Brett's Blog

Brett at the Teach First National Summer Institute at the University of Warwick

Two continents, 4 countries and 5 UK cities

The summer is my favourite time of the year, not just for the weather (I haven't seen much on that front here the last few weeks), but because it is Summer Institute time when members of the Teach First 'family' get together. During this period we support our ambassadors who are staying in the profession, provide further leadership training to our participants who are entering their second year in the classroom; and train the newest members of our cohort in effective teaching techniques and induct them into our values.

I haven't seen much of my home in London recently as, over the past six weeks, I've been fortunate enough to visit 11 Institutes – four international ones at our sister organisations in Germany, Israel, Latvia and Lebanon; five of our three-week regional Institutes in Birmingham, Leeds, London, Manchester and Nottingham; our Teach On Institute in Teddington for our ambassadors who are staying in the classroom; and three weeks at our National Summer Institute at the University of Warwick. This stint included one week with over 1300 residents made up of our new teachers, second-year teachers, ambassadors from every cohort, staff members and university partners. This was definitely the most inspiring and exciting week of the year for me.

Inspired dining

During the Summer Institute I made it a point to have meals with all of our 560 new teachers. I joined over 30 group meals during this period and put on about half a stone (I really should have skipped some of those desserts). At each meal I asked our new teachers to introduce themselves and tell me why they joined Teach First. A number of inspiring themes came out of this that I would like to share.

The most common response people gave for joining Teach First is our mission. Our participants are focused on their ability to address educational disadvantage. They want to do something meaningful, but to also be connected to that difference. They are excited about being on the front line of the impact and contrasted that with the office work, which many of them had in the past and felt was "soulless".

Making a difference here and now

They are an ambitious and impatient group. Many of our new participants had experienced great challenges in the past and they liked the idea of a job that would challenge them and push them to their limits in the coming year. Their biggest fear is being stuck in a boring job and they are sure they won't get that once they start leading their class as teachers from September. They want to make an impact and to make that impact quickly. A common theme from our discussions was that they're not interested in waiting around for years to do something meaningful. Instead, they believe that Teach First will empower them to do this right away.

Finally, they have enormous respect for the teaching profession, its role in society and the power of education generally. Many of them told stories of teachers who had changed their own lives and how they wanted to play a similar role. An overwhelming number of them have experience in teaching, training, or otherwise working with children and they spoke passionately on how much they love it. They are not righteous revolutionaries intent on overthrowing a system. Instead, they want to create change from within, and ensure every child gets the opportunity to have an outstanding education.

My other take-away was just the diversity amongst these 560 Teach First recruits. Forty per cent of the 2010 cohort joined us directly after graduation and there are people from all walks of life among the group. They include a lawyer, a grandmother, a Foreign Office staff member, a number of former employees of our sponsor companies and senior civil servants.

The most touching stories for me though were from those of our participants who themselves were pupils in a Teach First school and spoke about the struggles they personally went through to get to university. They spoke with passion about supporting the next generation of children at those schools through this process.

One of our new teachers spoke eloquently about how one of our 2003 participants had changed the trajectory of her life – convincing her that she should work harder in order achieve at a high level and that she had every potential for a good university education. As luck would have it, he was assisting at the Institute that day and their reunion was an emotional moment for all three of us.

All of our new teachers (as well as much of our staff) are enjoying a well- earned break now before starting in September. I look forward to checking in with them in the coming months to see how they are progressing.