Also, you will already have completed one week of observation in a school of your choice, prior to the Summer Institute. This will enable you to identify teaching styles and classroom behaviours in preparation for classes over the summer.

Question 2. What continuous training will I receive once I am in school?
Answer. In their first year of teaching, participants will benefit from strong support and training, made up of classroom mentoring and coaching from educational specialists, through which they will gain qualified teacher status (QTS).

In the second (induction) year, participants will receive cutting-edge, tailored mentoring, training and internships with sponsors. A leading business school will provide training for the Foundations of Leadership course.

Teach First participants will benefit from a structured, ongoing support programme. You will have access to a number of support personnel including:  

School Based Mentors - Teachers or deputy heads in your school who will spend part of their weeks offering personal, teaching and subject support to individual trainees.

Teach First Tutors - Teach First tutors will regularly visit your school to ensure that you are going above and beyond normal expectations and are receiving the help and support you need both inside and outside the school environment.

Teach First Coach - An individual volunteer from a London or Greater Manchester organisation will offer support and professional development during the programme’s second year.

Teach First Participants - In the end, you will probably receive your most crucial support from each other, through the esprit de corps that will develop within your Teach First group. Participants are placed in clusters within schools, but will also support each other informally outside school, by living and socialising together or by attending Critical Friends Groups (CFGs).

Question 3. What teaching qualifications will I gain during my placement?
Answer. The Summer Institute will prepare you for teaching and will start you on your way to gaining qualified teacher status (QTS), the national qualification for teachers. You will be expected to have gained QTS by the start of the second year of the programme.

The second year itself will enable you to complete another teaching milestone, the induction standard, which supports the learning you have received in the first year of teaching and helps you develop any aspects of teaching which you feel need improving. After a successful two-year training period you will become a fully qualified teacher - a qualification that stays with you for life.

Question 4. What age level will I be teaching?
Answer. Currently Teach First is only placing participants in secondary schools. The age taught depends on the age range of the school you are in, and the responsibilities you agree with your head teacher. The age range of the school could be either 11-16 or 11-18, if there is a sixth form.

Question 5. Will I be teaching A-level classes?
Answer. This depends on the school that you are in and whether it has a sixth form. If your school does give A-level classes, your school will examine your educational history to determine the level to which you will teach. If you and your school think it is appropriate for you to teach A-levels, you may do so.

Question 6. What is the salary?
Answer. During your first year of teaching, you will be paid slightly less than newly qualified teachers. The expected salary for beginning teachers in 2007-08 ranges from is £15,663 to £19,371, depending on location. During the second year you will be paid normal NQT salary. (In London this includes the appropriate Inner London or Outer London weighting.) Currently this is a minimum of £20,113 in Greater Manchester and the Midlands and £22,002 in London and may increase.

Question 7. Who will be paying my salary?
Answer. The school in which you are employed will pay your salary.

Question 8. Am I entitled to the same holidays as other teachers?
Answer. Yes. You will be entitled to all the additional benefits that teachers in England are entitled to, including holidays. However, you may find it beneficial to use some of the holidays to participate in the Teach First training initiatives that will be available to you. As part of our commitment to your personal development, optional training programmes and internships may overlap with summer, Christmas and Easter holidays.

Question 9. Will I be taking another teacher’s job?
Answer. No. Teach First participants fill vacancies that have not already been filled by full-time teachers.

Question 10. Will I have to join a union?
Answer. No. You don’t have to join a union if you don’t want to. You may find that there are significant benefits of being part of a teaching union such as wage negotiation, advice on employee rights, training and advocacy. Teach First strongly encourages its participants to research the different kinds of unions that exist carefully before joining one.

Question 11. What is my legal status as an unqualified teacher in the first year?
Answer. The employment of teachers is currently governed by the Education Regulations 1999*, which are updated annually.
Government maintained schools are allowed to employ certain categories of unqualified teachers (those that do not hold qualified teacher status) provided that they are training in school to become qualified teachers. This includes teachers on the Teach First programme.

Your contract of employment will be arranged through the school's governing body, or Local Education Authority, which determines the pay structure for unqualified teachers. Once you have gained QTS, you will be transferred to the qualified teachers’ pay scale. For more detailed information please refer to the Department for Education and Skills' website.

*Teachers' Qualifications and Health Standards (England) Regulations 1999

Question 12. Will there be any assistance to help me pay off my student loans?
Answer. The government has been running the Training and Developent Agency for Schools (TDA) Repayment of Teachers’ Loans (RTL) scheme, however this scheme was a trial and has now been discontinued. For more information please contact the student loans company website.

Question 13. How will experienced teachers and head teachers treat us in the schools, and how do they feel about the programme?
Answer. We will only be placing Teach First participants in schools where the head teachers support and want success for the participants. We have the support of major teacher and head teacher unions. Your colleagues should support you, see you as a valuable member of their staff and contribute to your continued professional and personal development, provided that you show the necessary humility and respect for their experience in the profession.

Question 14. How can I make a difference with so little training?
Answer. Enthusiasm, commitment, a belief in high expectations for your students and strong knowledge in your subject area all make an impact on students. Our innovative Summer Institute will use a combination of traditional and new techniques, bringing together the most up-to-date theory to give you the best chance of success in the classroom. Much of your time in the Summer Institute will also be dedicated to working with children.

Teach First is inspired by Teach For America, a programme in the US that utilises a five-week training programme and places participants in the most under-resourced areas in the country. These teachers have consistently had an impressive impact in their classrooms, often right from the start. To see quotes and statistics on the success of TFA teachers in the classroom, click here.

Question 15. How will I be able to cope with the workload?
Answer. Teach First is not for everyone. It is a very difficult programme for high achievers and hard work should be expected. During the first year of the programme, participants will be placed on an 80% workload, like most new teachers, so that 20% of the day can be devoted to professional development and planning. Furthermore, participants will receive the support of school-based tutors, the initial teacher training provider, Teach First, the school and the other participants at each school.

Question 16. How can I control difficult pupils?
Answer. Over the course of the Summer Institute and throughout your days teaching, you will learn about classroom management -- the process of making sure all pupils in your classroom are learning in a safe environment. The way you control difficult pupils will largely be informed by the procedures in your school and your personality. You will learn the basics you need through our training programme, which is customised to meet the needs of the schools in which we are placing Teach First participants.

Our participants will receive a high level of support and professional growth throughout the school year from school-based tutors, Teach First tutors, coaches, other Teach First participants and from our training provider. We are only placing in schools where the head teachers are committed to success, so participants’ concerns will be addressed. Additionally, the Teach First Summer Institute includes training designed to help you deal effectively with difficult situations.

Question 17. What additional resources are available to assist teaching in the classroom?
Answer. Together with Teach First’s exceptional training, materials and support from your school, we will help you find resources to assist you in teaching. For instance, science teachers can apply for special project grants from bodies such as the Royal Society and the British Association, maths participants can become HSBC Maths Fellows and benefit from a programme of support offered by HSBC. Teach First can also help to guide you to the best teaching material available on the internet. The best teachers “beg, borrow, and steal” ideas from others; so participants who make an effort to seek out help within their school from colleagues, deputy heads, etc. will find resources of which they weren’t even aware. We encourage participants to use some of their free time in schools to observe other teachers as a way to improve his/her own teaching.