Getting started with Teach First

Our two-day Taster Programme is an excellent way for students in their early years of study to learn more about our programmes and engage with our vision and mission.

During our programme in November, we spoke to several participants about what tempted them to apply, the key skills they felt they gained and what it was really like to prepare and present a lesson to visiting school pupils...

Jeremy Porter, University College London, studying psychology with education

“I applied for Taster because I’m very interested in teaching. One of my English teachers told me about Teach First. Then I discovered the undergraduate programmes, so I could make a start even earlier. Taster is a chance to be more involved in Teach First and develop the skills I’ll need for later on. If there was one key skill I’ve learnt today, it’s confidence. Confidence that my ideas are relevant and that I can actually have an impact.”

Eva Hook, University of Nottingham, studying psychology

“One of the most challenging aspects of Taster has been meeting people who don’t necessarily agree with my ideas and respecting their ideas and realising they might be better than mine! Debate is good. The feedback has been good. It was insightful and everyone felt they could be honest with each other. You don’t get the opportunity in everyday uni life to reflect or to struggle, but that’s how you realise how you can improve. At Taster, we’re consciously made to think about things we’re good and bad at, which we don’t get at uni.”

Alexander Meads, University of Leeds, studying maths

“I want to get involved with Teach First in the future, so any opportunity to get involved now is great for me. It’s also been a good chance to get information on Teach First’s partner organisations for opportunities after the Leadership Development Programme.”

Alisa Qian, University of Warwick, studying economics

“Delivering a lesson went quite well. It’s hard to engage pupils in economics and we lacked interactivity. I’ve tutored people of 16 and 17 years old for A-level Maths and Economics but never year-seven and -eight pupils. I learned I need to be patient. Things for me that are easy might not be for them, so the need to explain in a simple way was challenging. I hadn’t thought about becoming a teacher because I wasn’t sure how to engage students but after Taster I think maybe I could be one.”

Grainne Martin-Wells, University of Edinburgh, studying environmental science

“Seeing all the facts and figures of how bad educational inequality is, it puts it into perspective. You know it exists but you don’t know how bad it is, especially coming from a privileged background. But to know there’s something we can do about it makes me really hopeful about the future of education. One of my highlights of Taster has been thinking of solutions to problems in education. I could only think of one or two at first but when you speak to other people it’s amazing how many different ideas you can come up with.”

Ali Bahcaci, Queen Mary University, studying biochemistry

“Teaching is one of my goals. I think Teach First offers one of the best entries into teaching, so what better way than to work my way up through the Taster, Brand Manager, and Insight programmes… so that I’ll be really ready to start the Leadership Development Programme.”