Most Teach First trainees are highly motivated, but some shortcomings remain
In 2013, Teach First, a charity set up to train graduates as teachers in schools in low-income communities, was given a three-year contract by the Welsh Government to pilot a graduate training programme in Wales. Estyn’s report ‘The impact of the Additional Training Graduate Programme (Teach First) in Wales’ evaluates the success of the pilot.
Meilyr Rowlands, Chief Inspector, says:
"Ensuring Wales’ future teachers have the skills to educate, enthuse and inspire our young people to succeed is fundamental to improving our education system so it is important that we build on the strengths of the Teach First programme identified in this report and address the weaknesses."
The Teach First programme has generally benefitted both trainees and host schools. Most trainees are highly motivated, demonstrate good subject knowledge and plan lessons thoroughly. Many use innovative teaching strategies. In addition, most schools found that trainees brought new ideas to their workplace, and in a few instances have challenged established practice. However, around half of the school staff who mentor trainees do not provide sufficient feedback and challenge. In addition, there is too much variability in the experiences of the participants, especially in the important first few weeks of training.
In addition to ensuring that teacher training providers help trainees develop the most effective way of teaching their subject, Estyn recommends that the Welsh Government considers how to improve the quality of mentoring of trainees in schools including how best to support them effectively in the first few weeks of teaching, and improves the collection of data on the effectiveness of training programmes.