Teach First now better equipped to tackle postcode lottery of educational disadvantage

5 July 2010

Government grant will help put more exceptional graduates in England's most challenging schools

Teach First is delighted that the secretary of state for education, Michael Gove, has supported the charity's expansion into every region of the country and extended its reach into primary schools.

A £4 million government start-up grant to Teach First, announced today (5 July), will enable the charity, and its partners in schools, higher education and business, to take a significant step closer to ending the post code lottery of educational disadvantage in England.

The funds will allow the charity to undertake the following by 2013/14

• Place teachers in every region of England, starting with the North East, and in almost a third of all challenging secondary schools

• Start a new programme placing Teach First participants in primary schools with the aim of placing 300 new primary teachers by 2013/14

• Expand the Teach On programme that accelerates the progression of its growing community of teachers who are ready to become senior leaders and head teachers within challenging schools.

• Targeting STEM graduates to increase the numbers of high calibre science, maths and technology teachers working in challenging schools

• Conduct research into the feasibility of expanding Teach First into hard to reach rural and coastal pockets of educational disadvantage

As a result of these measures Teach First aims to double the number of participants from 560 to 1140

Teach First currently operates in the North West, the West Midlands, the East Midlands, London and Yorkshire and works in 220 schools reaching more than 200,000 pupils. The grant will allow the expansion into the North East, South East, South West and the East of England.

The expansion of Teach First's presence in the primary sector comes on the back of evidence that shows that the link between educational underachievement and family income is clearly evident at primary school level. The sooner in a child's life these problems can be addressed through great teaching, the greater the impact it will have. In order to make the biggest possible difference to educational disadvantage, Teach First needs to operate in primary schools.

Teach First ceo Brett Wigdortz said: "Teach First and the 100s of schools, dozens of universities and dozens of businesses who we work in partnership with aim is to create a level playing field where a family's household income isn't the most significant factor determining their child's educational achievement.

"We aim to break the link between income and achievement and help a generation of pupils reach their full potential, regardless of where they live."

---

Press releases, papers and documents published on this page are the intellectual property of an organisation unrelated to Central Lobby. We promote their parliamentary and political campaigning activities as they are subscribers to the Central Lobby service.

As such, Central Lobby does not edit, endorse, or attempt to balance the opinions expressed on this page. The content of press releases and other such types of content are the responsibility of the originating organisation.