Teach First NZ launches second intake

Teach First NZ launches second intake with visiting Founder and CEO of UK sister programme

Teach First NZ next week welcomes its second intake of twenty participants, and is set to celebrate this milestone with visiting CEO and Founder of Teach First in the UK, Brett Wigdortz OBE.

Teach First NZ is a not-for-profit organisation that works in partnership with the University of Auckland to attract highly-qualified, well-rounded university graduates and professionals to secondary schools serving lower-decile communities.

For the 2014 intake, Teach First NZ received over 270 applications for its 20 places. The Teach First NZ recruitment process remains highly competitive with fewer than 1 in 10 applicants being selected.

The 2014 intake is particularly diverse – 35% of the cohort are Māori or Pasifika participants, with half the group teaching Mathematics or Science subjects.

Teach First NZ’s inaugural cohort of 16 participants is currently teaching across 9 schools in Auckland and Northland, while in 2014 the combined 36 participants will teach across 17 schools across both regions.

Brett Wigdortz OBE, who won the UK Ernst & Young Social Entrepreneur of the Year and has been named by the Evening Standard as one of London’s most influential people, is the keynote speaker at Teach First NZ’s “Ako Mātātupu: Welcoming the Class of 2014” event at the University of Auckland on Tuesday 26 November.

In 2013 Teach First in the UK was announced as 3rd in The Times newspaper’s list of the Top 100 graduate employers, having previously held 4th place in 2012 and 7th in 2011. This year the charity placed 1,261 participants in schools, making Teach First the largest graduate recruiter in the UK.

Mr Wigdortz’s visit comes one month after Teach First NZ was shortlisted for the New Zealand Association of Graduate Employers annual awards for ‘Best Innovation in the Graduate Market’, alongside Ernst & Young, and IAG.

Shaun Sutton, Chief Executive of Teach First NZ, said “New Zealand has a high-quality but low-equity education system, in which postcodes and household income correlate far too strongly with young people’s educational outcomes, and therefore life chances. Teach First NZ aims to help close this gap over the short-term through classroom teaching, and over the long-term with a network of alumni leaders”.

Professor Graeme Aitken, Dean of Education at the University of Auckland said “We have been delighted to partner with Teach First NZ in developing this alternative pathway into teaching. Inherent in this programme is the University’s respect for teacher expertise in schools.”

John Heyes, Principal of Mangere College in Auckland, said “We have enjoyed working alongside Teach First NZ and The University of Auckland, welcoming two participants who joined our staff in January. Our experiences this year have demonstrated that this initiative is a viable pathway into the teaching profession and worthy of continued support.”

The Teach First NZ programme is being independently evaluated by the New Zealand Council for Educational Research, with the first phase of the evaluation set to be published in January 2014.

For more information visit http://teachfirstnz.org

ENDS

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