Teach For/Teach First candidates: 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.

Keywords:

• alternative teacher certification
• disadvantaged schools
• teacher attitudes
• educational change

Notes

1. Indeed, one Teach For Australia graduate is already working as an advisor on teacher education to the current national Minister for Education, and has just accepted a Rhodes scholarship. Many others in the first two cohorts have taken on leadership roles both in and outside schools.

2. In Australia, schools are divided into two sectors: government and non-government. Government schools are run and fully funded by the government, while non-government schools are partly funded by the government and partly by levies on parents, and may be run by or affiliated with religious organizations, or be completely autonomous. Around 68% of students attend government schools, with the remaining 32% in non-government schools. Changes to funding and regulatory systems in the past 20 years have led to an increasing stratification of the sectors on socioeconomic lines, with government schools taking more of the poorest, and non-government schools taking more of the wealthiest, students (Ryan & Watson, 2004, 2010).

3. Charter schools are a form of school in which the government provides funding for the establishment and running of the school, but such schools operate independently rather than within a government system. Currently, 39 states in the USA have operational charter schools, and other jurisdictions such as Canada and New Zealand have similar initiatives.