Top maths graduates choose to Teach First
Contributed by Helen Arney, Teach First Graduate Recuitment Manager, [email protected]
F
orty of the best and brightest British graduates have just embarked on two years as mathematics teachers in some
of the most challenging schools in London. Most of them graduated with a 2.1 or above from a top 20 university.
Some turned down job offers from prestigious companies for the chance to inspire inner city kids. None of them
had seriously considered teaching as a first employment destination before they entered their final year. So how
did they find their way into the classroom?
The answer is Teach First (www.teachfirst.org.uk), the
independent charity that in just one year has recruited,
trained and placed nearly 180 top graduates as teachers
in London schools, 40 of them as mathematics teachers.
under-achievement that will stay with them for life,
whether they continue in the education sector or not.
Tom Evans joined Teach First in 2003, after graduating
from St. Hugh’s College, Oxford with a degree in Maths
and Philosophy. “When I read about Teach First last
year, it grabbed me straight away. Here was a chance
to get real life experience, responsibility and
development. It was also the biggest challenge of all
the jobs out there… I don’t know any of my friends who
are going on to do something quite this high impact.
Teach First just seems a little “bigger” than the rest. I
also felt that this was somehow right. I knew that I had
benefited from a great education, while someone close
to me had been through a tough time at school. He was
really bright, but was getting lost in the system. This is
my chance to make a real difference; to change that
system.”
Teach First addresses a problem that many in higher
education understand all too well. Levels of aspiration
and achievement of students leaving London schools
are often far below what universities and employers
would wish for. Many pupils who have the potential to
take maths further will not continue to study without the
encouragement and inspiration of an excellent teacher;
a situation reflected in the falling number of students
sitting A-level Mathematics each year.
Research undertaken by management consultants
McKinsey & Company showed that the achievement of
pupils is critically dependent on getting more great
teachers to teach in schools. Perhaps we all remember
the one teacher that really made a difference to us
personally? Teach First aims to get more teachers like
that into challenging schools in London.
During this past year, over 1300 finalists and graduates
applied for the 180 Teach First positions. Although
about half of the participants are from Oxford, Cambridge
or Imperial College London, and they have an overall 29
average UCAS points, good academic result are not
enough to get onto the Teach First programme. Those
accepted must successfully prove their leadership,
resilience, communication skills, ability to work with
cultures other than their own, ability to deal with adversity,
and humility.
The programme works by asking graduates to commit
two years to teaching in a challenging London school.
After an intensive period of training provided by
Canterbury Christ Church University College, graduates
on the Teach First programme become classroom
teachers. Ongoing training and support ensures that
every teacher gains Qualified to Teach Status by the end
of the first year. In the second year, they continue to
teach full time whilst learning the theory and practice of
leadership through a “mini MBA” provided by a leading
business school. Extra opportunities include internships
and mentoring from some of Teach First supporters,
ranging from political parties to investment banks, and
from non-profit organisations to law and consultancy
firms.
This year, Teach First is collaborating with the National
Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts to
develop a new way for mathematics degree students to
engage in innovative communication of their subject.
The Teach First Challenge is a competition being piloted
at five selected university campuses this year, and there
are plans to roll out nationally next year.
We are asking undergraduates and postgraduates to
think of an innovative new project or tool that will get
failing inner city pupils excited about an area of
mathematics, science, IT or design & technology.
Working as individuals or teams, entrants will submit a
project plan and, if selected for the final round, present
their idea to a panel of leaders in education, industry and
the public understanding of science.
After two years of this development Teach First
participants can choose to stay in education or move
into business, voluntary or public sectors. Whatever
route they choose, their two years on the Teach First
programme will have made a significant impact on the
lives of many pupils. In addition to this, graduates will
have gained practical leadership experience a deeper
understanding of the grass roots issues in educational
...continued on page 56
50
Review of Fathom – Dynamic Statistics
Richard Castle
demonstrations of the Central Limit Theorem can be
easily developed. The usefulness of such interactive
visual effects to help teach statistical concepts,
particularly to non-specialist statisticians, should not be
underestimated. Indeed, as the availability of computers
and projectors within lectures becomes more prevalent,
such features can be employed to improve understanding
of statistics concepts.
Other packages can be used to illustrate statistics
dynamically; the ubiquitous Excel, for example, has
sliders for use in interactive analysis and data values can
be altered by using the mouse to move data points on
graphs. However, Fathom has been specifically designed
to be used within a statistics environment and is,
consequently, easier to use for statistical analysis.
Fig 5 Sampling from a Binomial Distribution with a
slider to alter the probability, p.
Essentially, Fathom has been designed to be used in
schools and does not have sufficient breadth of statistical
techniques to become the main statistical package within
a higher education statistics department; neither does it
have sufficient features to be used on most service
courses at university level.
Fathom could be used on an introductory service course
in statistics and as a supplementary package on more
advanced courses. Its two most striking qualities – the
visual and dynamic effects – are extremely useful teaching
tools; they could be used effectively to explain statistical
concepts within a lecture or students could undertake
exploratory studies in a practical class. It has useful
features that enable the user to sample from a population
and this can be used to explain sampling theory or to
develop Bootstrap analyses.
Although Fathom could be used by students in a practical
class, it is difficult to justify teaching more than one
statistical package to students. At Brighton, Minitab is
the main statistical package used for teaching; it has a
short learning curve and offers a wide range of statistical
features. It would unrealistic to introduce students to a
second statistics package.
Conclusions
Fathom is a well designed package with good support
material. It is relatively easy to learn and has powerful
features that are unavailable on most mainstream
statistical packages.
Within higher education, it is unlikely that many
departments will want to have two standard statistical
packages for students, but the features offered by Fathom
provide useful features for improving teaching. Fathom
could therefore provide a useful teaching resource in
lectures for demonstrating statistical concepts.
The dynamic and visual capabilities are extremely useful
in explaining statistical ideas to students. For example,
Top maths graduates choose to Teach First ...continued from page 50 ...
In addition to prizes of up to £7,000, the Teach First Challenge offers a chance for university students to develop their
communication, teamwork, presentation and entrepreneurial skills. Not only will these skills help them with their
degree studies, but it will also nurture those talented individuals who could become great teachers, whatever route
into the profession they might choose to take.
If your faculty would like to know where Teach First Challenge is happening this year, and how to get involved in
2004, please visit
http://www.teachfirst.org.uk
If you would like to find out more about the Teach First programme itself, please contact Helen Arney directly at
[email protected] or call 020 7718 5593
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MSOR Connections Nov 2003 Vol 3 No 4