Teach First Insight Participant Review

It was really interesting and I definitely learned a lot but I'm not sure I would say that I enjoyed it - overall it was hard work and quite stressful at points.

There wasn't that much opportunity to get to know Teach First staff during the very short time at the placement. However they did try to get to know us each and were available to contact if we needed them.

There was plenty of support available although this was more from the school staff than the Teach First staff, so I would say this depended on the individual school which you were assigned to.

I really developed public speaking and presentation skills which I'm sure I will use lots in the future. There was also plenty of opportunity to develop team work skills and take the initiative.

It was quite well run but very little information was given to us about the structure of the programme prior to starting.

Everyone was very friendly and the atmosphere was good overall. It was good to meet people who were so passionate about the cause and the values of Teach First. Being based in Leeds and at a school in Sheffield, I felt that I really missed out on the socialising side and the comradery, whereas those based in Manchester ate evening meals together every night etc.

There was a lot of focus on personal development, reflection and evaluation. This was interesting but I would actually have preferred less! I would have liked more emphasis on practical training.

It was really useful to talk to people on the LDP working at the school, which gave a much more honest insight about the full time role than anyone we spoke to during training.

There was quite a lot of focus on the values of Teach First.

It made me realise that Teach First definitely isn't for me - which is still a valuable thing to learn from an insight programme!

Travel expenses were reimbursed. Teach First paid for accommodation and gave us vouchers for all meals which could be spent at several restaurants and supermarkets.

Our only Q&A session with company employees didn't work due to technological issues, however we did have the opportunity to talk to LDP ambassadors and other employees.

Very few networking opportunities were formally run so it was up to you to make the most of your chance to chat to people.

There were a number of opportunities to get involved in during our time at university and advice on who to get in touch with about these.

I did learn a lot and I think that the majority of people did enjoy the Insight programme. However, Teach First can be very disorganised and this led to quite a lot of stress over travel arrangements, accommodation arrangements, miscommunication with schools etc. I was shifted between regions three times prior to the placement, and one of these shifts was only a week before I was due to start which required some last minute changes of plans. The school I was working at was in Sheffield, the training was in Manchester and accommodation was in Leeds which seemed really nonsensical to me and resulted in a lot of extra time and money being spent on commuting. The hotel bookings were poorly done and I didn't have accommodation for one of the nights that I had requested it for. The school I worked in had received very little information about what the Insight programme was and had organised a timetable for us based on the assumption that we were already on the LDP so rearranging this was additional stress. Overall this has the potential to be a really good Insight programme. I definitely learned a lot, but the disorganisation of Teach First let the whole thing down. This actually put me off working for Teach First as a career opportunity and I now know I definitely won't be applying for the LDP. Hopefully Teach First can improve this placement for future years.