Teach First 2017

Wasssup yoooooo! I did the assessment centre last Monday (10th) and currently filling out my CKA - it's an absolute stinker! I'm worried that I'll have got this far ... and then suddenly fail at the last hurdle! Any motivation from those of you who did the CKA already please? :P Congrats/good luck to you all!

Hi

I was accepted on to TF with a conditional offer for Science.

I am just looking at the CKA, and am slightly daunted!! I haven't studied Chemistry or Physics since GCSE - my A Levels and Degree were Biology focused, so most of the CKA is in red?! Any hints/tips how to put this into the action plan, or is it mainly about recognising that I need to spend a lot of time on these areas, and putting resources down - reading texts etc etc.

Any help much appreciated,

Sam

Hey guys, I've been invited to attend the assessment centre next week and I'm just a bit worried. The one to one interview in particular, I heard that they can really grill and I don't do well in interviews at all! Any advice about what to expect, are they really mean?


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Hey guys, I've been invited to attend the assessment centre next week and I'm just a bit worried. The one to one interview in particular, I heard that they can really grill and I don't do well in interviews at all! Any advice about what to expect, are they really mean?


Posted from TSR Mobile

Thanks for the advice guys! I just really want to do well.


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I went to a TeachFirst presentation yesterday and was immediately compelled to apply.
However, speaking to friends who've done PGCEs, they said that they really wouldn't recommend it because you're just thrown into a struggling school with minimal training. This was my biggest worry, but someone else telling me it made it more salient! They also said that TeachFirst isn't as respected by schools. My dad who's been a governor of a primary school for 13 years hasn't even heard of it.
And although you now get a PGDE (which they say is a step up from the PGCE), it seems to be lesser known by schools?! I'm really worried about the lack of support. It seems like you get 6 weeks of training at a summer school, and then a class. My dad says that no way with parents, governors, children and OFSTED to answer to this couldn't happen. But that's exactly what the scheme does!

I'm now having some inner turmoil about whether to do a PGCE, TeachFirst (PGDE) or just be an LSA.
In the future I'd like to go into Educational Psychology, so a scheme that provided a salary while you train for 2 years, and gave you necessary experience straight away seemed ideal. SO CONFUSED NOW AHH.

Try not to panic. My revisions were accepted today and I've turned unconditional. They can take a while getting back to you about the CKA as there is a backlog at the moment. Good luck, all will be fine. 😊

Congratulations! The CKA is definitely not the most fun part of getting on the programme though - I feel your pain. At least after doing these questions, that will be it for a while until everything gets marked! Some intense days of reading and writing, followed by a substantial period of time not having to think about it

Hey guys, I've been invited to attend the assessment centre next week and I'm just a bit worried. The one to one interview in particular, I heard that they can really grill and I don't do well in interviews at all! Any advice about what to expect, are they really mean?


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Any tips on the layout of question 4? Seems odd that we can't just input a table?!

I know! Didn't seem logical to me. What I went for for that reason was a LONG series of paragraphs explaining my plan - which went way over the word limit, may I add, yet my CKA still got accepted completely. So in terms of formatting, I just stuck with my format for the previous questions, only with way more words to cover all the materials/National Curriculum areas necessary.

That last question was stressful! But you are nearly at the finish line.

I went to a TeachFirst presentation yesterday and was immediately compelled to apply.
However, speaking to friends who've done PGCEs, they said that they really wouldn't recommend it because you're just thrown into a struggling school with minimal training. This was my biggest worry, but someone else telling me it made it more salient! They also said that TeachFirst isn't as respected by schools. My dad who's been a governor of a primary school for 13 years hasn't even heard of it.
And although you now get a PGDE (which they say is a step up from the PGCE), it seems to be lesser known by schools?! I'm really worried about the lack of support. It seems like you get 6 weeks of training at a summer school, and then a class. My dad says that no way with parents, governors, children and OFSTED to answer to this couldn't happen. But that's exactly what the scheme does!

I'm now having some inner turmoil about whether to do a PGCE, TeachFirst (PGDE) or just be an LSA.
In the future I'd like to go into Educational Psychology, so a scheme that provided a salary while you train for 2 years, and gave you necessary experience straight away seemed ideal. SO CONFUSED NOW AHH.

Really helpful, and really appreciate you taking the time to reply!

That is the tact I'm going for - paragraph based.

I have a lot of convincing to do, as most of my studies are Biology based, and suddenly I need to know about Chemistry and Physics!

So did you go over the word count??

Get on that extra reading! If you can show them you're going to do enough learning about those other curriculum areas, then hopefully you'll be alright.

I did, but out of necessity! Had the whole primary curriculum to work through. I should add that I was expecting it to need revision because the word count was so long, but oddly, it was alright. I did stick to the counts rigorously on the other questions though.

Hey, Jojo, I thought I'd put together a bit of a longer reply, which is why I didn't respond immediately, as I think that you may not have really understoodTeach First. Don't worry, though, it can be complicated when you first look at it and I think I wanted to address some of the sweeping statements.In regards to your first point, I really think you may be unclear about the TF purpose here. TF aims to end education inequality and supports students for a low-income background. A school that has a number of students on free school meals is not a struggling school; it is a school where economic inequality impacts on potential attainment. A number of schools that are not Teach First schools are struggling, so TF is not specifically going into struggling schools. In regards to PGCE/TF, this is all a matter of opinion. I would be reluctant to stand by their opinion as it seems they also are not sure about what TF actually is. I've been in University for 6 years and the support I have received has been amazing. However, I chose TF over a PGCE in my University as their support looks better and it also is better connected to my way of learning. In regards to the PGCE/PGDE, it is not an employers responsibility to know what a qualification on your CV means, it is the applicant's responsibility to translate this into its meaning. For example, next to my BA and MA in my CV,I write a brief summary of what this is and how many credits include. Another example would be universities, just because an employer is not aware of the university you studied at, that does not impact on the fact that you have the qualification. I'm pretty certain none of us have heard of all of the universities in the UK. In regards to the Ofsted part etc, I think you need to look into exactly what the LDP does as that answers this. This scheme is championed byOfsted and the government so it clearly meets the requirements needed. Personally,I think schools do respect TF. For example, the number of new teachers that TF recruit increases every year. TFcan only aligns their recruitment based on the number of schools participating, therefore this indicates that more schools are striving to work with this scheme. I really hope this didn't sound overwhelming but I though a few sentences wouldn't help as much. I recommend you look at some of the videos on youtube,the impact conference, and the literature TF has online. Honestly, all the best for whatever route you decided to take. Do not hesitate to call them if you have any questions, they are lovely and really want you to do well.