SUMMER PROJECTS

PARTICIPANT HANDBOOK

www.teachfirst.org.ukTeach First is a registered charity, no. 1098294

INTRODUCTION

WHAT ARE SUMMER PROJECTS?Summer Projects are 1-3 week mini-internships which take place during August, when you have the opportunity to either:

• join an organisation (or another school) to complete or contribute to a short-term goal or objective, or;

• lead and develop your own project.

ABOUT SUMMER PROJECTSThere are hundreds of Summer Projects on offer this year.

Each project will enable you to develop and apply your teaching and leadership skills in a new environment – whether that’s a new school, think- tank, charity, business or international enterprise.

Over the past eight years, more than 1200 projects have been completed by participants and ambassadors. Examples of previous projects include designing successful funding bids for national charities, helping engage corporate employees in fundraising events to presenting research proposals to government ministesr. Whatever you’re looking for, we’re aiming to source over 450 Summer Projects this year, so there’s bound to be something to suit your needs.

HOW TO APPLY & THE PROCESSThis process is based on our experience of what creates a fair and transparent process for all candidates and project providers. We ask that it is strictly adhered to. Refer to page 2 for a timeline of events. STEP ONE As of 1 February, Summer Projects will go live for you to apply to (CV and covering letter are usually required). You can apply for projects by visiting the Marketplace on the Community Website and clicking on the Summer Projects tab.

1

STEP TWOYour CV and cover letter will be stored confidentially by us and sent to employers during the first two days of the interview and selection period.

STEP THREE The project provider will select the most suitable candidates for either an interview or Assessment Centre.

STEP FOURThe project provider is responsible for communicating offers and non-offers to successful and unsuccessful candidates within the specified dates for each round. You are then required to get back to them either way within the designated timeframe. If you accept an offer in round one, please do not apply to any projects in round two.

Alternatively, you might want to consider sourcing your own project. There are two ways to do this:

• Source your own project If there is a particular organisation you would like to complete your project with, you can take the lead in setting up the opportunity yourself. The Summer Projects team can provide you with the literature needed to target your desired organisation. We only ask that you contact us first just in case we have already approached the organisation directly. See page 5 for more information.

• Develop your own project If you have an idea, project or proposal that you would like to develop (that doesn’t require you to be associated with one specific organisation), let us know. We have a number of contacts and supporters who may be able to provide you with some level of information, advice or guidance to develop your idea. See page 6 for more information.

SUMMER PROJECT KEY DATES

2

*Important information: The project provider is responsible for coordinating their own selection and interview process. All Assessment Centres or interviews will take place outside of school hours. The selection process is at the providers’ discretion and they are responsible for communicating offers to successful candidates.

SELF-DIRECTED PROJECT TIMELINES If you choose to source your own project, or work on your own independent project, there are no specific deadlines. We do, however, recommend that you finalise the details with the Summer Projects team by the end of June.

We are willing to support you in developing and/ or sourcing your own project, however the ultimate success will be up to you. Please be sure that this process does not inhibit you from completing any other commitments you have to your school and the Leadership Development Programme (LDP).

January

February

MarchApril

MayJune

July

August

Interview

Apply

Apply

Interview

Summer Projects

Round One

Round Two

Accept / Decline

Accept / Decline

Details Round One Round Two *

Apply Search, view and apply for projects via the Community Website.

1 Feb - 17 March

Please note that new projects will be added on a rolling basis until 15 Feb

29 April - 19 May

Interview Interview and selection process.* 18 Mar- 20 April 20 May - 14 June

Offers Receive project offers from project providers. Participants are to accept or decline any project offers by the end of this period.

15 - 29 April 10 - 24 June

TRANSFERABLE SKILLSDevelop and apply your teaching and leadership skills in a new environment.

Previous Summer Project participants have been surprised at the extent to which the skills they have developed through their project have helped them become more effective in the classroom.

When you consider the Leading Learning principles, you can imagine the various ways you can develop these skills outside the classroom. These are not just principles for effective teaching, but also for effective leadership.

3

Having a strong vision Effective teachers have a strong vision that details how a pupil will change and develop over the course of a year.

Whether it’s a vision for an organisation, project, team or policy, you’ll be exposed to a new way of thinking.

Sharing your vision/building a coalition As a teacher, it is necessary to share your vision with others, such as pupils, parents and colleagues and collaborate in order to have a profound impact on children.

Stakeholder management is an important part of many businesses and projects – you’ll learn new ways of working with and influencing others.

Creating a great (learning) environment Excellent teachers create a learning environment that enables success and achievement for all pupils.

Experience new team and organisational cultures– you’ll learn new ways to build a great team environment.

Planning strategically & deliver on this strategyStrategic planning is as important for teachers as effectively carrying out lesson plans. In order to ensure that your pupils get the most out of their time in the classroom from the very start, every minute of teaching time must be thoughtfully planned out.

Whether working on a team or individual project, you will be expected to deliver results at the end of your project. Draw on the experience of your new colleagues to learn new ways to approach strategy.

Be reflective and solutions focused A key element of being reflective is remaining solutions focused. It is crucial that as a teacher you are always seeking to provide the solutions to the challenges you come up against, to enable you to continually improve your pupils’ results by constantly improving as a teacher.

Summer projects typically last between 1-3 weeks. This is a short time to deliver a high impact result, so you must be solutions focused. Projects will provide you with a great opportunity to develop these skills, as well as to reflect on the scale of change needed to address educational disadvantage.

Summer Project ExperienceLEADING LEARNING PRINCIPLE SUMMER PROJECT EXPERIENCE

HEAPS

“It’s provided an opportunity to meet other people that have a passion for improving student access, and to improve my own skills. I’m looking forward to taking away better knowledge of higher education to assist my new sixth form students next year.”

Claire Hollingbery, 2011 Participant 3

CHOOSING A SUMMER PROJECT Project advertisments will go live on 1 February and you will be able to search for them in a variety of ways ie by sector, region, organisation and skills. This year, you will also be able to search by the following ‘Project Strands’:

• Impact• Influence• Progression

Please note: All Summer Projects will enable you to develop your impact and influence, and will contribute to your career progression (inside or outside the classroom). Every project also complements the development of competencies required by the LDP. These strand names are broad ways to group projects with similar themes to make your search easier. We encourage you to search across strands and explore the various options available to you.

Strand 1: Impact Projects that are highly aligned with the Teach First vision and focus on creating impact for pupils, schools and communities. Organisations include: Schools and academy chains, Teach First, Mencap and Volunteer Uganda Strand 2: InfluenceProjects with influence over the public view of educational disadvantage including media and policy.

Organisations include: BBC, Institute of Education, British Council and House of Commons

Strand 3: ProgressionProjects with employers with an explicit recruitment objective.*

Organisations include: Accenture, Deloitte, Freshfields, Google, PwC, Sainsbury’s and UBS.

*Having been successful in our rigorous selection process and as a participant on the LDP, you are part of a community that is in demand from some of the country’s most influential employers. Every year, these employers provide Summer Projects for Teach First participants and ambassadors, with an explicit recruitment objective. Undertaking a ‘Progression’ project will not guarantee you a job offer at the end of the project, but these employers are more likely to be looking for future talent than other project providers.

HEAPS

“You get a really unique experience that you wouldn’t get the chance to do in any other job, or as a teacher. I got to see education in a different context and you can use what you learn when you get back to the classroom, and create links between the school and organisation.”

Katherine Davey , 2011 Participant

4

SOURCING YOUR OWN PROJECTIf you are interested in working for a specific organisation, this section provides you with a step-by-step guide on what to do next.

If, on the other hand, you have an idea for a project of your own that is not dependent on being hosted by a specific organisation, see page 6.

Step 1: Talk to us

Step 3: Next Steps

Step 2: Investigate your options with us

Get in touch by emailing summerprojects@teachfirst.org.uk and tell us which organisation you’d like to complete a project with. It may be that we have already contacted them about hosting a project and as a result we can either:• work with the organisation directly to tailor a

specific project to your needs, or;• reach out to other contacts in the sector who

would be able to offer a very similar project.

If we have been in touch with the relevant organisation, we will know the best steps to take to ask them about your specific project request. If we have not already been in touch with them, we can provide you with all the information you will need to approach them yourself.

If we do not have a contact at the organisation, we’ll let you know so you can start looking for one.

If we do have a contact, there are several possible outcomes :• We will put you in touch with a project provider

and facilitate discussions about setting up the project.

• If the organisation is already offering projects they will ask you to apply through the standard procedure (i.e. via the Community Website advertisement). In this instance, it is likely that they will give you an opportunity to discuss your specific project ideas with them should you be invited to an interview.

• The organisation will not be able to offer you a project and we will work with you to find an alternative.

Step 1: Tell us about your idea

Step 2: Consult with us

Step 3: Agree project deliverables

Step 4: During the project

Examples of self-directed projects:

Project: Run a two-week Summer School for 100 pupils from eight local schoolsObjective: Connect with the ambassador network and Teach First team in your region to identify and engage a variety of local charities to help run a summer school that provides pupils with the opportunity to develop life skills, build confidence, receive additional academic tutoring and make new friends.Skill development: Project management, relationship management, budgeting, communication, organisation and leadership.

Project: Researching and writing articles for news media to develop your written influencing skills.Objective: Research and write two articles for newspapers, then have them critiqued by a personal contact working in the press.Skill development: Develop a clear and authoritative writing style, research and investigation, interviewing skills.6

Talk us through your objectives, ideas and what you want to achieve within the 1-3 week period. You will also have to tell us what resources or assistance you need (if any) from us.

Once you have provided us with sufficient information about your project idea, we will work with you to:• Consult across Teach First to identify

appropriate avenues for setting up your project.• Identify external organisations or individuals

you could pitch your idea to or collaborate with.

Once you have support for your project, we will help you to set the timeframes and deliverables for your project.

Someone from Teach First or one of our supporters may contact you before and /or during the project to offer support and guidance.

DEVELOP YOUR OWN PROJECT

MAXIMISING YOUR IMPACTThe scale of change needed to address educational disadvantage means we need leaders who can make a difference at a pupil, school and system level.

Completing a Summer Project isn’t just about developing your skills as a leader; it is also an opportunity to leverage our networks and influence others to support our vision.

You may encounter people that haven’t heard about Teach First whilst completing your Summer Project. However, when they learn about the work we do, especially when they hear about your stories from the classroom, people are often keen to offer support – either personally, or that of their wider organisation. In these instances, it is great to have a range of ideas to hand.

PUPILS SCHOOLS TEACH FIRST*Teach a lesson: Employees from the organisation come in to your school to teach your pupils – either as a one off, or on a rolling basis. E.g. A bank could send staff to teach economics or personal finance or an international development charity could teach geography or citizenship.

Share resources: Does the organisation have any resources to donate that would be useful to your school?

Become a Coach / Mentor: Sign up to coach or mentor a participant or an ambassador still teaching or in a leadership position in a school. This is another great development opportunity for the coach involved, and a way for organisations to build the skills of their employees.

Arrange an office visit: Pupils visit an organisation to experience an office environment and discover how the topics they learn about at school are applied in business contexts.

Help improve school environments: In the past, organisations have arranged team days that include volunteering time at a school to help build things like vegetable patches or rainforest gardens that not only improve the aesthetics of school grounds, but are also used in biology lessons. Be prepared to think outside the box.

Offer social entrepreneur support: As the community continues to grow we have more ambassadors starting up their own social enterprises. Some individuals may want to share their business experience with these ambassadors.

Provide careers insight: Individuals come to your school to speak about what it’s like working in a certain industry and help raise pupil aspirations.

Become a school governor: Not only beneficial to schools, but also a great professional development opportunity for individuals. If someone is interested in becoming a governor, point them in the direction of the School Governors One-Stop-Shop.

Speak at an event: We host a range of events for participants and ambassadors and are regularly looking for guest speakers to share their experience and insights.

Set up reading groups: Individuals or teams at an organisation could volunteer regular time to visit primary schools and read to/with children.

Offer pro bono support: Schools sometimes require, or at least appreciate, additional specialist advice for a range of matters. For example, financial services, fundraising advice, marketing, HR and operations, facilities upgrades, business planning or strategy development. These opportunities benefit the school and are development opportunities for the individuals involved.

Offer internal CPD events: Organisations could open a few spaces to ambassadors and participants on their internal professional development programmes.

Apprenticeship and work experience schemes: Organisations can set up an apprenticeship scheme for school leavers (or sixth formers) or work experience for pupils with the aims to reduce NEET levels in the community and raise aspirations.

Support ambassador career development: Charities, schools and Teach First supporters can advertise paid and volunteer vacancies on the community website for free. This provides employers with access to a unique pool of talent and helps strengthen our collective impact.

* Many organisations who offer Summer Projects are supporters of Teach First. If you are undertaking a project with one of these organisations, please encourage colleagues to get involved in the many volunteering opportunities available through the Teach First partnership. This can be done by contacting their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) team or volunteering manager.

Of course, this is not an exhaustive list. There are numerous other ways that organisations and individuals can offer support.

7

RESOURCESWhether you’re applying to undertake a project within an organisation or setting up your own self-directed project, you’ll be engaging with stakeholders who will want to know more about you and your ideas. To help you get the most out of your applications, correspondences and time during your project, we have made a number of resources available to you.

Visit the Summer Projects page on the Community Website to access these resources.

QUESTIONSPost your questions on the Summer Projects page or email the team at summerprojects@teachfirst.org.uk

Teach First is a registered charity, number 1098294

Visit the Community Website to find out more community.teachfirst.org.uk