was enough time during the day to talk to the staff more outside of the sessions.

There weren't any dedicated networking or social events, but we did get to develop links with the staff throughout the time.

We were told more information on other undergraduate opportunities we could get involved in, as well as projects and activities the Teach First staff take part in outside of work.

Definitely - valuable experience.