Teach First Insight Participant Review

It was a thoroughly enjoyable and informative experience, it taught me a lot about teaching as a profession as well as the charity Teach First while being a great opportunity to meet other people with similar passions (teaching STEM) and get some work experience in a school.

Everyone was really friendly and welcoming, both Teach First employees and staff at both schools that I visited.

The Teach First contacts were constantly available for contact and questions, and were very supportive and friendly.

There was a lot of self reflection and personal development opportunities and discussions that were really useful for analyzing myself and my future aims. The program encouraged us to consider what relevant skills we had, and what we wanted to improve during the experience, so that we could facilitate our own improvements.

It was well structured, with a couple of training days with Teach First employees before a day in a school to have a look around, then another couple of days to plan lessons and apply what we had learned at our day at school. After another few days in the school watching more lessons and teaching a couple, there was one final day with Teach First to discuss and analyze our experience.

Everyone (participants, employees and school staff) were all really friendly, and tried their best to make the experience as great as possible. Everyone was passionate about teaching, so it was great to discuss my interests with so many similar people. The evenings were particularly great, as many of the participants stayed together in the same hotel we had chance to discuss our experiences of the different schools and it was great to hear everyone's stories.

We had several days of training from current Teach First employees - both management, experienced teachers and teachers currently in the Leadership Development Program.

As well as having first hand experience in a school, we got presentations from past and present teachers from the Leadership Development Program, and there were several Q&A sessions as well as chances to have conversations and ask casual questions with the teachers. I couldn't have asked for more, as it gave me a brilliant idea of what teaching in general, or teaching with Teach First, would be like.

The company culture was explained and discussed many times during the Teach First development sessions, so I understood it from the view of the company and the employees which was great.

Travel costs were reimbursed, and we were provided with vouchers that were redeemable at many shops and restaurants for lunch and dinner. Breakfast was provided at the hotel. Overall we were looked after and didn't have to expend any money at all.

There were loads of opportunities - several employees were often around to talk to during coffee breaks or during activities, as well as several Q&A sessions.

There was only one networking event officially organised by Teach First and it got cancelled on the morning of the session. However, as many of the participants of the program were staying in the same hotel we often ate dinner and spent the evening together, which was great to get to know other participants.

I only heard about training days set up for participants that were outside of school time. Aside from one current employee casually mentioned that they have a yearly ball.

An all round very fun and educational experience.