Teach First | Schools Week

Brett Wigdortz, founder, Teach First

“I have never known what is weird and what is not,” says Brett Wigdortz, the man who founded teacher training programme Teach First 15 years ago and, as its chief executive, oversaw its meteoric rise before stepping aside this summer. Born in Asbury Park, New Jersey – Bruce Springsteen’s home town – Wigdortz’s north Atlantic […]

New ‘careers leader’ apprenticeship for school staff proposed

Middle leaders in schools could be trained to deliver careers advice through a proposed new apprenticeship. The teacher training charity Teach First has called for an “apprenticeship qualification” to give every school “a trained careers middle leader”. The role would involve developing and leading a “whole school strategy for careers and employability”, and the proposal […]

Teach First criticised for PwC job deferral partnership

Ministers have been called on to allow school teacher training providers access to the same pool of graduates targeted by Teach First after a new row over the charity’s trainees leaving for the private sector. Teach First was criticised over the weekend after a job advert emerged showing accountancy giant PwC had started recruitment on […]

Russell Hobby appointed Teach First chief executive

Russell Hobby has been appointed as chief executive of the teacher training charity Teach First. Hobby, currently general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, will take on the new role in September. He replaces Brett Wigdortz, who helped found Teach First – now the country’s largest graduate recruiter – 15 years ago, and […]

Teach First Innovation Awards 2017

The Teach First innovation unit offers a year of support, including a salary, to out-of-the-box thinkers who get through to its final round for the annual Innovation Awards. Download the Teach First Innovation Award winners 2017 Set up in 2012, a decade after founder Brett Wigdortz set up the Teach First teacher training programme, the […]

Teach First plans 40% growth in social opportunity areas

Teach First plans to shift its focus away from London to six of the government’s 12 “opportunity areas”. Brett Wigdortz, the charity’s founder and outgoing chief executive, made the announcement during a school visit to Derby with the education secretary Justine Greening last week. He said the move would would be a 40 per cent […]

Brett Wigdortz to step down as Teach First chief executive

Teach First founder Brett Wigdortz will step down as chief executive of the teacher training charity at the end of October. Wigdortz founded Teach First 15 years ago and was recently named in Debrett’s list of the most influential people in education this year. He masterminded the business plan for the elite teacher training programme […]

Special-school recruitment: the crisis no one is talking about

Recruitment for special schools is way tougher than in the mainstream, but there are steps that the government and schools can take, says Marc Rowland. If you have just joined a special school, alternative provision (AP) setting or pupil referral unit (PRU), you are more likely to have a temporary teacher (or no teacher at […]

Teach First should shun London to boost social mobility

Training provider Teach First should ditch London and instead place its top graduates into schools in the country’s ten lowest-performing local authorities, says the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission. The recommendation formed part of the commission’s fourth annual “state of the nation” report, published this week. It said the government’s current approach to school-led […]