Towards the end of your first year, when you're thinking about your goals for year two, you can sign up for the Teach First Coaching scheme. Participants in the scheme are matched with a volunteer coach or mentor (your Teach First "coach") from one of our supporter organisations. The role of the coach is to be an independent outsider - helping you get clear on your goals as you work to achieve the mission, and discussing what you need to do to get there. As you seek to make the most of the opportunities available to you through Teach First and start to make decisions about your plans beyond the two years, your coach can be an important resource. How many Coaches are there? We recruit enough coaches to meet demand. For 2006, that was 120 people from more than 70 different organisations, with the biggest organisations for volunteers being Citigroup, Lehman Brothers, BBC and McKinsey & Company. Coaches include people who've started their own business and a number of professional executive coaches. Next year we will be recruiting more than 200 - as many as are needed to work with our teachers, now in London and Greater Manchester - and for the first time ambassadors of the programme will be applying to be coaches. What experience will the Coaches have? Coaches have at least three years of experience in at least one industry sector or function (e.g. marketing, financial services) and where possible some management experience. Coaches have some interest in education, and have a basic understanding of the Teach First programme and its goals. The coaches come from a wide variety of backgrounds; they are united by their enthusiasm for the programme, their desire to help and the fantastic feedback we get from participants who have worked with them before! How will I be matched with my Coach? Half way through your first year, we will send you a survey to find out about your interests and what you might like to get out of coaching. We then recruit coaches according to that demand profile and, in some cases, coaching experience. After an initial introduction to coaching at the Leadership Discovery Day, we set up a Coach Matching session, where you get to meet a number of different potential coaches and are matched to one of your first or second choices. How often will I meet my Coach? You will meet with your coach at least twice in person over the academic year – more if you both agree to this. Beyond these two meetings, further coaching sessions – whether in person, on the phone, or on an “as needed” basis – will be at your and your Coach's discretion. The coaching scheme is specifically designed to get to the best possible people - the ones who are often the busiest and don't normally volunteer. Helping your school Based on your interests, your coach can work with you and form a bridge between your school and the world of business. Your coach might come and visit you in school (we encourage this during Teach First week), to help them understand your world.  Together, you might identify ways in which their business can help your school where it most needs it. Find out more about the coaching programme - from the coaches' point of view - here.		"I think I have the best coach ever. Richard and I have met twice: I've been to his work, and he's been to mine. We set lots of targets, and he's helped me develop professionally in school and decide what I want to do next year. He motivates me to stop thinking just inside the school "box." Coaching has just been a fantastic opportunity; one of the best things I've got from Teach First." Kate Tod, Class of '04 (second year) English teacher "Being a Teach First Coach is proving to be tremendously rewarding. It is giving me the opportunity to share my knowledge, act as a sounding board and give practical help to a participant at an important time in her life. Personally, it's also been a fascinating experience. I recently visited Kate in her school, one of the Government's flagship City Academies, which not only helped me see her in the context in which she works, but also gave me a unique insight into the education system. More broadly, being involved as a coach with Teach First has given me the opportunity to support what I consider is an excellent scheme and to interact withthe bright graduates that the programme recruits." Richard Alderson, UnLtd,  Kate's Teach First Coach