Boardrooms exchanged for boardmarkers for Teach First Week

Biggest ever Teach First Week launches 1st February

Britain's most successful leaders are going back to the classroom to try their hand at teaching as part of 2010's "Teach First Week".

Teach First Week is the charity's annual bid to persuade the UK's most influential out of the corridors of power and into the classroom to experience life as teachers in challenging urban schools.

In the UK today, the best indicator of a child's academic performance remains the wealth of their parents. Teach First aims to address educational disadvantage by recruiting the brightest graduates to teach specifically in England's most challenging urban schools.

Research shows that teacher quality is integral to raising the achievement of the poorest pupils.

485 exceptional graduates entered the teaching profession through Teach First in 2009. However, the charity estimates that there is the capacity to place as many as 1000 teachers per year by 2013. They need more top graduates to take up the challenge, and more great businesses to help them to offer the best possible training and support for their teachers.

Throughout the week, nearly 40 high profile figures who have reached the top of their respective fields will be going back to school to see if their teaching skills can stand up to the scrutiny of a classroom full of schoolchildren.

Guests taking up the challenge include Dame Vivienne Westwood, Patrick Flaherty, Managing Director of the Investment Banking Division at Credit Suisse, Schools Secretary Ed Balls, Today Programme presenter Justin Webb, the BBC newscaster Huw Edwards, The Apprentice's Tim Campbell and Channel 4 News' Krishnan Guru-Murthy and Samira Ahmed.

Lessons will range from topics such as the role of faith in the interpretation of events, effective newscasting, climate change and art, and social entrepreneurship.

Brett Wigdortz, CEO of Teach First, said:

"By putting the spotlight on teaching through the week, we want to demonstrate that it is one of the most demanding yet rewarding and important professions. It is fitting that some of our most successful people have already been tempted by the challenge – if only for one lesson!

We hope that their experiences and insights will inspire even more people to support the Teach First's movement: great teachers and leaders who are committed to addressing educational disadvantage are absolutely vital if we are to make inroads into the UK's critical social mobility problem."

Gillian Joseph, Sky News presenter, is teaching a history lesson on the Wall Street Crash.

"To take responsibility for a child's learning is an extraordinary thing to do – it takes much more courage than reading the news, as my Mum, a retired headmistress never ceases to tell me!

 I have huge admiration for teachers all over the country, and am pleased to be working with Teach First to encourage more business leaders to come out in support of education, and more of our best graduates to really challenge themselves by teaching in our toughest schools. And to impress my Mum!"

Patrick Flaherty, Managing Director, Investment Banking Division, Credit Suisse, is taking part in Teach First Week for the second time, teaching a lesson called 'The Real Game', on career decision making. Credit Suisse have supported Teach First since 2002, including a substantial grant which will enable Teach First to open a dedicated Assessment Centre for graduate applicants later in the year.

"Teach First Week is an excellent opportunity for business leaders to inspire young minds - my first experience involved taking a year 9 English class on the art of public speaking, referring to Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, as well as great orators like Martin Luther King and Winston Churchill. They learnt about the skills involved in preparing and presenting, and it was very rewarding for me too, which I hadn't expected!

It is important for businesses to remain connected to the communities we serve. Credit Suisse's partnership with Teach First reflects the emphasis we as an organisation place on continuing improvement, ambition and the importance of education for those communities. Creating the right environment and instilling the drive to achieve is what Teach First is all about." 

For press and all other inquiries please contact Natalie Whitty, Senior Officer for Corporate Communications and PR, nwhitty@teachfirst.org.uk, 020 7517 4821, 07737 989672

Notes to Editors

• Teach First's mission is to address educational disadvantage by transforming exceptional graduates into effective, inspirational teachers and leaders in all fields. Teach First targets exceptional graduates who would not normally consider a career in teaching and places them in challenging schools – where more than a third of pupils are eligible for free school meals or fewer than 25% achieve 5 A*-C including Maths and English – for the course of a two year Leadership Development Programme.
• Teach First participants complete a Leadership Development Programme aimed at ensuring participants maximise their impact on pupil achievement in the short term and develop a set of transferable skills that will ensure their broader impact on educational disadvantage in the future. The Leadership Development Programme is Masters accredited and participants have the opportunity to gain an MA by completing additional modules delivered by partner universities (the Institute of Education (London), University of Manchester and University of Warwick).
• Before entering the classroom, participants attend the Summer Institute, the residential component of our initial teacher training. This lasts six weeks, with participants spending half the time studying and gaining teaching practice in the region they will be teaching in, and half the time studying alongside the whole national cohort on campus at University of Warwick.
• In the first year, participants undertake a 70% teaching commitment in school, during which they are supported by Teach First, our partner universities and school mentors in training to achieve Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) at the end of the year, as part of a postgraduate / professional graduate certificate in education (PGCE award). Participants also undertake leadership training, which equips participants with expertise in 'Leading Learning', 'Leading People' and 'Leading Organisations'.
• Teach First is an independent charity, Reg. No. 1098294, established in 2002. It is funded from public and private sources, including the DCSF and 50 leading employers, and endorsed by all the main political parties, teaching unions and graduate organisations.
• In 2009, Teach First gained 8th place on the coveted league of Times Top 100 Graduate Employers.