Teach For/Teach Firstcandidates: what conclusions do they draw from their time in teaching?

Abstract

Teach For and Teach First programs now constitute a significant pathway into teaching in a number of countries. One criterion for selection into these programs is leadership capacity, and evidence indicates that many candidates do move into leadership roles in education, business, and policy in the years following their time as a Teach For/Teach First candidate. Given their capacity to influence policy directions and school practice, and to speak with the authority of at least some experience in challenging schools, it is important to understand the types of conclusions they draw from their time in teaching, and the solutions they propose to the problems of educational inequality. This study set out to explore the types of attributions made by 76 Teach For candidates for the low achievement of disadvantaged students, and what they consider to be potential means of effectively addressing the achievement gap. Participants gave most importance to the types of people attracted to and retained in teaching, and placed relatively little importance on improving school resourcing or addressing systemic and structural contributions to educational disadvantage. Implications for those training and working with Teach For candidates are discussed.

Teacher Disposition Scale (TDS): construction and psychometric validation

“…In England, positive non-academic qualities, such as high student expectations, efficacy and leadership abilities, have been identified among Teach First candidates (Rice, Volkoff and Dulfer, 2015;O'Neill, Hansen, and Lewis, 2014). However, empirical evidence of the importance of particular dispositions (or dispositions at all) in teaching is limited, due in large part to the complexity of teacher dispositions and lack of suitable or reliable measurement instruments.…”

Teach First organisational discourse: What are Teach First teachers really being trained for?

“…La Londe et al (2015) suggest that Teach for All teachers act as embodiments of neo-liberal ideology, with assumptions about 'meritocracy and credentialism as means and method of individualistic economic competition'. This is supported by Rice et al (2015), who explored the values that 76 teachers from the Teach for Australia programme would take into the workplace after their two years on the programme. They discovered that these were overwhelmingly underpinned by a neo-liberal notion of the individual 'exceptional teacher' needed to overcome inequality, with only one person mentioning broader societal change, such as banning private schools.…”

“…McConney et al (2012: v) point out that Teach for All teachers see their time within the organisation as an opportunity for 'short courses, networking and future career options'. Rice et al (2015) comment that many of the trainees move into leadership roles in policy, business and education after they have completed their two-year teaching commitment. Labaree (2010: 48) writes of Teach for All teachers moving on 'to their real life of work with high pay and high prestige' after their two-year stint as a 'kind of domestic peace corps' -a sentiment which is echoed by Scott et al (2016), who suggest that participants view their time in teaching as an interim period before continuing on to more 'high-prestige' career options.…”

“…Other commentators have also reflected on the neo-liberal ideological foundations of the model (Ahmann, 2015;Barnes et al, 2016;Blumenreich and Gupta, 2015;Friedrich et al, 2015;La Londe et al, 2015;McConney et al, 2012;Rice et al, 2015;Scott et al, 2016;Straubhaar and Friedrich, 2015). Its focus on the individual, choice, deregulation, competition, corporate-style leadership, business and market forces has been noted repeatedly (Ahmann, 2015;Friedrich et al, 2015;Rice et al, 2015;Scott et al, 2016). La Londe et al (2015) suggest that Teach for All teachers act as embodiments of neo-liberal ideology, with assumptions about 'meritocracy and credentialism as means and method of individualistic economic competition'.…”

Teach First Norway - who joins and what are their initial motivations for teaching?

“…Organisations participating in the TFAll network, which was established in 2007 by the founders of TFA and TFUK, share a common a mission to improve education and to fight social inequity. Lately, the number of TFAll programmes has increased significantly, with new programmes being established in Europe (e.g., Sweden and Denmark), South America, the Asia-Pacific region, and the Middle East (Rice, Volkoff, & Dulfer, 2015). Currently, the network has 39 member countries (http://teachforall.org/en).…”